WASHINGTON — A rising junior at Bullis School in Bowie, Maryland has had quite a week. From breaking world records and finding out he'd be making his first Olympic appearance this summer, to getting a once-in-a-lifetime invite from a sports legend, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson had a lot to celebrate in June.
On Sunday night, the phenom runner confirmed in an Instagram post that it was official-- he'd be heading to the Paris Olympic Games to compete for team USA. He is the youngest U.S. male track & field athlete to make an Olympic team, according to Bill Mallon, an Olympics historian.
Wilson secured a personal best time of 44.59 seconds Sunday and surpassed his own under-18 world 400-meter record in the semifinal to advance to the final. It's the second time he beat the record in two days after he clocked in 44.66 seconds on Friday, beating out other runners in his heat and grabbing the record for his own.
But a few days before, Wilson was already making headlines in the DMV, when Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson put out an exclusive invite to the teenager on social media.
"I would love to invite @QuincyWilson5 and his family to sit in the suite with me and watch the Commanders play this season," Johnson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on June 26.
The teen Olympian quickly responded with an excited, "I would love to!"
Wilson's coach, Joe Lee, got to be the one to tell his prodigy that he had made the team.
"I said 'Hey, I just got off the phone with the Olympic Coaching Committee and I've got some unfortunate news,'" Lee said recounting the moment with Wilson. "He was starting to get a little nervous. So I said, 'I'm sorry to say that you unfortunately are going to have to go to Paris and be part of the Olympic team.' His mother was listening on speaker phone and she was like, 'My heart dropped.'"
The full team USA roster will be formally announced later in July.
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