Quincy Wilson runs yet another personal best – 44.20 – A time that would have won the World title in 2022 and 2023

The unbelievable track season of 16-year-old Quincy Wilson of Bullish high school just got a little more unbelievable. Tonight at the Holloway Pro Classic –  the final Puma American Track League meet of the year in Gainseville, Florida – Wilson lowered his personal best (PB) from 44.59 to 44.20 to grab the win as he edged 2023 US champ Bryce Deadmon of the US (44.23). It was a reversal of the order of finish at the 2024 US Olympic Track and Field Trials where Deadmon was 5th and Wilson 6th.

Wilson, who started the year with a PB of 45.87, has now set a new personal best in 7 different races this year.

“I knew when I went to Trials and I got sixth place I knew I had some stuff left in me. I told them I was gonna go out here and give everything that I had because I want to make sure that I have a great opportunity to be able to get on the USA team on the relay. I wanted to go out here and show what I can do and what I left on (the table) at the Trials,” said Wilson, who leaves for Paris on Tuesday, after the race to 110 hurdles star Grant Holloway, who the sideline reporter on the live Internet broadcast.

Additionally, the time Wilson ran tonight in Gainesville was faster than the time that won the world individual 400m gold medal in both 2022 (44.29) and 2023 (44.22) although it normally takes a sub-44 clocking to win the Olympics (8 of the last 9 were won in sub-44 with Jeremy Wariner‘s 44.00 win in 2004 being the lone exception).

Wilson won’t be competing for individual gold in the 400 at the Olympics due to his 5th place showing at the US Trials, but tonight’s run raises the likelihood that he ends up running in the final of either of the two 4 x 400s (mixed sex and men’s, although if you run in the prelims, you still get a medal). Wilson’s 44.20 also catapults him up the 2024 world list. Entering tonight, he was the 24th fastest male in the 400 for 2024 but now he’s #6. Olympic Trials champ Quincy Hall (43.80) is the only man under 44 so far this year.

Prior to Wilson, the US HS national record had belonged to Darrell Robinson at 44.69 seconds, and it had stood since 1982. Additionally, Wilson has now improved the world U18 record of  44.84 (Justin Robinson 2019) by more than half a second. At 16, he’s now within shouting distance of the world U-20 record set by Steve Lewis when he won the 1988 Olympic gold medal in 43.87.

In just over a month (June 15 to July 19), Wilson has lowered his 400m pb by nearly a full second – 45.13 to 44.20. That’s an awful lot. Consider this stat, the previous U18 record-holder Robinson, who just finished his junior year at Arizona State, has a lifetime pb of 44.51 – 0.33 faster than his U-18 pb. Wilson is no just 1.17 seconds behind the world record of 43.03.

Watch Wilson’s Run Below.

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In other action tonight in Gainesville, 2021 Olympic 800 champ Athing Mu raced for the first time since falling at the 2024 US Olympic Trials. She went out in a quick 57.15 but had nothing left in the final 100m and ended up fourth in 2:00.29. The race was won by former Campbell runner Dorcus Ewoi, who ran her second straight 1:58 (1:58.19) for Puma after starting the year with a 2:01.12 pb. In other action, unheralded 33-year-old Emmanuel Matadi ran 9.93 to win the 100 (+1.2) and Olympic Trials 4th placer Josh Hoey (1:44.22) beat former Olympic medallist Clayton Murphy (1:45.01) in the 800.

In the triple jump, two-time Olympic and four-time World champs Christian Taylor called it a career with his last competition. And the final jump of his career was his best of the night (16.14) but that only placed him 5th as NCAA indoor champ and Olympic Trials runnerup Russ Robinson won in 16.91

*Results
*Race Videos: *M200 Video *M400 video *W800 Video *Full meet Replay

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