SAINT-DENIS, France — The youngest member of the U.S. Track & Field team hinted Thursday that he will soon make his Olympic debut.
“Tune in Friday Morning @ 5:05 a.m. est,” 16-year-old phenom Quincy Wilson wrote on Instagram, apparently alluding to the start time for the Olympic men’s 4×400-meter relay prelims.
Wilson has been told he will lead off for the U.S. relay, Chris Chavez of Citius Mag reported Thursday. Wilson’s coach did not immediately return a message from Yahoo Sports seeking confirmation and USA Track & Field does not unveil its relay lineups until shortly before the races start.
At 16, Wilson is the world’s 11th-fastest man in the 400 meters this year and the fourth-fastest American. He earned his spot in the American relay pool earlier this summer when he ran three straight sub-45-second times at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Then a few weeks later, he set a new personal best and lowered his Under-18 world record to a blazing 44.20 seconds.
Wilson is already the youngest male ever to make the U.S. Olympic track and field team. He’s about a year younger than middle-distance runner Jim Ryun, who competed in 1964 at 17 years, 137 days old.
U.S. relay coach Mike Marsh chose not to call upon Wilson to run a leg of the mixed 4×400-meter relay last Friday or Saturday. Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon, Shamier Little and Kaylyn Brown went on to set a world record in the mixed 4×400-meter relay in the prelims and win a silver medal in the final.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay prelims and final are the last races in which Wilson could participate in these Olympics. Otherwise he would go home without having ever run on Stade de France’s distinctive purple track.
