Eugene–The question was do you feel it when you’re running a world record?
“You don’t,” said Holloway, who has twice lowered world indoor 60 meter high hurdles record. “You just hope and pay or you feel the momentum at the end of the race. You just hope and pray it’s what you want and you look up at the clock and see what it is.”
So after lunging across the finish line of the Olympic Trials 110-meter high hurdles final Friday night, Holloway, the four-time world champion, immediately looked up at the scoreboard on Hayward Field’s south end.
When he clasped his hands on the sides of his head, threw back his head and let out a deep and aggrieved scream, his body contorting in frustration it was clear hadn’t seen what he had hoped: a new world record.
Or maybe Holloway was clutching his head to protect himself from the roar that accompanied him over each of the 42-inch hurdles to a world leading 12.86 second victory in top to bottom one of the greatest hurdle races in history.
Hayward Field cranked up to 11.
Or maybe the knowledge that he was perhaps a clipped eighth hurdle away from finally breaking Aries Merritt’s 12-year-old world record of 12.80 was too much to bear.
“Yeah, I was kind of mad at myself because for the first time in a long time, I hit a hurdle,” Holloway said. “And it kind of threw off my rhythm , but I knew what kind of pace I was on. So I knew it was there.”
Even hitting the hurdle, Holloway became only the second man in history to record two career sub 12.90 clockings.
Behind him, Freddie Crittenden claimed second in 12.93, Daniel Roberts third in 12.96 in the first race ever in which three runners dipped under 13. Cordell Tinch’s 13.03 mark for fourth and Ja’Qualon Scott’s 13.09 for fifth place are the fastest times ever record for those placings.
“The hurdle gods were on our side because (the wind) was right at the limit,” Holloway said. “So I’m not going to complain. I’ll take 12.8, my second 12.8 of my career. I think that’s my second fastest time and then the 12.92 was my third fastest time and then the 12.96 was like my fourth (fastest).
“So this whole week has been nothing but great for me.”
It was a week in which anticipation of a Holloway world record had been building in Tracktown USA. Holloway opened with a then world leading 12.92 in Monday’s first round initially thinking, mistakenly, that he had run 12.83, just three hundredths of second off the world record.
“I was about to throw everything in and say I’m not doing it anymore,” the former Florida star said.”The only other thing was to put pressure on the field, let everyone know I’m still on top, no diddy, and see what happens after that.”
He followed up with a 12.96 in Thursday’s semifinals.
“As you know in track and field it doesn’t matter what you’ve done last year or two years ago,” he said. “It’s how you’re doing it now. The big thing for me is I’ve been having good practices. As long as it translates for me from practice to the track, I’m good.”
World record expectations were further heightened Friday when New Balance’s Gabby Thomas won her 200 semi in a world leading 21.78 and then Noah Lyles, the reigning world 100 and 200 champion, took his semi in a wind-aided 19.60 with five men dipping under 20 seconds.
For many in the sport it’s not what did last year or the year before when he won the 110 highs at both the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
It’s about what he didn’t do in 2021.
Holloway went to the Tokyo Olympics as one of the biggest favorites of the Games after he just missed breaking Merritt’s world record with a 12.81 blast in the Trials semis. But he was upset by Jamaica’s Hansle Parchmant 13.04 to 13.09.Holloway keeps his Olympic silver medal in the same box that holds his four World gold.
“Motivation, yes,” he said. “Do I look at it everyday and say it should be mine? No.
“I’ve done four world championships after that, indoors and outdoors combined, and I’ve got four gold medals. So I already solidified myself.”
But the absence of an Olympic gold medal on his resume might be the only explanation as to why Holloway for all his domination of his event the past three seasons is not seen in the same galaxy as hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone or Lyles.
“I think Grant deserves a lot more respect,” said Rai Benjamin, the American record-holder in the 400 hurdles. “I think it’s similar to F1 when Lewis (Hamilton) was dominating. Everybody was, ‘Oh, whatever. That’s just what Mercedes does. They don’t look at how good a driver he was. He’s dominated for so long, it kind of goes under the radar.”
Holloway was pursued by Georgia for football, Florida for track while at Chesapeake, Virginia’s Grassfield High. He chose track over life between the hedges, going on to win seven NCAA titles for the Gators. He also placed second in the NCAA outdoor and indoor long jumps, ran a leg on the first collegiate 4×100 relay to break 38 seconds and clocked a 43.75 leg on the 4×400 relay.
“Grant is a beast,” Benjamin said. “Always been a beast. He’s a real athlete.
“He can do anything he wants. That’s just Grant.”
But Holloway has so much speed that at times causes him problems in the hurdles.
“Dude’s just fast man,” Benjamin said. “That’s his problem. He’s just too fast. So the hurdles come a little bit quicker for him and he actually wants to slow down a little.”
Holloway doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
“I’ve been in this zone,” he said. “I been in this funk. I’ve been in this thing where I’m just continuing to pump out the 12.9s like Aries did in 2012. And I know my progression. So we’re just trying to stay consistent in that aspect.
“So we just have to continue to just work, continue to freshen up, sharpen our knives and get ready (for the Olympics).”
