GOLDEN BOY
Quincy Wilson, 16, breaks US track and field record on unexpected technicality after 4x400m relay win at Paris Olympics
Wilson couldn't contain his excitement when he learned about his inclusion on the Paris-bound Team USA
TEAM USA starlet Quincy Wilson has become the youngest male American track and field gold medalist in Olympic history.
The 16-year-old got to stand at the top of the podium after the US triumphed in the men's 4x400-meter relay during the 2024 Paris Games – even though he didn't run in the final.
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Rai Benjamin, Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, and Bryce Deadmon represented America in Sunday's gold medal race.
The quarter finished ahead of Botswana and Great Britain with a time of 2:54:43, setting a new Olympic record.
Wilson will leave Paris with a medal as well since he was part of the lineup in the opening-round heat on Friday.
The high schooler struggled in the qualifying race, though, clocking at 47.27 in the first leg.
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Team USA was in seventh place when the teenager handed off the baton to Norwood.
"It's going to be motivation for me," Wilson said of his race, per ESPN.
Still, Wilson accomplished an admirable feat in Paris.
In addition to becoming the youngest-ever male Olympic gold medalist in US track and field history, he also is the youngest male athlete to win gold in any sport since 1952.
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Wilson couldn't contain his excitement when he learned he would be included in the Team USA relay pool last month.
"When I got the call, I was like, I was ecstatic," Wilson said via ESPN.
"I started running around the house.
"It was just a moment for me because everybody dreams about going to the Olympics as a young kid."
Soon after the men's 4x400m relay victory, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Alexis Holmes, and Shamier Little took gold in the respective women's event.
And they absolutely blew away the opposition, courtesy of McLaughlin-Levrone.
The New Jersey native finished the second leg with a time of 47.70 seconds.
And he was so ahead of everyone else that NBC had to use an extremely wide shot to show the rest of the pack.
"They’re gonna need to go to aerial coverage at the end here," one fan joked about the zoomed-out feed on social media.
"Sydney is a cheat code!" another fan wrote.
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"That was a Secretariat in the Belmont level a** whooping," a third said.
"A gap that wide on the 2nd leg is utterly bonkers," one added.