World champion is looking at bright future after Olympic delay
This past summer was supposed to be a big one for Grant Holloway.
The Grassfield High graduate, who won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, was supposed to defend that title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But COVID-19 prevented him from competing in his first Olympics.
When it was announced in March that the games would be postponed, Holloway said then, “It was something that you really can’t do nothing about it.”
Holloway, always an optimist, looked at the break as a chance to rest his body after a long 2019 season.
During that year, he won four individual NCAA titles with the Florida Gators, set three collegiate records and an American record, and put his name all over the collegiate all-time top-10 lists. He ran 12.98 seconds in the NCAA 110-meter hurdles final, breaking Renaldo Nehemiah’s 40-year-old collegiate record of 13.00 and tying for No. 18 on the world all-time list.
He capped off the amazing year when he was named the winner of The Bowerman — equivalent to college football’s Heisman Trophy — given annually to the year’s best studentathlete in American collegiate track and field.
“I definitely got the proper rest,” Holloway said last week from his home in Gainesville, Florida. “I’m healthy. I’m happy,”
Holloway did test himself in what turned out to be an abbreviated COVID-19 track season.
In February, he competed in the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson University. He won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.38 seconds.
Then COVID-19 hit.
He returned to the track in July at the Back to the Track meet in Clearwater, Florida. He ran 13.35 in the trials and won the final in 13.47.
In August, he traveled to Monaco to compete in the Monaco Diamond League meet. He got out fast but finished fourth in 13.19 seconds. Spain’s Orlando Ortega won the race in 13.11, which ended up being the fastest time in the world this season. Holloway’s time was fifth-best.
The two would meet again the following week at the Gyulai Memorial in Hungary.
Once again, Holloway got out fast before Ortega closed late to nip Holloway at the finish line. Ortega ran 13.21 to Holloway’s 13.22.
Holloway said he enjoyed the experience and the spotlight with Ortega, who finished third to Holloway at the World Championships. Ortega also won silver at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
One thing that has changed drastically for Holloway — he is being hunted instead of being the hunter.
Winning a world title will do that.
“It’s one of those things now where I have that ‘wow’ effect just like everybody,” he said. “I remember there was a picture that a fan sent me, and I was looking at Orlando Ortega like he was one of the greatest. … Now I’m there.”
Holloway, who turns 23 next month, is excited about what 2021 will bring, though there are no guarantees about the Olympics because of the coronavirus.
“You focus on what you can control,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you never know what can happen. I just have to make sure I’m prepared.”