It is extremely difficult to find a high school athlete who had a better 2024 than Quincy Wilson. At just 16 years old, the Bullis School (MD) junior made history as the youngest male track and field Olympic gold medalist in history as part of Team USA’s men’s 4x400m relay.

It capped a year in which he successfully defended his New Balance Nationals indoor and outdoor 400m titles, and progressed throughout the season to break the U18 400m world record and the U.S. high school 400m record (which stood for 42 years) at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He finished sixth there in the 400m final and brought his personal best all the way down to 44.20 before making his Olympic debut.

Once back from Paris, he basked in the post-Olympic glow, throwing out the first pitch at Nationals and Orioles games, attending a Ravens game as a VIP, shaking hands with Jay-Z and watching his social media following explode from the attention. He’s the top sprinting recruit in the Class of 2026 and has begun the recruiting process by taking visits to Georgia, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Texas Tech. Florida head coach Mike Holloway paid him an at-home visit. His college decision will be a highly anticipated one.

In the meantime, Wilson is back to racing and already opened up his indoor season with a personal best of 1:17.19 for 600m, which inched him closer to Will Sumner’s 1:15.58 high school record from 2022. Wilson’s indoor season schedule is expected to include the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Millrose Games, and New Balance Indoor Nationals, where he could win his third consecutive high school 400m title.

CITIUS MAG spoke with Wilson on a snow day from school on Tuesday morning. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and space.

CITIUS MAG: Are you still riding on cloud nine from the Olympics? I know you’re excited because you got a snow day today.

QUINCY WILSON: For a while, I was still super excited, super, ‘I can't believe this happened.’ I had to get out of that moment because I knew a new season was coming. Our first meet came up on me really quick. I didn't run the very first meet the team ran. I was like, ‘Dang, I really have to get out of that moment because I’ve got to prepare for the next season.’ I was super excited and enjoying the moment, but then I had to switch gears and get locked back in for the next season.

Take me through last August after you wrapped up at the Olympics. When did you do your summer reading and get back to school? That’s the part that no one else who competed on Team USA had to go through except for you.

Right after that, 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. 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.

You've already showcased what your potential is on the world stage. Why go back to competing for your high school? You've got this New Balance NIL and you're taking college visits now, but ultimately, how did you weigh that decision with your family and your coach to continue competing for Bullis?

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. 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.

Nowadays, on college recruiting trips, everyone gets the full photoshoot. You get to try on the kit and see how it looks on you. What's been the best part about these schools that you’ve visited?

The photoshoot is probably the best part! Honestly, it’s just seeing how high school is [compared to] college and seeing that Bullis has set me up for a great pathway. College should be a smooth road for me because of what [Bullis] paved for me. If I come in the same way that I came in for high school, I should be very successful because they set me up really well.

I read the NBC news story on you recently. You've got your shortlist, but what are you looking for in a college match?

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. 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 of the parts that people learned in that NBC story was that you had a difficult lead-up to get to Paris. In the mixed zone in the Stade De France, you didn't share exactly what that was. Everyone gave you the space and respect to share what that was on your own accord. It was just revealed that it was a hamstring injury.

What was the biggest lesson that you took from dealing with that and still being able to show up on the starting line and give it your best?

I feel like I wouldn't have been able to step on the track without the encouragement and support that all the other athletes gave me—just talking to me every day, making sure that my mind was on a straight path and getting the job done and just running for the team—not just for me, but for them. I feel like they made a huge [difference] for me. I also couldn't have done it without God being there for me. I was talking to him every day in my room, just making sure that I would be okay to step on the track.

How emotional were those last couple of days? You were probably very excited, but at the same time, you're a 16-year-old going up against the world!

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. 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.

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.

Let's look ahead to this indoor season. What is it that brings you back to New Balance Nationals and what do you look forward to most about it?

I remember when I was little and running the AAU Nationals while my sister was going to New Balance. My mom would be telling me how great the environment was, how great the people were, and how great the staff were. My sister came out there for her first race and she PR'd—just because of the atmosphere. She wasn't feeling good, but I remember that the atmosphere got her around the track. I always told my mom, ‘I want to get on that track, I want to get one of those bags!’ Ever since I was a little kid I’ve wanted to step on the New Balance track.

My ninth grade year really set my stone on the map. Ninth grade year was amazing. Like I said, I think the atmosphere and adrenaline definitely got me around the track… Still to this day, I talk to my mom, see the video, and still don't know how I won that race. It was a lot of training going into that race. I think my coach prepared me well and prepared me for that moment. It kind of did [end up] being exactly the race he planned on.

Is there a part of you that still might get nervous at New Balance Nationals? You've been to the Olympic Trials. You've been to the Olympics and you've set these records.

I feel like you're always going to get nervous. When you're a competitor, your biggest fear is always losing. My biggest fear that anybody could ask me is probably to lose. I don't like to lose—so anytime where you could possibly lose, I'm going to get a little nervous. But I think I'll be ready for New Balance Nationals and there will be a lot of great competition. It's just fun and an overall fun experience for me.

The whole weekend is just fun: seeing all my friends compete, seeing everybody compete, and having my family there and able to come because it's not too far away from home. My freshman year, my sister was able to come and she got to see me win Nationals my first year. It's been a great experience.

How do you stay motivated? When we look at the 400m, you've already checked the box of winning the national title and breaking the national record. When you're at practice, what do you and Coach Lee talk about and what are you visualizing?

Someone out there is getting better. Each and every day, there's someone trying to get better. You have to know that somebody is always trying to get better and trying to take your No. 1 spot. With that in the back of my mind, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder. I feel like that makes me work even harder, not [letting anyone] take me down from the spot that I've accomplished and earned.

It’s basically just going out there everyday and knowing that there's someone out there working just as hard, or maybe even harder, and I'm going to have to outwork him.

How do you think your relationship with Coach Lee has evolved in the past year?

I feel like me and Coach Lee's relationship has definitely grown. When I first came into high school, I wasn't as mature as I am now. I probably didn't listen to his race plans. I feel like he stays up every night studying different things for me and for the team...

He's really looking out for each and every one of us. He's pushing his hardest to come out here and give us the best he can give us everyday, no matter if it's on the track, personal life, or anything. If you need to call him about anything, you can. It can be track related or not. But as a coach, he's definitely a mentor to me and every athlete that he's coached. He definitely has a legacy at Bullis…

He's got me to where I am, so I'm super thankful for him and am super blessed. There's no other coach that thought I could do what I did except him. We talked about it the year before—maybe not the Olympics, but he always knew that I had the potential to go out there and do something great.