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Coley Harvey, ESPN Editor
PARIS — Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old who made headlines at the U.S. track and field trials in June, will have a chance to do the same at the Olympics on Friday, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The Maryland native will be part of the men’s 4×400 relay team that morning as part of the first qualifying round of the Olympic relay. After Wilson missed the 4×400 medley qualifying round earlier this week, it’s uncertain whether he’ll continue running or be an alternate on the final relay team.
When he runs on the Stade de France track, Wilson will become the youngest American male athlete ever to compete in an Olympic track and field event.
In July, Wilson said he was overjoyed to receive news that he would be added to the Team USA relay team after he failed to qualify for the 400-meter individual sprint at the qualifying event.
“When I got the call, I was like, I was so excited,” Wilson said. “I started running around the house. It was just a moment for me because everyone dreams of being in the Olympics when they’re kids.”
Wilson said he first started dreaming of competing in the Olympics at the 2016 Games in Rio, when he was just eight years old. That same year, he started running his main event, the 400m, and he became a force in the event.
After breaking the under-18 world record twice at the U.S. trials, running a fastest time of 44.59 seconds, Wilson went even slower three weeks ago at a warm-up race in Florida, where he ran a 44.20-second race that has the track world buzzing with anticipation for what he might do on the U.S. relay teams come the Olympics.
Now, his chance has come.
