Track star Wilson going pro
Fred Jeter | 6/22/2023, 6 p.m.
Britton Wilson has decided to run for cash instead of medals and ribbons.
The former Richmond athlete is leaving the University of Arkansas to pursue a professional career sponsored by HSI Sports Agency.
Wilson starred locally for Mills Godwin High before enrolling first at the University of Tennessee and more recently at Arkansas.
She ranks among the fastest women in the world for the 400 hurdles and flat 400. Her personal bests are 53.04 for a quarter mile over sticks and 49.13 for the flat 400.
Wilson, 22, is the daughter of former VCU basketball guard Vince Wilson. She finished fifth in the 400 hurdles at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Ore., and raced a leg on the U.S. winning 4x400 relay.
Wilson suffered a minor setback at the recent NCAA championships in Austin, Tex. She was second in the 400 hurdles and a disappointing seventh in the hurdles. The schedule offered her little recovery time. There were only 25 minutes between the end of the hurdles and the start of the open 400.
Her first pro runs could be July 6-9 at the USATF Outdoor championships inEugene.There she will likely compete against Sidney McLaughlin-Levrone, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’ 400-meter hurdles champ.
Wilson also will likely begin competition on the international Diamond Tour. Certainly a goal will be to qualify, possibly in 400 and 400 hurdles, for the 2024 Olympics in France.
