Britton Wilson's journey from adversity to dominance and chasing the 400m double: A testament to her resilience
Having had a standout season for Arkansas, Wilson now turns her attention to the U.S. Track and Field Championships and - she hopes - World Athletics' showpiece event in August. Her double-dip into the 400m and 400m hurdles is nearly unheard of.
Athletics
There is a version of this life where Britton Wilson is back home in Virginia where she grew up, living a “normal” existence and likely working as a hair stylist, a passion she has picked up away from athletics.
But some of her darkest moments have actually led her to the national – and international spotlight – and the 22-year-old is now the North American record holder for the women's 400m indoors, clocking a 49.48 in March.
“I honestly do think it was something that I had to experience. I never really had such a low point in my life before,” Wilson told Olympics.com of a wave of depression she faced in her lone season at the University of Tennessee, in 2021.
“I've never experienced such depression before, [but] I learned that I am resilient and I wasn't going to just give up. Because I easily could have given up, because I went home, found a job, and stayed with my family, and decided to go a different route. But I wanted to try again.”
That resilience has been showcased this past collegiate season, when Wilson broke record after record not only in the aforementioned 400m flat, but also the 400m hurdles. Heading into last month’s NCAA Championships, in fact, she was favoured to sweep the two events, something that had never been done prior.
While she fell short in that endeavour, Wilson could – dangerously – take it as another learning curve. And just how high can she rise as she turns her focus on the coming Olympic season for Paris 2024?
Britton Wilson: Chasing the 400 double
The headlines kept coming this past season as Wilson was building herself into a collegiate track legend: She continued sweeping the 400m and 400m hurdles in record times, including at the SEC Championships in May, clocking a collegiate outdoor record in 49.13 in the 400m, just an hour before she’d go 53.28 in the hurdles.
“For me it's kind of juggling an all-out sprint and then an all-out sprint over hurdles on the same day,” laughed Wilson when trying to explain her approach. “I'm learning how to manage that level of competitiveness and obviously fatigue.”
The fatigue, it appeared, caught up to the American at the NCAA Championships, where she was runner-up in the 400m, but then slumped to seventh in the hurdles, her taped left shin appearing to hamper her towards the finish.
At this week’s (6-9 July) U.S. Track and Field Championships, Wilson is signed up only for the 400m, an event that will feature Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Talitha Diggs, and Rosaline Effiong – seen as one of the most competitive events set for Eugene.
Yet as she makes that transition from the college level ahead of the Olympic Summer Games Paris 2024, she’s staying open: **“**I feel like I can't choose just one event,” she said. “I definitely want to keep doing both of them and trying out the double at some more bigger meets one day. I don’t know, I think I will be a 400 and 400 hurdler as my title.”
Mentored by Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad
As she’s made a rise as fast as her times on the track, Wilson has reaped the rewards on the international stage, too: In her debut at the World Athletics Championships in 2022, she placed fifth in a hurdle final that saw fellow Team USA athlete McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record.
Later in the meet, she’d join Sydney – as well as Diggs and Abby Steiner – in claiming a world title for the U.S. in the women’s 4x400m relay.
McLaughlin and Rio 2016 400m hurdles champion Dalilah Muhammad have quickly become competitors for Wilson, but that hasn’t stopped the multi-time Olympic medallists from serving as friends and mentors, too.
“Sydney and Dalilah have both been very monumental for my career,” Wilson explained. “I see what they're doing and I want to do it, too. Outside of that, they have been so welcoming to me. Honestly, they treat me like a sibling.”
“It's really cool to have people like that that actually care about my success, too,” she added. “It's definitely a mentorship and [they’re both] people I look up to.”
McLaughlin-Levrone is doing a double herself, but in a different way: The reigning Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles has transitioned this season to focus on the flat 400m.
But who is to be favoured in Eugene? Wilson’s 49.13 is the fastest American time this season, ahead of McLaughlin-Levrone’s 49.51.
Wilson's Olympic dreams: ‘I wanted to be a gymnast’
Olympic dreams have long pulsed through the body of Wilson, but not in a way you might expect: She dreamed of donning a leotard and tumbling to glory – in gymnastidcs.
“Obviously, as a kid, I would be like, 'Oh, I’m going to go to the Olympics one day,'” Wilson remembered, smiling. “I actually wanted to be an Olympic gymnast.”
“I was the best at floor, so that's what I would have wanted to do,” she added, before telling us that she feels as though the vault is the apparatus most akin to the 400m.
While we probably won't see Wilson in gymnastics at Los Angeles 2028, she’s now allowing her dreams to become reality, keenly aware that the next year will be the most important of her life so far.
“It's crazy to actually to think that it could happen to me for real,” she admitted. “Like, the fact that it's on it's way to happening is insane to think about.”
When Wilson thinks about Paris, how does it make her feel?
“It makes me feel tingly,” she said. “It's just something that I've always dreamed of. When I think about it, I physically feel excitement in my body.”
Qualification for Worlds in Budapest this year could be the perfect ingredient for an Olympic recipe, too, something that would further build Wilson’s confidence, having had little experience on the international stage.
“I don't feel as scared or as new,” she said. “It won't be my first time on such a big stage. I think that's also something that goes into the goal of being on the podium [there].”
Music, make-up and listening to her heart
Wilson has never been to Paris. She comes from an athletic family, her father an accomplished basketball player and sports running through the house, including her twin brother and two older sisters.
While she admits to “always thinking about track,” there is life away from the competitive oval, too: She’s a huge music fan (she plays both piano and guitar); is an avid singer; and has been exploring the world of hair styling and cosmetics, too.
Who would make up “The Britton Band”?
“I’m so glad you asked,” she laughed, before naming Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and Selena Gomez, as well as country stars Keith Urban and Blake Shelton.
“We’re taking the band to Budapest! And then Paris!”
This light-hearted, full-of-life Wilson is one that is appreciative of her competitive successes – and acknowledges that where she’s been has helped bring her to where she finds herself now.
“When I transferred to Arkansas, everyone was really gentle with me,” she said. “They knew that I was very close to giving up on the sport. I had people that wanted me to succeed and took care of me. I think that that has been something that has helped me tap into who I am now is having that support.”
She continued: “Not to say it was something I 'had' to go through, but that was definitely a learning experience for me. I think that hitting rock bottom really showed me how resilient I really am.”