Team USA sprinter Quincy Wilson is returning to his native Maryland as an Olympic gold medalist.
He’s also returning as a high school junior.
‘Dang, I really got school in 2 and a half weeks,’ the 16-year-old Wilson wrote on X after receiving his gold medal for the 4X400 relay on Saturday.
The youngest male track-and-field athlete to compete for the US, Wilson is preparing to enter his third year of high school at Potomac, Maryland’s Bullis School.
Obviously that will make things a bit strange, seeing as how he’s already competing with the best runners in the world at a time when he’s still concerned with homework and getting to class on time.
Wilson’s post on X went viral after he became the youngest male track Olympian in US history
‘Them ”what did yall do over summer break” conversations gonna hit different lmao,’ joked on X user.
‘Drop out, you an Olympian’ added another.
Despite his historic participation in Paris, not to mention his gold medal, Wilson’s performance is something he’d undoubtedly like to improve upon.
Wilson left the U.S. in a distant seventh place after his opening lap in the first round of the 4×400 relay on Friday.
The Americans, normally dominant in this event, needed a rally from Christopher Bailey on the final lap simply to qualify for the final. The team finished third in a time of 2 minutes, 59.15 seconds.
There was a nearly 3-second gap between Wilson and Letsile Tebogo, the 200-meter champion from Botswana who was a last-minute replacement. Wilson was picked up by veteran teammates Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Bailey.
‘I wasn’t 100-percent myself, but my team came out here and did it for me,’ Wilson said. ‘I knew I had a great three legs behind me and knew it wasn’t just myself. Because if it was myself, we’d be in last place. But these guys come out there and gave it their all. … They ran their hearts out.’
Quincy Wilson, of the United States, prepares to start in a men’s 4 x 400 meters relay round 1
Fortunately for Team USA, Rai Benjamin held off Letsile Tebogo on the anchor leg to give the Americans a gold medal and an Olympic-record in the final without Wilson, who was replaced on Saturday.
‘I calculated that run very well to a T,’ Benjamin said. ‘I have a really good, high ‘track IQ’ on people and how they run and how to do a quick time, so I didn’t have to get out too hard: Let’s just save it up to come home.”
Benjamin added this Olympic title to the one he claimed in the 400-meter hurdles a night earlier and prevented 200-meter champion Tebogo from giving Botswana another triumph over the Americans.
It was Tebogo, the 21-year-old sprinting sensation, who stole the spotlight – and the gold – from the U.S. in the 200 on Thursday, relegating Kenny Bednarek to silver and Noah Lyles, who tested positive for COVID-19, to bronze.
The U.S. quartet of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin completed the four laps in 2 minutes, 54.43 seconds, nearly a second faster than the American 4×400 team ran at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. And Saturday’s time was just .14 seconds off the world record set by the United States in 1993.
It’s the Americans’ 19th gold in the 26 runnings of this relay at the Summer Olympics. No other country has more than two golds in the men’s 4×400.
‘Team USA have always had dominance over the 4×4,’ Bailey said, ‘and we just wanted to keep it going.’
Although he didn’t participate in the final, Wilson got a gold medal, too, making him the youngest male athlete from the U.S. to win a track medal at any Summer Olympics. Wilson left the Americans in a distant seventh after his opening lap Friday, but Bailey’s strong anchor leg allowed the team to qualify.
On Saturday, Botswana was a tenth of a second back, with Tebogo joined by Bayapo Ndori, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Anthony Pesela.
Britain was third in 2:55.83.
‘Competing at U.S. trials, we know what to expect. That’s the hard part; this is the easy part,’ Benjamin said. ‘So coming out here and believing in ourselves and trusting each other – that’s what makes this work, makes us so successful, when it comes to these global championships.’
That victory was followed shortly by another – much easier – one for the U.S. in the women’s 4×400 relay, which ended the track and field portion of the 2024 Olympics.
Vernon Norwood, of the United States, takes over the baton from teammate Quincy Wilson
With his performance Friday, Wilson became the youngest American male to compete at the Olympics in track. He surpassed Arthur Newton, a steeplechase runner from 1904 who competed at 17, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon. Other young runners to compete at the Summer Games include Jim Ryun, who was 17 when he qualified for his first Olympics in 1964, and Erriyon Knighton, who made it to Tokyo three years ago when he was 17.
Norwood found himself caught up in the moment – until he had the baton.
‘I’m watching a 16-year-old running in the Olympics, making history,’ Norwood said. ‘I’m just looking at him, like, ‘Oh, snap back in and let me get the stick and get it going.’
Norwood told Wilson before they went out to the track to soak in the moment.
‘I’m super proud of him,’ Norwood said.
It’s been quite a summer for Wilson, who already has a name, image and likeness deal with New Balance and put off getting his driver’s license so he could run in Paris.
