(FILES)Quincy Wilson competes in the men’s 400-meter final on Day Four of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 24, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Quincy Wilson, at age 16, could become the youngest American male athletics competitor to appear at an Olympics as a member of the 4x400m relay pool at Paris.
Wilson finished sixth in the 400m final in 44.94secs, missing out on an individual spot, but USA Track and Field’s relay selectors delivered the news Sunday he was in the relay group.
“WE GOING TO THE OLYMPICS,” Wilson posted on Instagram.
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The previous youngest US athletics competitor at an Olympics was Jim Ryun, who was 17 years and 137 days when he ran at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Wilson, about to start his junior year at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, twice broke the under-18 world record for 400m during last week’s US trials in Eugene, Oregon.
He broke the age group world record with a run of 44.66secs in the preliminary heats, then lowered that two-day-old mark with a 44.59-second effort in the semi-finals.