Grant Holloway, Daniel Roberts Go 1-2 in 110m Hurdles; Kenny Bednarek, Noah Lyles Finish 2-3 in 200m, Upholding U.S. Dominance at Paris Games

SAINT-DENIS, France – Grant Holloway confirmed his status as the undisputed king of the men’s 110-meter hurdles, adding an Olympic gold medal alongside a silver and three consecutive world titles.

Holloway exploded out of the blocks, immediately taking control of the race and establishing a considerable lead after five hurdles. He lost some ground over the waning meters, but maintained more than enough distance for victory at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The world’s No. 1-ranked 110m hurdler went sub-13, clocking 12.99 second, one-tenth ahead of his silver-medal winning teammate Daniel Roberts in Thursday night’s race at Stade de France.

Holloway’s Olympic triumph was the final major title that the 26-year-old hurdler was missing from his long list of accomplishments in the event.

“I felt relief – the collection is finally complete and to have world indoors, Diamond Leagues, world outdoors – all titles, and now, official Olympic gold is great, so I am just happy and ecstatic,” Holloway said, after the biggest victory of his career.

The elite U.S. hurdler turned the tables on Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment, who won gold to Holloway’s silver at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. This time around, it was a whole new ballgame, as the 26-year-old Florida native took top honors as the Jamaican finished eighth.

“This was not a redemption moment at all,” Holloway said. “You know, Tokyo was three years ago. Obviously, Hansle had a great race and this was my time. It was not redemption, it was not anything. I just wanted to make sure I got out here and had a good race, and that is what I did.”

The 26-year-old, Roberts, sped to silver in Paris, but only after a photo finish confirmed the result. He edged Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell by the slightest of margins. Roberts previously earned bronze behind Holloway’s gold at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Roberts and Broadbell both smacked the last hurdle and reached the line together, with Roberts declared the silver medalist, both in 13.09 (narrowed to 13.085 to 13.088) – a difference of 0.003.

“It’s an amazing thing – the hurdles, we’ve struggled for some years since about 2012, but to be back on top, one-two, it’s a great thing,” Roberts said.

"We put in a lot of hard work, we believe we have the best hurdlers in the world, and we proved that today,” said the 26-year-old hurdler from Atlanta.

The third member of Team USA in the field, Freddie Crittenden, finished sixth, in 13.32.

Holloway secured the first U.S. Olympic triumph in the event since 2012 and also first 1-2 finish since 2012 – when Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson took gold and silver. Holloway’s time of 12.99, was 0.19 seconds off Merritt’s world record from September 2012.

With Holloway’s slam dunk, Team USA extended its dominance of the 110m hurdles, having attained 20 gold medals across 30 Olympics Games (33 percent), dating to the Olympic Games Athens 1896, the first modern Olympics.

Holloway further cements his status among the greatest American 110-meter hurdlers of all time. He boldly encouraged reporters to help share that narrative.

"As one of the greats in this sport, you have got to be able to show up even on your off days and still be able to compete,” he said. “That was a great field. If you look at all of them, everybody has won Diamond Leagues titles before, everybody has great PRs and under sub-13s.

"Today was just my day. I have the Olympic title, I have the world titles, indoor titles – we just put a lot of whipped cream on it and now we are just going to keep rolling, rolling, rolling until that very last race and that put the cherry on it, so I am happy for whatever I did.”

Kenny Bednarek became a two-time Olympic silver medalist, clocking 19.62 seconds in the men’s 200-meter to finish runner-up behind champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana. Bednarek crossed the line 0.16 seconds off Tebogo’s winning time.

“I knew that the race was going to be tight – all that matters is executing the race perfectly, and I think I did 95 percent of that,” Bednarek told journalists, with the American flag draped over his shoulders. “This wasn’t my best performance - I think I had a lot left in the tank. I’m happy about getting the silver, but I know this wasn’t my best race.”

The 25-year-old from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, was 0.03 seconds shy of his personal best time of 19.59, which he ran at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field in Eugene, Oregon, in June.

In pursuit of a second gold medal at the Games, Noah Lyles slid in for bronze with a time of 19.70 seconds, 0.24 behind Tebogo.

“I think Tebogo had a perfect race, I’ve never seen him a curve like that before,” Bednarek said, complimenting the 21-year-old sprinter from Botswana, who clocked the fifth fastest 200m of all-time. “I always knew he was capable of this, so congrats to him.”

Following the race, it was confirmed that the 100-meter Olympic champion had tested positive for COVID-19 by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and USA Track & Field. Despite that, Lyles still ran a quick 19.70, while slowing down slightly across the finish. He earned his second consecutive Olympic 200-meter bronze medal following Tokyo.

Lyles announced shortly after that he would not be participating in the relays, ending his competition in Paris with an Olympic gold and bronze.

Bednarek summarized the highly eventful night, in which an electric, near-capacity crowd, once again packed the Stade de France.

“This race wasn’t what I wanted, but I’m happy to be on the podium,” he said. “Last year, I was dealing with a lot and didn’t get on the podium at worlds, so I’m happy to be back and will continue to excel.

“Next year and over the next four years, I’m expecting big things,” he said confidently. “There’s a lot of things I need to improve upon and I’m not even in my prime yet.”