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…
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