Omar McLeod tumbled during the men’s 110m Hurdles final at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. American Grant Holloway won the 110m hurdles title in 13.10.
Omar McLeod speaking to BBC Sport: “I felt my hamstring from the first hurdle and I was trying to be tentative and muscle through.”
“There’s nothing to take away from it. I gave it my all. I came here to defend my title and it didn’t happen. That’s just the way it goes.”
Holloway led from the start but Omar McLeod regained ground through the middle of the race. The Jamaican could smell the gold, but then his leg blew out. He hit the hurdle and the deck, allowing Holloway – who ran on the brutal US collegiate circuit up until high summer – to pull away to win on his world championships debut.
Sergey Shubenkov also gained from the fall of McLeod, who totally disrupted the run of Diamond League champion Orlando Ortega in the next lane. Always a fast finisher, Shubenkov crept through to take the silver medal. Ortega will be devastated: he was in second place up until that point.
Last year’s European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde was in contention for second place but didn’t have the same finishing speed as Shubenkov, who out-dipped the Frenchman to beat him by 0.03.
