Wilson has always tried a variety of events, and sports. When she was younger, she was a gymnast and a cheerleader and dabbled in a handful of events on track.
“In middle school, I was running the 200,” she said. “In high school, I pretty much tried everything. I did indoor 55 meters, 400, 500. I also tried long jump. I did the 400 hurdles later on. My high school coach basically just said he thought I could be good at it.”
He was right.
After the N.C.A.A. meet, Britton, 22, will pass up a final season of college eligibility and turn pro, with an eye on running at the world championships in Budapest in August and then the 2024 Paris Olympics. She already has a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles and a gold medal in the 4×400 relay from the 2022 world championships on her résumé.
As for further doubling, she said: “I definitely want to continue to do it. For one, I really love to do it. For two, I think I have something that a lot of other athletes don’t have, that I’m able to do it. I’m going to wait until I’m further in my pro career to do that, rather than do it as my first year as a professional.”
So which event will she choose when she transitions to being a professional athlete? “No idea — I’ll decide when I get there, with my coach,” she said. She will continue working with her coach at Arkansas, Chris Johnson. “It’s just a question of which one I feel more comfortable with.”
Doubling in the 400 meters and the 400-meter hurdles has become a mini-trend, at least among a small number of very talented women. Femke Bol of the Netherlands, the bronze medalist in the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics, has also won a European championship in the 400 meters.
But the biggest name in dual 400s may soon be the American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the 400-meter hurdles gold medalist in Tokyo, who is now planning to enter more 400-meter races and has openly spoken about breaking the 38-year-old world record in that event. She may stand in Wilson’s way for an international medal in both events. But Wilson says it’s a friendly rivalry.
Victor Mather
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