World Athletics Championships 2025: Close Shave for Grant Holloway as He Nearly Misses 110m Hurdles Semis

Olympics and world 110m hurdles champion Grant Holloway nearly missed out on the semi-final of his event following fourth place finish in the heats at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo on Monday.

Holloway, who is favourite to win gold and defend his title, started Heat 5 well and led for most of the race but at the final hurdle, he saw rivals close in and nearly missed out on a slot in the semis.

The three-time world champion, who has won gold over the distance in 2019, 2022 and 2023, clocked 13.27 seconds for a surprise fourth place, behind Jamaican Tyler Mason, who won the heat in 13.17, followed by Japanese Rachid Muratake (13.22) in second place while Chinese Junxi Liu timed 13.23 for third place.

The American was joined in the semi-final by countryman Dylan Beard, who won Heat 1, after clocking 13.28 seconds, ahead of Yuangjuan Chen of China (13.39), Frenchman Sasha Zhoya and Thiago Dos Santos of Brazil, who finished fourth in 13.52 seconds.

In Heat 2, Swiss Jason Joseph was the winner in 13.27 seconds and was joined in the semis by Wilhelm Belocian of France (13.27), America Ja’Kobe Tharp (13.28) and Senegalese Louis Francois Mendy, who clocked 13.33.

The third heat had Jamaican Orlando Bennett winning it in 13.20 seconds, to be joined in the semi-final by Just Kwaou-Mathey of France (13.25), Italian Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli (13.25) and homeboy Japanese Shusei Nomoto (13.29) who finished in second, third and fourth positions respectively.

Qualifying from Heat 4 were the winner Enrique Llopis of Spain, who managed 13.22, followed in second, third and fourth positions by Chinese Zhuoyi Xu (13.28), American Cordell Tinch (13.31) and Damario Prince of Jamaica, who managed 13.31 seconds.