“Well, this used to be his own turf. It’s mine now,” Andrew Salvodon proudly voiced these words while he was still catching his breath from beating Quincy Wilson at the 2025 VA Showcase. Everyone expected Wilson to come and dominate the 500m event that day, as he had done for years, building a reputation. That night, however, the crown switched heads, and a new rivalry sparked off. It’s been six months since then, and Wilson hasn’t been sitting quietly. He got it once at the New Balance Indoors in March, and now, history repeats itself…

Quincy Wilson can be easily called the New Balance Nationals king. In the past 3 years, the teenager has won a title in every NB individual final he has run! In fact, just last year, when Quincy Wilson clocked a 45.13s time at the NB Nationals Outdoor, he not only set a new meet record but also dropped a new personal best. That’s when it hit him, “My race plan is going good…Everything has been smooth…” Well, a year has passed, and hardly anything has changed.

At the 2025 New Balance Nationals Outdoor on June 21, Quincy Wilson clenched yet another 400m title. The 17-year-old hit two targets with one arrow as he not just defended his NB Outdoors throne in 45.37 seconds, but also completed yet another win over his high school rival, Andrew Salvodon, who surprisingly missed the podium entirely, finishing fourth in 46.47s seconds. Not a close win, Salvodon was nowhere near Wilson, losing by a wide margin of over 1.1 seconds.

Moreover, for Wilson, this is his 6th New Balance title overall and his second 400m outdoor win of the season. And looking at his form, one could say that he was out there to prove the words he’d said before the matchup, “The work isn’t done yet….” But we aren’t shocked. After all, Wilson had also assured just a day before the race that he has been thriving mentally and physically, “I’m feeling great, feeling great. It’s going to be a great final.”

In terms of his rivalry with the “Reaper”, Quincy Wilson has now gained a clear upper hand after 2 back-to-back wins over the teen. It now appears that it might have been a possibility that his VA Showcase form was rusty because it was his opening race of the season. Because, ever since that, Wilson hasn’t let Andrew Salvodon hold him off in a single race!

Quincy Wilson has cracked his rival’s code

At the New Balance Nationals Indoors in March 2025, Quincy Wilson defeated Andrew Salvodon, breaking a meet record with his 45.71s performance. All that while the wound from his VA Showcase loss was still fresh. That day, he’d looked dominant from the get-go, leading right till he finished the race, 0.13s ahead of Salvodon. But today, at the NB Nationals Outdoors, the Reaper really faded away in the background while Quincy Wilson had yet another smashing win, but with a much wider margin. So yes, looks like Wilson has got Salvodon’s running strategy all figured out!

Another thing that we can now look forward to in this rivalry is whether it takes a bitter shape or both boys maintain great sportsmanship like they have so far. After all, right after Wilson lost the VA Showcase race, he’d added an Instagram story tagging Salvodon that read, “great race.” That was such a mature and commendable move. Although later, Wilson said that his VA Showcase loss was a wake-up call for him. And now he’s proving that with his wins.

On the other hand, Salvodon had laughed at the fact that he beat Quincy Wilson by two whole seconds in January.  So, will he, as an opponent, return the favor by congratulating the Olympian teen on his win this time? Let’s wait and watch!