TOKYO — Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment nabbed a huge upset to best Team USA’s Grant Holloway in the men’s 110-meter hurdles final. Holloway (13.09 seconds) led most of the race until Parchment pulled ahead after the final hurdle to win gold at 13.04 seconds.
Holloway took home silver while American Devon Allen just missed the podium, coming in fourth at 13.14. Ronald Levy of Jamaica won bronze with a time of 13.10.
Already the 2019 World Champion and indoor 60-meter hurdles world record holder, Holloway had an incredible career at the University of Florida, winning the NCAA 60m indoor and 110m outdoor hurdles in each of his three years, also contributing points in long jump and as a member of the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. He turned pro after his junior season.
Now 26 years old, this was Allen’s second Games, having won the 2016 U.S. Trials; he finished fifth in Rio. A former receiver at Oregon, he opted to turn pro in track and field after his Olympic experience.
When Rio Games gold medalist Omar McLeod was left off Jamaica’s team, the path for Holloway got that much easier. McLeod hit the first hurdle in the finals at his country’s Olympic Trials and finished last, but he said he was not at his physical best due to the unusual scheduling; the semifinals had been the night before, the final run in the morning, and he had a “severe cramp.”
The Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association could have selected McLeod, who has Olympic and World Championship golds and the second-fastest time in the world this year, for its team but despite his appeals it kept him off. The decision seemed to work out fine, with Parchment shocking the world on Thursday.
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