Agency :
Jamaican Hansle Parchment delivered one of the biggest shocks of the Tokyo Olympics athletics competition by beating world champion Grant Holloway in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final on Thursday.
Holloway had not lost a hurdles race since August last year and was the overwhelming favourite after breaking the world indoor record over 60m hurdles this year and missing the 110m record by one-hundredth of a second at the U.S. Olympic trials.
The 23-year-old burst out of the blocks and looked set for gold until losing momentum over the final two hurdles.
Parchment, 31, surged past him to win in a season-best time of 13.04 and add the gold medal to his London Olympic bronze.
Holloway came home in 13.09 to take silver with Jamaican Ronald Levy third in 13.10.
Parchment was stunned to have toppled Holloway.
“The greatest feeling, the greatest feeling, I’ve worked so hard. It’s unbelievable that I caught this guy,” he added.
“A lot of times, after the final hurdle, I’m kind of leaning too early, and my coach reminded me to run through the line — and that’s what I did.”
The man who was supposed to pose the biggest challenge to Holloway in Tokyo was not in the race. Omar McLeod, the 2016 Olympic champion, hit the first hurdle at the Jamaican trials in late June and failed to make the cut.
