Swiss record holder to challenge giants of hurdling
This year’s 110m h race at Weltklasse Zürich promises to be a spectacle. World champion Grant Holloway (USA), Olympic champion Hansle Parchment (Jam), and 2023 winner and local star Jason Joseph are all already confirmed to appear at the highlight of this year’s athletics season on 5 September.
Grant “Flamingo” Holloway has won almost everything there is to win in his event. He is a three-time world champion and a two-time world indoor champion. He won the 2022 Wanda Diamond League trophy in Zurich and an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo in 2021. There are only two feats of high hurdling the 26-year-old fast starter, who is known for his elegant hurdling style, has yet to achieve: an Olympic title and a world outdoor record.
In the 60m hurdles, the world indoor record holder has not been beaten in ten (!) years, and in 2021, he missed the outdoor world record (12.80) by a mere hundredth of a second. The only opponent to stand between him and Olympic gold was Hansle Parchment in 2021.
So far, the 34-year-old Jamaican Olympic champion may have run “only” three sub-13-second races in his long career. But whenever a set of medals is up for grabs, the two-time Olympic and world championship medallist has always been able to catch up in the second half of the races.
From UBS Kids Cup finalist to winner at Weltklasse Zürich
The second half of the race has proved to be a special strength of Swiss hurdler Jason Joseph (25). While struggling on the initial metres of the European championship final Rome, the reigning European indoor champion managed to get back in the race, coming in third in the end and stepping on the podium of an international outdoor championship podium for the first time in his career.
The athletics journey of the European U20 and U23 champion and member of the LC Therwil club is exemplary for Switzerland’s “Generation UBS Kids Cup”. Spotted on the occasion of a school sports day, he participated in the youth sports project by Swiss Athletics and Weltklasse Zürich (the competitions include 60m, long jump and bal-throwing competitions) and managed to prevail in the national final event at Letzigrund Stadium. In 2023, the local hero went on to win the 110m h race and set a new national record in 13.08 (which he improved to 13.07 later on) in front of his home crowd.
Before winning in Zurich, Jason Joseph had reached a world championship final for the first time. The race in Budapest (HUN) was won by, you guessed it, Grant Holloway. Hansle Parchment and Daniel Roberts (USA), who will be in this year’s Zurich 110m h as well, came in second and third.
Who be lining up for the 110m h at Letzigrund Stadium on 5 September? Find all stars already confirmed to compete at the Weltklasse Zürich here.
