SAINT-DENIS, France — The youngest member of the U.S. track and field team hinted Thursday that he will soon make his Olympic debut.
“Tune in Friday morning at 5:05am EST,” 16-year-old phenom Quincy Wilson wrote on Instagram, apparently referring to the start time for the preliminary rounds of the men’s 4×400-meter relay.
Wilson has been told he will lead the U.S. relay. Wilson’s coach did not immediately respond to a Yahoo Sports message seeking confirmation, and USA Track & Field does not reveal relay lineups until shortly before the races begin.
At 16, Wilson is the 11th-fastest man in the world in the 400 meters this year and the fourth-fastest American. He earned his spot in the U.S. relay pool earlier this summer when he ran three consecutive sub-45-second times at the U.S. Olympic Trials. A few weeks later, he set a new personal best, improving his under-18 world record to an astonishing 44.20 seconds.
Wilson is already the youngest man ever to make the U.S. Olympic track and field team. He is 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 decided not to call up 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 preliminary rounds and win a silver medal in the final.
The preliminary rounds and final of the men’s 4×400-meter relay are the last races Wilson can compete in at this year’s Olympics. Otherwise, he would go home without ever having run on the Stade de France’s trademark purple track.
