EUGENE, Ore. — Two Maryland runners who spent years making names for themselves on tracks here at home ended the World Athletics U20 Championships together with gold medals for Team USA.
Jayden DeLeon and Quincy Wilson first gave Maryland a 1-2 finish in the men’s 400 meters Friday, Aug. 7, before joining forces two days later to help the United States win gold in the men’s 4×400-meter relay.
DeLeon, a 2026 graduate of Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, won the individual 400 in 44.47 seconds, setting a World U20 Championships record. The victory also made DeLeon the first American to win the men’s 400 at the World U20 Championships in 18 years. Wilson, a 2026 graduate of the Bullis School in Potomac, finished second in a season-best 44.62 seconds.
The finish put two Maryland runners at the top of the podium and marked the first time since 2002 that athletes from the same country finished first and second in the men’s 400 at the World U20 Championships.
But their week was not over.
On Sunday, Aug. 9, DeLeon and Wilson were both part of the Team USA lineup that won the men’s 4×400-meter relay.
The relay team included Quincy Wilson, Cameron Tucker, Alexander Osayemi and Jayden DeLeon. The Americans finished in 3 minutes, 1.39 seconds, the fastest U20 time in the world this year.
Wilson led off the relay before Tucker and Osayemi carried the middle legs, with DeLeon running anchor.
The victory gave both Maryland runners a world U20 gold medal before they begin their college careers.
The two had already been battling near the front of the field throughout the summer.
DeLeon is headed to LSU after graduating from Oakland Mills, while Wilson will remain close to home as an incoming freshman at the University of Maryland.
Wilson already enters College Park with significant international experience. At 16, he became the youngest male track and field Olympian in U.S. history when he was part of the 4×400-meter relay pool at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he earned a gold medal.
DeLeon, meanwhile, leaves Maryland high school track as a world champion and one of the fastest young 400-meter runners in the world.
For Maryland track fans, the week in Eugene offered something special: two recent high school graduates from the state finishing first and second individually, then putting on the same Team USA uniform and winning gold together.
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