US athlete Grant Holloway breaks 27-year-old world hurdles record
The world champion ran 7.29 seconds to shave off 0.01 second of the time set by Briton Colin Jackson in 1994.
Grant Holloway of the US in action as he wins his 60m Hurdles heat in World Athletics Indoor Tour at Arena Stade Couvert, Lievin, France, on February 9, 2021
US athlete Grant Holloway has broken a 27-year-world record for 60m indoor hurdles at the Villa de Madrid event.
The world champion ran 7.29 seconds on Wednesday to shave off 0.01 second off the time set by Briton Colin Jackson in 1994.
Holloway had already run 7.32 seconds in the heats and blitzed the competition in customary style on the way to claiming the new record, with Britain's Andrew Pozzi finishing second in 7.51 seconds.
"I wouldn't say it was a perfect race, but I tied my PR in the heat and that usually means I run faster in the final," World Athletics reported Holloway as saying.
"I said before the race that if the record fell, it fell... I know that it is not going to be in the record books forever and when I fall asleep tonight – if I fall asleep – it will already be in the past.
"The world record outdoors (12.80 seconds) is definitely in my sights but I want to let all this soak in first, then my priority is win the Olympic Trials and then the Olympic gold medal."
The 23-year-old had been in great form all winter, running under 7.40 seconds 10 times.
His two blistering runs on Wednesday, added to his performances in Lievin on February 9 (7.32), Fayetteville on January 24 (7.35) and Birmingham in March 2019 (7.35), meaning he has run five of the eight best times in the history of the discipline.
Spectacular! 60m Hurdles, Grant Holloway, 7.29, new world record, @atletismoRFEA,
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24 Feb 2021, photos by @stuartweir, @britathletics, #usatf, @euroathletics, #worldathletics, #theshoeaddicts, #runningnetwork, #runblogrun, @caltrackrn, @adidasrunning, pic.twitter.com/YCXupJw6tV
He is undefeated in 41 races over 60 metres since making his senior hurdles debut just over four years ago, but will have to wait another two years for chance to shine at the World Indoor Athletics Championships.
The event in Nanjing had been pushed back to March this year due to the coronavirus pandemic but was postponed again to 2023 late last year.
However there is much anticipation over whether he can surpass his best 110m hurdles time of 12.98 seconds at this year's Olympics in Tokyo.
Holloway had initially not wanted to hold a sign which read "world record" while being pressed by photographers, before finally complying with his trademark smile.
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