16-year-old American sprinter named to U.S. Olympic Team

American sprinter Quincy Wilson, the teenager who made headlines at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials for reaching the men’s 400m final, has been named to Team USA for Paris 2024. Wilson has been selected for the men’s 4x400m relay pool and, at 16 years old and 176 days, will become the youngest male ever to make the U.S. Olympic Track & Field team. 

Wilson announced the news on Instagram on Monday after earning his spotl by finishing sixth in the men’s 400m final at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He broke a 42-year-old under-18 world record when he won his 400m heat in 44.66 seconds. That record lasted all of two days before Wilson lowered his record time again in the 400m semi-finals, running a time of 44.59 seconds.

While the fairy-tale ending would have been Wilson cracking the top three in the 400m final, his time of 44.94 seconds was still impressive. He chased down three of the fastest 400-metre runners in America on the homestretch—not bad for a kid who just finished his sophomore year of high school, who reportedly doesn’t even have his driver’s license in his home state of Maryland.

When USA Track & Field formally unveils its Olympic roster on July 8, Wilson will be the youngest track athlete ever to represent the U.S. at the Games. Previously, Jim Ryun (1964) and Erriyon Knighton (2021), at age 17, were the youngest American track athletes to compete at an Olympics. The only other track and field athlete to make a U.S. Olympic team at 16 is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 400m hurdles.

It is yet to be determined whether Wilson will get the chance to run in Paris or not, but as things stand, he will likely be an alternate for the men’s 4x400m team, or possibly run a mixed 4x400m relay leg in the qualifying rounds.