5 highly potential track and field stars expected to impress over the next decade:
We will discuss 5 highly promising track-and-field stars expected to impress over the next decade (20252026).
1. Quincy Wilson
Wilson is among the 5 highly potential track and field stars expected to impress over the next decade. At 16, he became one of the youngest athletes to run sub-45 seconds in the 400m, demonstrating potential to break world records.
Wilson had his breakout year in indoor and outdoor track and field in 2023. In March, he claimed the New Balance Nationals indoor 400-meter title in Boston with 46.67 seconds. He followed this with a second-place finish at the New Balance Nationals outdoor 400-meter in June.
The 2024 indoor season showcased Wilson’s extraordinary talent. In January, he nearly broke the national high school record in the 500-meter with 1:01.27 at the VA Showcase. February saw him set multiple marks, including the second-fastest all-time high school boys’ 600-meter at 1:17.36 at the Millrose Games. In March, he defended his New Balance Nationals indoor title with a national record of 45.76 seconds in the 400-meter and helped Bullis School set a national record in the 4×400-meter relay.
Wilson’s 2024 outdoor season brought even more achievements. His Penn Relays performance included a blazing 44.37-second split. At the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, he set under-18 world bests in both preliminaries (44.66) and semifinals (44.59), finishing sixth in the final. In July, he improved his under-18 world best to 44.20 seconds at the Holloway Pro Classic.
Early Career
Wilson began his career as an athlete at the age of 8. Wilson’s cousin, Shaniya Hall, graduated in 2020 before running track at the University of Oregon. He started competing nationally in 2022, when he won his fifth AAU Junior Olympic Games title. Wilson also won the 400-meter final with a time of 47.77 seconds and came in second place in the 200-meter final, finishing with a time of 22.42 seconds.
In 2023, he made history as one of the youngest American athletes to sign a name, image, and likeness (NIL) contract with a major sports brand.
Here is the chat of wilson last 6 races of 2024-25
| 44.10 | Ed Murphey Classic (July 2025 – U18 World Best) |
| 44.20 | Gainesville (July 2024 – Former U18 World Best) |
| 44.59 | US Olympic Trials Semi (June 2024) |
| 44.66 | US Olympic Trials First Round (June 2024) |
| 44.94 | US Olympic Trials Final (June 2024) |
| 45.13-45.19 | Various early 2024 meets |
After the Paris Olympics
Following his 2024 Olympic gold medal, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson continued his record-breaking form by setting a new U18 400m world record of 44.10 seconds in July 2025 at the Ed Murphey Classic. Despite a minor hamstring injury in late 2024, he returned to dominate high school competition, winning a sixth national title in June 2025 and opening his 2025 indoor season with a personal best in the 600m.
2. Divine Iheme
Divine is 2nd among the 5 highly promising track-and-field stars expected to impress over the next decade. British sprinter Divine broke the U15 world record for 100m, drawing comparisons to elite sprinters with his top-tier acceleration.
Iheme, who has been dubbed as the new Noah Lyles, broke J-Mee Samuels’ Mark of 6.74 from 2003 twice, clocking 6.71 and 6.72 at the next instalment of the BFTTA Indoor Series.
3. Beatrice Chebet
Already an Olympic and World Cross Country champion, Chebet is redefined distance running by breaking the sub-29-minute barrier in the 10,000m.
Now Beatrice Chebet, the athletics distance double Olympic and world champion over the women’s 5000m and 10,000m, is out for the 2026 season to start a family.
The Kenyan announced in a post on Instagram on Monday (5 January) that she is pregnant.
“I’ve chased finish lines, medals, and dreams. Now I’m chasing a love I haven’t met yet,” reads text added to a photo of the pregnant 25-year-old wearing her Kenya running top and looking at a reflection of herself in a window.
“Motherhood begins in 2026.”
4. Ethan Katzberg
Canadian Hammer Throw star Katzberg is among the 5 highly potential track and field stars. Katzberg achieved the longest throws in 2024, winning Olympic gold at a young age.
Journey from Baseball to hammer throw
The reigning world and Olympic champion preferred basketball and had the height and speed to excel in the sport.
Whenever the teenager participated in track and field at school, the Canadian enjoyed tossing the heavy ball, which was attached to a wooden handle with a wire, the same hammer that his sister threw with such grace.
Fast-forward.
10 years later, he is no longer a rookie but the ninth-best hammer thrower in history.
His gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was secured by his first throw of 84.12m in the final, which marked the first hammer title for his nation in over a century.
A huge victory that further reinforced Katzberg’s grit.
“It was such an incredible experience and being able to see the plan fully go through and perform when I needed to and just get the job done, it was really great,” he tells Olympics.com in a recent interview.
“I knew that I could produce a result at the right time. I just needed to execute some technical cues and get as focused as I could in the Olympic stadium.”
In a few weeks, he will return to the global stage, testing himself against the elite hammer throwers as he seeks to defend his world title in Tokyo. The 23-year-old, who has so far won six of his eight events this season, speaks with assurance, keen to replicate his World Championships and Olympic Games achievements.
“I’m very excited to have those experiences behind me with the Budapest World Championships and the Olympics, going into a World Championship. I’ve never really had that.”
5. Julien Alfred
Juien Alfred is a sprinter from St. Lucia who stunned the world to took gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. As a premier talent in the 100m and 200m, she has established herself as one of the fastest women in the world, with the potential to lead the next era of sprinting.
Born on 10 June 2001 in Saint Lucia’s capital city, Castries, Julien Alfred’s first forays into athletics came after a librarian at school spotted her racing against boys in her class.
Following a period spent training under the eye of local coach Cuthbert Modeste, the young prospect briefly left the sport when her father died in 2013.
After being convinced to return to track & field, Alfred moved alone to Jamaica at age 14. She attended St Catherine High School, where she honed her sprinting talent, competing in the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championship.
Inspired by Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, Alfred developed into one of the fastest young sprinters in the world. In 2018, she won Saint Lucia’s first-ever medal at the Youth Olympic Games, coming home second in the 100m.
Those Games in Buenos Aires had a profound impact on the young athlete’s life, with Alfred admitting to Olympics.com:
“I think that was the beginning of something great. It influenced my choices in going to college, as well, so I think it was a really good experience for me.”
All Track and Field spectutar waits major sprint events, including the female 100m. LA28 women’s 100m schedule poses exciting new challenge for the likes of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Julien Alfred, and Sha’Carri Richardson