THEY DID IT. In securing gold and silver in the Paris 110H final, Grant Holloway and Daniel Roberts, erstwhile college rivals in the SEC, reached a target they have talked about for 5 years, a restorative Olympic race for the proud tradition of U.S. hurdling.
Their 1-2 finish was the first for American high hurdlers since 2012 when Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson ran to the podium’s top two steps in front of Hansle Parchment, the Jamaican who 9 years later shortcircuited Holloway’s quest for Tokyo21 gold.
About that U.S. tradition: it is richly bemedaled. In 14 of the 22 Olympic Games before Paris, American hurdlers had scored both the gold and silver. In 5 of those clashes — ’00, ’48, ’52, ’56 and ’60 — U.S. sprint hurdles men swept the medals. In another three early editions of the Games — ’04, ’08 and ’12 — when nations could enter more than three athletes per event, the USA produced 1-2-3-4 finishes.
While we’re talking history, it should be mentioned that at Athens 1896 Thomas Curtis of the United States won the first modern Olympic 110H in a time of 17.5 — a remarkably slow result from the perspective of 128 years later, but in a range Holloway said in the leadup to the Paris final he would happily accept as long as the gold medal were attached.
Since ’19 Holloway and Roberts really had eyed ending the latest hurdles interregnum. That was the year when the pair, representing Florida and Kentucky, placed 1-2 at the NCAA in an epic race on the Texas track in Austin. In that showdown Holloway lowered the Collegiate Record to 12.98 and Roberts’ 13.00 equaled the old CR set by Renaldo Nehemiah in ’79.
“Our junior year, we were speaking of how the U.S. was struggling for a while in major championships,” Roberts remembered after the dust had settled in Paris. “Now to have us going 1 and 2, it’s a good thing.”
Neither U.S. medalist ran his fastest ’24 time in the climactic Paris race. But the Olympic final is Al Davis territory: “Just win, baby.” Holloway got an uncharacteristically sluggish start and caught leg cramps over the last two barriers.
No matter. “As one of the greats in the sport,” the new gold medalist observed, “you gotta be able to show up, even on your off days and still be able to compete.”
Holloway added, “I felt relief. The collection is finally complete. To have world indoors, Diamond Leagues, world outdoors — all titles, and now, official Olympic gold is great, so I am just happy and ecstatic.
“The relief is finally off the shoulder and now with these next couple of races we can definitely go to sub-13 [which he’s already done 5 times in ’24]. That is what [London gold medalist] Aries Merritt did in ’12 and at the end he was able to find the rhythm and figure that out. So I just want to keep up the rhythm that I have.”
Figuring it out for Merritt meant running the World Record, 12.80, in Brussels a month after the Games. Holloway’s PR, from the ’21 OT semis, is just a hundredth slower than Merritt’s.
“Now it’s just solidifying,” Holloway said, “putting a lot of cream on it, and we’re just going to keep twirling and twirling and twirling until that last race and I can put the cherry on and say I’m happy with whatever I did.”
Roberts was happy to move up to silver from the bronze he captured at the ’23 World Champs behind Holloway. But the 26-year-old Kentucky alum called this his “worst race of the year by far” and said he would have won had he not been spiked in the left arm at barrier 2 and clobbered 4 hurdles.
“Obviously, I want to win,” Roberts said. “Obviously, I want to do great things as well and I believe those will come, but right now it’s his time, so he’s doing his thing.
“I hit like four hurdles. He knows that, too.”
Roberts has overcome two knee surgeries and culture and coaching changes. He began working with Allen Johnson, the ’96 Olympic champion, in ’23.
“This is a great start,” Roberts said. “I feel like I’m still very young in the game. I’ve got two medals in major championships now… so I think we’re going in the right direction.”
The LA 2028 Olympics figure to be a bucket list stop on the journey for both hurdlers. Holloway and Roberts, whose November birthdays are 6 days apart, will be 30 then.
Karen Rosen contributed to this story.
