Two high school athletes made the final rounds of the sprint events today at the Olympic Trials—16-year-old Quincy Wilson in the 400 meters and 18-year-old Christian Miller in the 100 meters.
Wilson had already stunned fans at Hayward Field and broken the under-18 world record when he ran 44.66 seconds in the first round of the 400 meters on Friday—the second-fastest time out of the heats. Tonight, he broke it again, running 44.59 seconds to advance on time. He’ll line up against Olympians and world champions once again in the final, at 6:59 p.m. on Monday.
Watch the race below.
When asked how he keeps his cool against competitors twice his age—as Lewis Johnson of NBC pointed out, Vernon Norwood, who was in the lane next to him, is 32—Wilson looked unfazed. “It’s nothing different—we put on the same shoes the same way,” he said. “We all fought it out today, and it was a great race for me.”
Wilson attends the Bullis School—a private school in Potomac, Maryland—and already has an NIL deal with New Balance.
Miller, meanwhile, just graduated from Creekside High School in St. John’s, Florida, and competes for a club team, the St. Johns Striders. In April at the Pure Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, Florida, he ran 9.93 seconds—then the world lead—to break his own under-18 world record at 100 meters.
Tonight, he ran 9.94 seconds and also advanced to the 100-meter final on time. Then in the final, he placed fifth in 9.98. He’s committed to the University of Georgia in the fall and will also compete in the 200 meters beginning on Thurs., June 27.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
