American athlete
Britton Wilson (born 13 November 2000) is an American track and field athlete specializing in the 400 meters hurdles and 400 meters. She finished fifth in the 400 m hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, her major championship debut. Wilson is the North American indoor record holder for the 400 m dash with a time of 49.48 seconds, set on March 11, 2023, in Albuquerque.
She was the first North American woman to break the 50-second barrier and only the second woman ever under 49.50 s in the indoor 400 m. At the same meet in March 2023, she was part of the mixed nationality women's team that set the fastest indoor performance in history in the 4 × 400 m relay with 3:21.75. At the time, her split of 49.19 s was the fastest indoor split in world history. Wilson is a two-time individual NCAA Division I champion.
Career
2021–2022
Initially a student at the University of Tennessee, Wilson switched to University of Arkansas in 2021 after suffering mental health issues.[1][2] The change to Arkansas proved a catalyst to her most successful season as she won the 400 meters hurdles at the NCAA Division I Outdoors in June 2022 representing the Arkansas Razorbacks in a time of 53.86, finishing nearly a whole second ahead of second-placed Anna Hall.[3] Prior to this Wilson had won both the 400 m hurdles and 400 m dash at the SEC Championships as well as helped the Razorbacks to third in the 4 x 400 m relay with a split time of 48.60, the fastest ever single lap in collegiate history.[4]
She finished second in the 400 m hurdles to world record holder Sydney McLaughlin at the 2022 USATF Championships as McLaughlin broke her own world record. Wilson ran a personal best time of 53.08 as runner up.[5] She was named in the American squad for the 2022 World Athletics Championships, where she placed fifth in the final in a time of 54.02 s.[6]
2023–present
Wilson's 2023 indoor season started with a collegiate indoor record in the 600 m with a time of 1:25.16, beating Athing Mu's previous best set in 2021.[7] On March 11 at the NCCA Division I Indoors in Albuquerque, New Mexico (at altitude), she broke the North American indoor 400 m record by over half a second with the second-fastest mark on the respective world all-time list of 49.48 seconds, a time that would have been a world indoor record before February 19 when Femke Bol achieved 49.26 s. It was the fastest ever run by a collegian indoors or out as Wilson's mark bettered Mu's NCAA outdoor record (49.57). She added title for the 4 x 400 m relay with a 49.19 s anchor, the fastest indoor split in world history.[8][9]
Britton showed no mercy to the collegiate record book about a month later again and eventually broke Mu's outdoor record too, clocking 49.51 s at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida.[10] She lowered her record to 49.13 seconds at the SEC Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a further month later, on May 13, to move up to fourth / eighth / 17th on the U.S. / NACAC / world all-time lists respectively.[11] The 22-year-old won also the 400 m hurdles in 53.28 s just an hour later to achieve the best ever one-day such double.[12]
Competing at the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, in Eugene, Oregon, she finished second in the final of the 400m.[13] A few days later on July 10, Wilson announced she would forego the rest of her NCAA eligibly and had signed a professional contract with Adidas.[14] She was selected for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August 2023.[15]
