Quincy Wilson Sets New 400m National Record In 45.37

Quincy Wilson (Bullis School) broke his own national record in a battle for the ages with Jayden Deleon (Montgomery Blair, MD) running 45.37 to Deleon's 45.38.  This is Wilson's fourth New Balance Nationals Indoor 400m title completing the sweep from his freshman through senior year.

It was certainly the most difficult one to achieve being challenged by another Maryland athlete in Deleon down the home stretch.  Wilson was in lane 5 with Deleon on his outside in lane 6.  They were the fastest two qualifiers out of the prelims with Wilson at 46.51 and Deleon at 46.96 yesterday afternoon.

Wilson was out to a fast start making up the stagger on Deleon and taking the lead position through the break.  Wilson would come through 200m in 21.31 to Deleon's 21.45 who had to time his final 200m perfectly to pass Wilson, the greatest high school 400m runner of all-time.  

Deleon sat just behind him and positioned himself to swing wide on the last lap and wasn't able to make up ground going into the final turn.  He stayed in the outside ready for a final attempt  down the homestretch. 

With just 50 meters to go Deleon was making up ground on the Olympian!  It looked like Deleon was going to just beat Wilson to the line, but Wilson was able to just hold him off running 45.37 to Deleon's 45.38.  Officially Wilson crossed .009 seconds ahead of Deleon.

Wilson's previous 400m National Record was set at last years New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at 45.66.  Deleon's mark will be US#2 All-Time Indoors.  It's incredible that after all Wilson has accomplished over his last four years, he was just .009 seconds from not holding the Maryland State Record with an incredible fight from Deleon.  

Winning over all four years is a major accomplishment itself.  But after winning his freshman and sophomore year, the field showed no fear in going after Wilson on the big stage after the battle with Andrew Salvodon in 2025 and now with Jayden Deleon in 2026.  He had to fend off the US#2 and US#3 All-Time athletes in order to win four straight New Balance Indoor National Titles.

Quincy Wilson New Balance Indoor Nationals Winning Times

Year	Time	Winning Margin
2023	46.67	0.44
2024	45.67	1.45
2025	45.71	0.13
2026	45.37	0.009

Deleon, who is heading to LSU next fall, had a major breakthrough that can't go unrecognized.  He was the New Balance Outdoor Runner-Up last year to Wilson running a personal best of 46.33 where Wilson won in 45.37.   His best this indoor season was 46.86 winning The CIRCUIT Philly in 46.86 while also running 32.75 for the 300m winning the NYIS Showcase.

We'll get to see the highly anticipated rematch at New Balance Outdoor Nationals this June between the two Maryland superstars!

United States All-Time Indoor 400m Rankings