Guided by his mum’s dreams, the talented Tony McQuay is aiming to finally get his individual 400m right on the big stage in Moscow, and vows that the US 4x400m team will not be beaten.

If US 400m sprinter Tony McQuay needs a motto for life, it should probably be three simple words: ‘Mum knows best.’

The reason? Well, back when he was a small child his mother, Lynda, herself a high school athletics coach, had predicted that come 2012, her son would be at the Olympic Games.

Many proud parents are prone to hyperbole when talking about their offspring, yet Lynda was bang on the money. Last year in London, McQuay, from Florida, did just that.

A promising high school American footballer, Tony showed a talent at wide receiver and at defensive back, yet athletics was always going to win the argument for one very good reason.

“My mum was really big on running track and [me] going to the Olympics, and I really wanted to make her happy and do that,” says McQuay, who is based in the appositely-named Gainesville.

Still only 23, McQuay is making his third successive major championship appearance in Moscow. He is an established international over the one-lap distance, and all he needs to do now is back up his undoubted pedigree with a big performance.

Making his big breakthrough in 2011, McQuay dipped below 45 seconds for the first time at the NCAA Championships, before stunning the 400m community with personal best 44.68 to land the US national title in Eugene.

Hotly tipped for a medal at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, he couldn’t deliver. Troubled by a hamstring injury - not helped by the long plane ride to Korea  - he was dumped out of the heats of the 400m, in a time more than two seconds slower than his PB.

“It was very difficult,” he says. “I was the US champ, on the big stage for the first time and I ended up getting hurt. At the same time it was a learning experience and process.”

Coached by Mike Holloway, McQuay emerged last year as an even stronger athlete. He secured the NCCA title in Des Moines before defending his US title in a new personal best 44.49 on his pro debut.

Once again, he was tipped to win a medal on the big stage. Once again, disappointment followed as he failed to progress beyond the semi-finals. He was forced to sit out the final and watch the other young buck of global 400m running, Kirani James, strike gold.

If McQuay had repeated the time he ran at the US Championships he would have won bronze.

So why could he not deliver in London?

“I‘d had a long, long season,” he says. “I was still at school, I came out of trials and once I got to London my body was really tired.”

During the winter months, McQuay sought to rectify the championship disappointment of the previous couple of seasons by “taking better care of my body”.

Preferring to train solo without training partners because “I love pushing myself and feeling uncomfortable when no-one else is around me,” he believes he is in the form of his life on the training track.

His ability to deliver at US Championships has remained consistent. Last month he finished runner-up in Des Moines behind former world and Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt. In the semi-finals, his 44.72 places him joint-third in the 2013 rankings.

So with this in mind, and with the benefit of his Daegu and London experiences how does he hope to fare in Moscow?

“I would want the gold medal, if not to make the stand. That would be number one,” he says.

Yet to achieve the ultimate goal he faces the not inconsiderable threat of Grenada’s ‘Spice Boy’ Kirani James. The reigning world and Olympic 400m champion is one the most exciting talents in the sport, with many predicting he can one day smash Michael Johnson’s iconic world record mark of 43.18. 

“I’ve been racing him [James] since my freshman year at college,“ says McQuay. "I ran a 4x400m and this tall, big kid flashed past me and I was like, ‘who is this kid?’

"Kirani is one of those athletes that you are not going to see have a bad day very often. Even in his worst race, he is able to put together a low to mid 44 second race. Kirani is the Usain Bolt of our event and when racing him you have to be on your A game.”

Yet besides success in the individual event, Tony has another clear ambition for Moscow. To help the USA avenge last year’s stinging Olympic defeat to the Bahamas in the 4x400m, he has a clear message to the ‘Golden Knights.’

“We are a lot stronger this year and we have guys back that we didn’t have last year,” he says, referring chiefly to Merritt, who was injured and did but compete in the relay in London. 

“I told Chris Brown (the evergreen Bahamian veteran 400m runner) it would never happen again when I was running! We had a big setback in London but we’ll be back this year and use that as a motivation to remind us to get gold.”

A fact that should he achieve it would please his No.1 fan, Lynda McQuay, enormously.