In Historically Fast Men's 110-Meter Hurdles Final, Grant Holloway Leads The Charge Again

By David Woods for DyeStat

John Nepolitan photo

EUGENE – Grant Holloway asserted he need not be an Olympic gold medalist to be fulfilled. That resume keeps filling up, though.

In the fastest mass finish in history of the 110-meter hurdles, he led a sweep of three men under 13 seconds Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Now he can rectify that omission.

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“If you’re not training to be Olympic gold medalist, what the hell are you doing?” he said. “That’s my mentality. If you’re not winning, you’re losing.

“If you’re not first, you’re last. Ricky Bobby said it best.”

Holloway had been the only man under 13.00 this year, clocking 12.92 in heats and 12.96 in semifinals. That was prelude.

In the final, his time was 12.86, fourth-fastest ever. He joined Dayron Robles of Cuba as the only athletes with multiple sub-12.90 performances in their careers.

Claiming the two other spots on Team USA were Freddie Crittenden III in 12.93 and Daniel Roberts in 12.96.

Never had three men been under 13 seconds in the same race.

And Holloway won. He underscored a point made by hurdles colleague Rai Benjamin: Holloway is to track and field what Lewis Hamilton is to F1 – winning so often that it is underappreciated.

Holloway, 26, has won five World championships (two indoors) and was silver medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“He’s dominated for so long,” Benjamin said. “We’ve known him all the way from high school to college, now in the pros. I think it kind of goes under the radar, like his accomplishments and what he’s able to do.

"Back-to-back 12.9s? It’s crazy.”

Cordell Tinch finished fourth in 13.03, Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott fifth in 13.09, Cameron Murray sixth in 13.15 and Michael Dickson seventh in 13.21.

From third through seventh, those are the fastest times ever for those places.

Trey Cunningham, silver medalist behind Holloway in the 2022 World Championships at Hayward Field, was ninth in 13.39.

Only times faster than Holloway’s 12.86:

Aries Merritt, 12.80 in 2012; Holloway, 12.81 in a 2021 nationals semifinal at Hayward; former Oregon football player Devon Allen, 12.84 in 2022.

“Grant’s a beast. Always been a beast,” Benjamin said.

To celebrate, Holloway went into the stands to bring out a small boy Chase Barreau, someone with whom he has shared other winning moments. The boy’s family travels across the country to many of his meets, Holloway said.

“To share that moment with him on NBC, I think when he looks back on it, he’ll think it’s pretty cool,” he said.

It was a redemptive moment for Crittenden, 29, a native of metropolitan Detroit who was a college hurdler at Syracuse. He said he has worked at a Phoenix non-profit to fund an Olympic dream he nearly abandoned. He kissed the Hayward Field track after the 2021 trials, figuring that was it for this sport.

Now, he is an Olympian, and one-third of the fastest hurdling trio ever.

There were more fast performances on the track in prelims rounds of other events. 

In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Masai Russell turned in a career-best 12.35 to lead all qualifiers into the semifinal round. And by all qualifiers, that included everyone, including Nia Ali, who trotted through her heat in 20.38 seconds and still moves on. 

In the women's 1,500 meters, 10 women ran under 4:03 in the semifinal round to set up the final. Nikki Hiltz was the fastest out of both semifinals in 4:01.40. 

Benjamin practically jogged the end of his semifinal heat of the men's 400-meter hurdles, after running an aggressive backstretch and finishing in 47.97 seconds for the fastest time. High schooler Vance Nilsson ran the fourth-fastest prep time in history, 49.77 seconds, but was two spots out of advancing to the final. 

In a super-fast men's 800 meters prelim, Hobbs Kessler (1:43.71) and Brandon Miller (1:43.73) both ran personal bests in the same semifinal. Bryce Hoppel ran 1:44.01 to win his semifinal and called it an "easy" effort. 

Gabby Thomas ran a world-leading time of 21.78 seconds in the semifinal round of the women's 200 meters. Noah Lyles blasted through the men's 200 semifinal in a wind-aided time of 19.60 (+2.5w).

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.