Joe Lee, the track coach at Potomac’s Bullis School, had just finished extolling the character of 16-year-old phenom Quincy Wilson, through pauses to collect his emotions and a pause to wipe away tears. On the track at Hayward Field, Athing Mu was just beginning her run in the 800-meter final, a springboard in her defense of her Olympic gold medal and another moment to heal her broken relationship with a sport she once conquered with ease.
The U.S. Olympic track and field trials are a cruel spectacle. It doesn’t matter that you’re a child prodigy that America is starting to fall in love with: there are grown men whose livelihoods are on the line who want to leave you in the dust. It doesn’t matter if you appear on the cover of a magazine or have your face ringing at Hayward Field in an ad campaign: if you trip over someone’s leg a quarter of the way into your race, you’ll have to wait four years to prove that you are still the best in the world.
Wilson, 16, managed to finish in sixth place in the 400-meter final, a remarkable feat that capped a week in which he twice broke a high school record that had stood for 42 years . Mu, the graceful and shaken queen of American middle-distance running, tripped and fell less than halfway through her first lap while running amid a dense group of limbs and spikes. In the stands, his family members stood up and shouted: “No! Mu got up from the track, sprinted at a group of runners who had moved forward 50 meters, and began to grapple with a shocking reality.
Mu continued to run to the line. She clocked 2:19.69, more than 22 seconds behind champion Nia Akins and more than 20 seconds behind podium finishers Allie Wilson and Juliette Whittaker. Mu is used to crossing the finish line alone after 800 meters. She couldn’t imagine doing it like that. Her face twisted into a tormented frown and she buried her face in her hands.
“It’s definitely one of the hardest parts of this sport – and this event in particular,” Whittaker said. “The cruel nature of this sport is that no matter how good you feel before the race, you never know what will happen.”
Wilson’s historic and joyful attempt to claim an automatic Olympic berth at the trials came to an end Monday. But he wouldn’t go down without a fight. Wilson, the phenom who finished his sophomore year at Bullis a few weeks ago, passed three sprinters down the stretch and finished sixth in his first Olympic trials in 44.94 seconds, at an age when his friends are busy trying to get a driver’s license. Quincy Hall was a surprise winner in 44.17, followed by Michael Norman (44.41) and Chris Bailey (44.42).
As Lee thought about what Wilson had shown the world, he walked away and took off his sunglasses. Once he returned, emotion still choked his words.
“He showed his character, his fight, his determination,” Lee said. “He’s a great kid, man. He’s a great kid.
In Friday’s first round, Wilson broke the national high school record by winning his heat in 44.66 seconds. Faced with doubt over his ability to maintain his endurance throughout the grueling trials, Wilson reset the record to 44.59 in Sunday’s semifinals, moving from fifth to third place over the final 100 meters to finish. qualify for Monday’s final. He’s met heroes like Noah Lyles and Grant Holloway and received well-wishes from Tyreek Hill, Deion Sanders and Snoop Dogg.
“All I know is I gave everything I had and then some,” Wilson said. “I can’t go back and be disappointed. At the end of the day, I’m 16 as an adult.
Wilson might finally say yes when friends back home ask if he wants to play video games, but he’s not quite ready to relax. Even though his race for an individual spot ended Monday, Wilson could still become a Paris Olympian. USA Track & Field may choose two additional 400-meter sprinters for its 4×400 relay pool, with all U.S. trial participants eligible. Based solely on the past four days’ performances, Wilson has built a compelling case. The deadline for submitting lists is July 7.
“I don’t know if my season is over,” Wilson said. “I don’t want to go out for ice cream too early.” I might get that call.
If chosen, Wilson will become the youngest American to compete in track and field at the Olympics. He would break the mark held since 1900 by Arthur Newton, who ran the 2,500 meter steeplechase at 17 years and 166 days.
Lee knew Wilson had exceeded all imaginable expectations by finishing sixth in the nation. He knew and hoped that USATF would choose him for its relay pool, an option rife with possibilities. He knew Wilson wanted to compete in the Olympics, but he wasn’t crying about the result. He was crying because of how he felt about Wilson.
“Yeah,” Lee said. His voice rang out again and he patted the fence to compose himself. “I know he wanted it. You too are happy. They’re tears of joy because you know he’s making history. He is under pressure from the whole world. We will come back.”
All Mu had was the result. She arrived at the trials with a hamstring problem and a relationship with her sport that had been shaken since her Olympic brilliance three years ago. Mu hadn’t raced all year, forced to make her debut in 2024 with an Olympic berth on the line. Her return to the events, after taking them by the throat three years ago, was even more difficult.
Mu remains one of the most magnetic runners on the planet and a face of American athletics. She graces the latest cover of Sports Illustrated. Giant photos of her and Sha’Carri Richardson in a Nike ad campaign on Hayward Field. It would not have surprised anyone if she beat Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson and Kenya’s Mary Moraa, the rivals who surpassed her at the world championships last year in Paris.
Her rise once seemed orderly. She cleared the field in the 800 meters at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She wore a beret emblazoned with the word “confident” and declared she would break the world record. In a dream quartet in the 4×400 relay, Mu won another gold medal with Allyson Felix, Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad. Teamed with the all-time American track and field medal leader and two women who broke the world record in the 400-meter hurdles, Mu ran the anchor leg.
When Mu stopped to catch her breath, she felt overwhelmed. She had difficulty adjusting to the pressure of professional athletics. She still dominated, still controlled races with her elegant stride, but the weightlessness with which she moved off the track began to disappear. “I was just happy it was over,” Mu said after beating Hodgkinson to win the 2022 world title. “Today was a pretty tough day for me.”
The burden she felt only intensified. Mu considered skipping the world championships last summer. At the last minute, she decided to defend her title. In the last 300 meters, two rivals overtook her. She still won bronze, but for the first time on the world stage, Mu was beaten.
“There is so much pressure overall,” she told reporters in Budapest. “You’re thinking too much. The last few years have been many.
Mu remained at the top of 800 in this country, but she had work to do to regain global superiority. She injured her hamstring in April, which prevented her from running and cost her valuable training time. She still won her semi-final here, but then the unthinkable happened. Then came the cruelty of the trials. Then came the tears.