WACO, Texas — The first time Wil London stepped on to a track, he was just 4 years old at the Hart-Patterson complex in Waco.
London is a Wacoan, through and through. A graduate of both Waco High and Baylor, he is set for the opportunity of a lifetime: A chance to compete in Tokyo after missing out in 2016.
"I wasn't expecting to go (to the trials)," London said. "Coach just said, 'We're going to do it, because when you do it again when you get older, it'll take a lot of the pressure off of you because you've been there before.' So, this year, it's been no pressure at all."
London is one of the fortunate few in the pro ranks who gets to train in the same venue where he ran in college, at Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium on the Baylor campus.
There, he trains with Hart, himself, as so many greats before.
"Coach Hart has coached the best," London acknowledged. "From Michael Johnson to Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson, Sanya Richards, those guys."
With countless Olympic medals and top world rankings among them, London said Hart's biggest mentorship of Waco's latest "Quarter-Mile U" graduate is to simply keep going.
"To hear that from a coach that's been on every major scale of track & field and has coached every one of the best in the world that's ever run in the 400 is always humbling to hear," London said.
So, as the calendar begins to flip to June and London gets set to go to Eugene, Oregon, he does it with the confidence that he'll be on the roster in Tokyo.
"I honestly just look at it no other way," London said. "I don't see it going no other way."
As London trains for June's trials, he does it hoping to leave a mark. Not just one on the sport of track & field or in Tokyo. Most of all, he hopes to leave a mark on his hometown of Waco.
"I'll never trade it for anything," London said. "Like, if I can stay and train here forever, I would. It's not something that I take lightly, I really love the city that I'm from, I love everybody that's here and I just want to continue to motivate everyone that's around me."
And he trains knowing that when the stage is at its biggest, London is at his most confident.
"I showed up to make the USA team, I showed up to make the world team," London said. "I've always showed up when it mattered the most and I think that is going to continue to be the same."
The Olympic Trials are scheduled to begin June 18 in Eugene, Oregon.