Thursday marked another day of upsets and surprises on Day 16 of the Tokyo Olympics.
The upsets occurred at Olympic Stadium, the host venue for track and field, beginning with the men’s 110-meters hurdles, as 31-year-old Jamaican Hansle Parchment edged 23-year-old Grant Holloway of the United States.
Holloway is the reigning world champion in the event and was the clear favorite to win the gold, but Parchment ran down the American over the final hurdles to finish the race in 13.04 (13 minutes, .04 seconds), just .05 (five-hundredths) of a second ahead of Holloway. Parchment’s compatriot, Ronald Levy, won the bronze medal at 13.10 (13 minutes, .10 seconds).
The results were worse for the U.S. men’s 4x100-meter relay team, which failed to qualify for the medal race after finishing in sixth place in the event’s second heat. A botched handoff between Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker ensured the American men would fail to win a gold medal in the event for the fifth consecutive Olympics, the last one coming in the 2000 Games in Sydney.
