Former high jumping hurdler Holloway's surprise gift to MOWA

As a multiple world record-breaker and four-time global gold medallist, Grant Holloway is familiar with making history.

But having such history recognised with inclusion in the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) is not something that he takes for granted.

In August, a donation ceremony held at the museum’s exhibition in the World Athletics Championships host city of Budapest started with long planned donations from several athletes and ended with the surprise announcement that Holloway, who had won his third world 110m hurdles title two days before, had decided to gift his kit from that race to the museum’s collection.

Holloway’s singlet and name bib, his right spike and the US flag that was draped on his shoulders following his victory were received by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe on behalf of the MOWA.

Holloway spoke with pride about being included in the pantheon housing competition artefacts from some of the greatest athletes ever. 

“To be a part of history forever is amazing. Honestly, it’s just about donating things back,” he said.

“I’m used to going to these history museums and just seeing history, but to actually be a part of a history that I love is remarkable.”

Breaking Jackson’s ancient world indoor record

Holloway’s Budapest win – his third successive win at the World Athletics Championships – was the fastest of the three, his 12.96 being just 0.05 short of the championship record, run in Stuttgart in 1993. Colin Jackson’s 12.91 on that occasion set a world record.  

Holloway’s first world title was won in 2019 in Doha, where he ran 13.10. He improved that mark by 0.07 to 13.03 with his second win in 2022 in Oregon. His victory last year showed another 0.07 improvement, begging the question about a fourth win in Tokyo in 2025.

Tucked among those World Athletics Championships was Holloway’s 2022 world indoor 60m hurdles win. He ran 7.39 to triumph in Belgrade, having run 7.29 to equal his own world record in the semifinals. 

Holloway had set that world record the previous year at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid, consigning Jackson’s long-standing 7.30 record set in Sindelfingen in 1994 to history.

Now Holloway heads to the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 to defend his title, fresh from another world record-breaking run. Racing at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on Friday, the 26-year-old won his heat in 7.27 to take 0.02 off his previous global mark.

“I knew it was going to be a good one after I got out of the blocks,” said Holloway, who has described retaining his world indoor title as the “main goal” of this season.

2.16m high jump to take state title

Holloway went to high school in Chesapeake, Virginia, just south of Norfolk, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Holloway and his older brother, Trey, were major forces over the 39-inch high school hurdles in Virginia for five years in a row. Trey won the high school state title as a senior in 2012, and Grant followed suit two years later as a high school sophomore, winning the first of three state championships in a row.

But Holloway was not as proficient over the hurdles as he was in the high jump during his freshman season at Grassfield High School. As a freshman in 2013, Holloway cleared 2.11m when he defeated the eventual state champion. The mark placed Holloway second on the state high jump list for the year, while his hurdles best of 14.22 in August placed him only fourth.

In 2014, as a sophomore, Holloway won his first state championships in the hurdles while running a season’s best of 14.11, making him the third fastest in the state. He also ran 37.73, making him the third fastest Virginian for the year.  

Yet once again, it was in the high jump where he was strongest, having cleared 2.16m to win the state championship and marking him as the highest jumper in the state and equal fourth among US high schoolers.

Holloway received national acclaim as a high school junior, now showing himself as a future national class athlete in four events.  

In 2015, he won a second state title in both the hurdles (13.61 wind-aided) and the high jump (2.03m), after an earlier season’s best of 2.08m.  

His legal best in the hurdles was 13.75, the 12th fastest high schooler in the country. He expanded his athletic repertoire by adding the long jump, winning the state title with a US-leading high school mark of 7.85m. 

To top things off, Holloway won the state title in the 300m hurdles in 36.73, placing him ninth on the US high school list and ran 10.68 and 21.54 in the sprints.

In 2016, having shown national level ability in both hurdles, the high jump and the long jump, Holloway chose to concentrate more on the 110m hurdles and long jump.  

That year he won state titles in both events as well as the high jump and the long jump and had bests of 13.37 (equal second fastest among US high schoolers) and 7.76m (second in the nation), with additional marks of 37.60, 2.08m, 10.74 and 21.27.

One place short for London 2017

The following year, Holloway took his talents to the University of Florida for his freshman year in college, working with coach Mike Holloway, no relation. That year saw him eliminate the long hurdles and the high jump from his portfolio, as well as any notions he might have had about the decathlon. 

He won NCAA titles in the sprint hurdles both indoors and out, and recorded bests of 7.58 and 13.39, as well as finishing second in the NCAA outdoor long jump after a season’s best of 8.05m. A fourth place at the US Championships in the 110m hurdles left him one place short of making the team for the 2017 World Championships in London.

In 2018 Holloway repeated his NCAA hurdle wins as well as a NCAA long jump second place, this time at the indoor championships. His career bests improved to 7.42, 13.15 and 8.17m, with the hurdles marks placing him first on the world indoor list and fourth on the world outdoor list. He capped his outdoor season with a second place at the US Championships.

No more long jumping

The stage was set in 2019 for Holloway’s first foray into global championships. At the NCAA indoor meeting he won the 60m sprint and hurdles and was third in the long jump. At the outdoor NCAA event he won the hurdles with a season’s best and the world’s fastest mark of the year, 12.98, and took 12th in the last long jump of his career.  

After a second place at the US Championships, he was on the way to Doha, Qatar, where he won the first of his world 110m hurdles titles. It was the beginning of the international stardom that has followed Holloway ever since.

“For my career going forward, the main thing is to build off of this,” he said at the presentation ceremony in Budapest following his third world 110m hurdles title, “and hopefully get more stuff in the museum.” 

Dave Johnson for World Athletics Heritage