By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Whether it was a district track meet at Waco High School, the Big 12 Championships at Baylor, a professional meet in Atlanta or the Olympic Trials, Wil London doesn't like to lose.
As good as it feels to be a part of the USA Track & Field team for the Olympics in Tokyo – the first Olympian ever from Waco – his eighth-place finish in the 400-meter finals at last month's Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., still doesn't sit well.
"Me and Coach (Clyde) Hart and Coach (Kenneth) Wiethorn and my family, we always go into every race wanting to win. That's always the expectation," said London, who's part of the pool for the men's 4x400 and mixed 4x400 relays.
"I know those guys are still proud of me. But me personally, my goal is always to win. I feel like if I didn't win, I didn't accomplish the goal that I set. I want to still be proud of myself for going out there and doing the best that I could and just being an Olympian and then rest and get ready for next year."
That's the thing, at 23 years old, the former Baylor All-American still has a lifetime of championships ahead of him. He will be in his prime for the 2024 Olympics in Paris and could still be at his peak for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
"After the Olympics, we actually have World Indoors and then the World Outdoors next year in Eugene," London said. "I think there's going to be three major championships before we get to the next Olympics. So, a lot of records to be broken, a lot of fast times and a lot of money to be made."
The big stage is certainly nothing new for London, an eight-time All-American at Baylor who won four-consecutive 400-meter titles at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Still a teenager in 2017, he finished a surprising third at the USA Championships and earned a silver medal on the 4x400 relay at the World Championships in London, England.
Even the year before that, London made the semifinals in the 400 at the 2016 USA Olympic Trials, narrowly missing a spot in the finals.
"I really didn't go into it with too many expectations," he said, "because I didn't even know I was going (to the 2016 Trials) until a week before. Coach Hart told me, 'I want you to go, just to get the experience. I'm not asking you to go out there and make the team. But, I want you to be able to run on these stages as early as possible, so that when the next time comes around, you'll be ready.'''
After finishing his collegiate career with a third-place finish in the 400 meters at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, London had a busy summer and early fall with trips to Lima, Peru, for the Pan Am Games; Minsk, Russia, for The Match, an inaugural USA vs. Europe meet; and Doha, Qatar, for the World Championships.
Added to the relay pool, despite not making the finals at the USA Championships, he won gold medals at the World Championships with both the men's and mixed 4x400 relays.
"A lot of people don't realize that this sport is mostly mental more so than physically," he said. "Physically, the work has already been done. It's just mentally preparing yourself for the race. Like Coach Hart said, 'Execute, or be executed.' It's more about mentally executing my race. If I don't do that, it doesn't matter how fast or strong I am."
The hidden blessing of last year's COVID-19 pandemic that delayed the Tokyo Olympics by a year is that London had his first summer off since . . . he can't remember when.
"Since my freshman year at Baylor, I've always made a team and come back with a medal," he said. "Even when I was a kid, we'd always travel with summer track and AAU basketball. When COVID happened, I was like, 'Ah, I finally get a break.' But honestly, I was bored. It was weird for me to have that break. Overall, it helped, but I think it also hindered me, because I feel like I didn't come into the season with that mental edge. I relaxed too much."
In what has essentially been his first full season as a professional, London has won the 400 at three meets. At the American Track League meet two weeks ago in Atlanta, he recorded a winning time of 45.08 to beat Trinidad Olympian Machel Cedenio and USA teammate Trevor Stewart.
"It was hard for me to understand when I wasn't running the times I wanted to run," London said. "Coach Hart knows that I want to run fast every time I step on the track. But, he told me, 'As a professional, you have to run when it counts the most.' My times are dropping and I'm running faster now, I just wish I could have done it at the Trials. I guess it just wasn't my time yet."
Regardless of whether he gets to run at the Olympics, London said he will be grateful for the chance to be a part of the USA team and wear the red, white and blue uniform.
"I told Coach Hart and my dad, 'Whatever happens, it happens,''' he said. "If I do run and I get a medal, I'll be glad to get that experience. And if I don't, if I've got to sit in the stands see the other people get medals, I'll know I don't want to feel this again.
"It's just how it works in this sport. I've got to make sure that I put myself in the position from now on that no else can control the narrative. I can control the narrative: Just go out there and win when it counts the most. I want to put myself and put other people in a position where they don't have a choice but to put me on the track."
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