It wasn't the prettiest race. Even Vance Nilsson admitted
that much.
But a win is a win.
And this victory was one of his biggest to date.
The high school national record-holder went stride-for-stride with the best under-20 athletes from the United States on Thursday at the U.S. U20 Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, and came out ahead.
Running out in late eight, Nilsson, a recent high school graduate from Gilbert High School in Arizona, used the final 120 meters of the 400 meter hurdle final to inch away for a 50.23 victory. That was his new personal record and the 16th-best performance in high school history.
"I can definitely run much faster than that," Nilsson said. "It wasn't a clean race for me."
Despite the admission, Nilsson's time leads the country, and most importantly, he booked his ticket to Peru for the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships. Previously, he became the only high school athlete in history to run under 35 seconds for the 300mH, clocking a time of 34.83 seconds at the AIA State Outdoor Championships.
"It means a lot," he said of qualifying to wear the red-white-and-blue. "It'll be exciting. It'll be a new experience."
On running on the outside lane, Nilsson admitted that it created a bit of a new challenge for him.
"The first 300 of my race wasn't what I wanted," he said. "I had to figure it out in the end."
Just when the legs tend to get heavy, Nilsson figured it out, and found another gear to claim the U20 400H title.
Just last month Nilsson etched his name into the high school record books when he became the first to dip under 35-seconds when he ran 34.83.
