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American sprinting teen sensation Quincy Wilson has opened up on why he will not allow his success on the track to come in the way of his studies even as his career starts to blossom.
American teen sensation Quincy Wilson is not about to abandon his academics for the riches and fame that comes with being a track star.
Wilson, who made history by becoming the youngest track and field Olympics champion, following his gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, has had to juggle between school and athletics but he is determined to succeed in both although his studies come first.
Aged just 16, Wilson became the youngest track star to qualify for the Olympics when he was selected as part of Team USA’s 4x400m relay team and went to the Paris Games, featuring in the heats, as his country claimed gold over the distance.
That made him an Olympics champion at just the age of 16 but soon after the Games, he was back in the library for his summer reading given he was in the final year of high school at Maryland's Bullis School.
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14:30 - 08.01.2025
'He is generational' - Matthew Hudson-Smith waxes lyrical of American wonderkid Quincy Wilson following meteoric rise
Matthew Hudson-Smith heaps praise on 'generational' American wonderkid Quincy Wilson following meteoric rise which saw him become youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist in 2024
“Right after that [Olympics], I had to come home, do my summer reading and read two books. One of them was like 600 pages and the other one was like 200 or 300 pages,” Wilson told CITIUS Mag.
“So, I read those books and had to [answer] some questions. My first trimester went really good. I was on the highest honor roll you can get and got an ‘A’ average throughout the whole semester. I was really just maintaining where I left off before I went to the Olympics and just tried to focus on school work and maintaining track. School always comes first, so that's what I've really been focusing on.”
Wilson has put Bullis School on the map, having set an U18 world’s best in indoors in 400m in March 2024 before setting the outdoor version in July to make him the first American holder of both.
With the school giving him so much, Wilson does not hesitate to compete for them even now that he is a global superstar.
“For me, academics always come first. Nobody can ever take your academics away from you. I always stand by that. Also, it’s the last season for a lot of the seniors that I came into Bullis with. It's our last time to make memories and run 4x400s together,” he added on his decision to run for Bullies recently.
“Last year, we fell short of some of the things that we had our goals set on. This year, we're coming back more prepared and really have our eye on something that we want to accomplish. I want to go back and do it with my team and do it with a lot of my friends that I had since coming into the school.”
Wilson will soon be transitioning from high school to college and his decision on where he will go next is highly awaited. However, the sprinter has some conditions that his next college will have to meet.
“I’m in my junior year right now, so I’m still deciding. I'm looking for a coach who can coach me, a great academic program, a great athletics program and a team I can bond with—just like my high school team,” he said.
“Anything that my high school team has, I’m hoping that correlates with my college team. That's what I'm really looking for: a team that's well-rounded and has academics that are well-rounded. I want to go in and be successful as a freshman and do the things that I’m looking forward to doing.”
One thing that Wilson, who turned 17 on Wednesday, does not lack is confidence and even at his young age, he believes he can take on anyone and triumph.
“If you know me as a competitor, I'm ready to compete against anybody. So, I was just ready to compete regardless of what the circumstances were going to be and regardless of who was in the race,” says Wilson regarding the competition he faced at the Olympics.
“I was just ready to compete. I didn't even know who was in my heat, I didn't know anything. I was just ready to go out there and compete. When they call my name, I'm ready to step on the track and step on the line.
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18:01 - 30.12.2024
'I'm 16 running grown man times' - Quincy Wilson's words in the build-up to Paris Olympics that sum up his 2024 season after recent milestone
American track prodigy Quincy Wilson recently ran a record breaking-time in the 600m and his words prior to the Olympics brilliantly epitomise this milestone and his 2024 season.
“My performance wasn't the greatest that I could have given, but things happen, things go different ways. I'm super thankful for my teammates who got the stick around, which got them to the final so that I could get that gold medal.”
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