Paris ¨C American Grant Holloway finally added Olympic 110-meter hurdles gold to his sizeable trophy cabinet on Thursday, exploding out of the blocks as usual before cruising to victory.
The 26-year-old, who had claimed virtually every major title in a dominant half decade including three world championship gold medals, clocked 12.99 seconds.
¡°It means the world to officially have it complete,¡± Holloway told reporters. ¡°To complete the career Grand Slam is what I¡¯ve been wanting. I¡¯m beside myself right now. So happy about everything going on.¡±
U.S. teammate Daniel Roberts lunged at the finish line before tumbling to the track to claim silver in 13.09 seconds, beating Jamaica¡¯s bronze medalist Rasheed Broadbell by three-thousandths of a second in a photo finish. Japan¡¯s Rachid Muratake finished fifth with a time of 13.21 seconds.
Holloway, surprisingly beaten by Jamaica¡¯s Hansle Parchment at the Tokyo Olympics, had downplayed talk that he desperately needed a victory in Paris.
¡°I knew I was in shape, I knew I was capable of completing this feat. I officially did it,¡± said Holloway, who jokingly wiped away fake tears after ringing the stadium¡¯s victory bell.
¡°I¡¯m looking forward to what¡¯s to come. The future is so bright. Everything else that I can do, I know it¡¯s going to be great.¡±
What is to come could well be a world record. His career best time of 12.81 is just a hundredth off the record set by American Aries Merritt in 2012.
¡°I¡¯ve been hurdling so well this year, I¡¯m in great shape, I just want to keep this going,¡± he said.
As often happens in Holloway¡¯s races, the mystery was who would come second, and there were tense moments before the silver and bronze medalists¡¯ names flashed up on the screen.
¡°I¡¯ve got battle scars from that race,¡± Roberts said. ¡°It was very intense, I was hitting hurdles. But I made up my mind that I wasn¡¯t going to let that stop me, I was going to keep going, keep fighting, run through that line.
Broadbell was thrilled with the bronze.
¡°I saw my dad crying,¡± he said. ¡°I know he feels good that all the dedication has finally paid off. I know he¡¯s not going to sleep for probably a week.¡±
Tokyo champion Parchment finished eighth.
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