NCAA track and field championships: Britton Wilson takes aim at history

The four-day NCAA Division I track and field championships begin on Wednesday night, and for fans of the sport it offers a glimpse of not just the future, but the present. With the world championships coming late this year, it won't be a surprise to see multiple athletes crowned champions and All-Americans this week go on to represent their respective countries at the worlds in Budapest come August.

The NCAA finals are held at the University of Texas' Myers Stadium, with the men's semifinals kicking things off Wednesday followed by women's semis on Thursday. Men's finals are Friday, and women on Saturday. All four days will be shown on ESPN2, with streams for all field events on ESPN+.

There will be standout performances everywhere, but one of the stars of the event will likely be Britton Wilson of Arkansas.

Already a world championships gold medalist from last year's COVID-delayed competition as a member of the American 4x400-meter relay team, this weekend Wilson aims to do something no NCAA athlete has ever done: win the open 400 and the 400 hurdles in the same meet.

Ask any current or former runner: the 400 is grueling, arguably the toughest track event there is. It's basically full-out for a full lap of the track. The only thing tougher might be the 400 with 10 barriers to clear on the way around the lap.

The 400 hurdles have gotten a lot of shine in recent years thanks to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad, who have pushed each other — with the Netherlands' Femke Bol also playing a role — to faster and faster times in what was once a fairly long-standing world record in the event.

After winning Olympic and world gold, McLaughlin-Levrone is turning her attention to the open 400 for now, though there has been some talk of her trying to double and compete in both at worlds, despite the schedule not being in her favor.

Despite an unfavorable schedule, Wilson, a Richmond, Virginia, native who transferred from Tennessee to Arkansas after her freshman year, is confirmed to attempt the double at NCAAs, and she has a strong chance to make history.

As the defending national champion in 400 hurdles, she is again the fastest woman in the country in the event by a very comfortable margin. She ran it in 53.71 seconds at the NCAA West regional late last month, two full seconds better than the second-seeded runner, Houston's Sydni Townsend.

Wilson is also the top seed in the open 400, having run 49.51 seconds in the West regional. At the SEC championship on May 13 she broke the NCAA record, posting 49.13 seconds, which is also the fourth-fastest by any American woman. Texas' Rhasidat Adeleke ran 49.54 at the West regional.

Assuming nothing catastrophic happens and Wilson advances to the finals on Saturday in both races, she will have just 25 minutes between the start of the 400 and the 400 hurdles, making a tall task even harder.

On Tuesday, she downplayed the difficulty of the schedule.

"We didn't really practice [running each event all-out on so little rest], but our workouts are based off of short rest a lot of times, so we do have a lot of workouts where we only have 90 seconds, 60 seconds turnaround," Wilson said. "I kind of got a feel for the short turnaround at regionals. That was a kind of a mock trial for what it's gonna feel like here."

As for why she decided to try to conquer the 400/400 hurdles double, Wilson said, "I've honestly seen it as a challenge for myself and I wanted to see how much I could push myself to be able to do something that nobody else has done before. Especially with the short rest I think that that's something that I see as a big challenge and I want to push myself to do that."

Other standouts to keep an eye on

Jasmine Moore, Florida: Moore is looking to extend an incredible streak: she won the national title in long jump and triple jump at the 2022 NCAA Indoors, the 2022 NCAA Outdoors, and the 2023 Indoors, and is favored to win both again. In March at the indoor nationals, her winning triple jump of 15.12 meters (49 feet, 7 inches) was the best ever by an American woman, indoors or outdoors.

Katelyn Tuohy, N.C. State: A high school phenom, Tuohy has continued her ascent with the Wolfpack. After winning the 5000 meters last year at outdoor nationals, she returned in the fall and came from 11 seconds back to win the individual title in cross country, leading NC State to the team title. She also was national champion in the 3000 and 5000 at the indoor NCAAs this year. She is entered in both the 1500 and 5000 this week.

Julien Alfred, Texas: The reigning champion in the 100, Alfred will be looking to break the meet record of 10.75 seconds set by Sha'Carri Richardson in 2019 and lead the favored Longhorns to back-to-back 4x100 crowns.

Jaydon Hibbert, Arkansas: The freshman from Kingston, Jamaica — who turned 18 in January after graduating from high school early — has already rewritten the triple jump record book. In winning the national indoor title at 17.54m (57-6.5) he didn't just set a new NCAA record, he broke the nearly-40-year old under-20 world record. At the SEC championships a month ago, he bettered that mark with a winning jump of 17.87m (58-7.5), which ties him for 13th best ever.

Kyle Garland, Georgia: Garland is coming off the indoor heptathlon crown, which he did in NCAA record fashion, enjoying an incredible moment with his father when he did. At the SEC championships, he showed he's ready to win the outdoor decathlon by posting the second-highest point total in collegiate history. He already owns the NCAA mark from his showing at the U.S. championships last year.

The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.