Florida Gators’ presence to be felt at Paris Olympics

GAINESVILLE — The Florida Gators’ presence will be felt at the Paris Olympics.

The U.S. Trials in swimming, track and field, and gymnastics ended with a number of current and former UF athletes bound for the Summer Olympic Games , scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 11.

High hurdler Grant Holloway, an eight-time national champion in college , is the headliner and a three-time reigning world champion in the 110-meter event. The 26-year-old now aims to win an Olympic gold medal after settling for silver in 2021 in Tokyo when Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment edged him by .05.

At the recent U.S. Trials, Holloway became the first hurdler in 2024 to run faster than 13 seconds, bettering the mark during two preliminary heats and the finals. His winning time of 12.86 seconds was six hundredths of a second off Aries Merritt’s world record set in 2012.

Several members of coach Mike Holloway’s esteemed program also made their marks during the trials staged at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Jasmine Moore, who won her seventh NCAA title last month in the triple jump, became the first woman in American history to qualify for the Olympics in both the triple jump and long jump, an event in which she won the NCAA outdoor title in 2022. Moore won the triple jump and was runner-up in the long jump trials.

Anna Hall won the heptathlon, Grace Stark prevailed in the 100 high hurdles and Malcolm Clemons finished runner-up in the long jump to secure spots on the U.S. team.

Hall is the reigning U.S. champion and won the silver medal at the 2023 world championships after leaving UF, where she led the women’s team to the 2022 national title as she won the heptathlon and finished runner-up in the 400 intermediate hurdles. Stark won the SEC and NCAA titles this spring.

Meanwhile, distance running phenom Parker Valby could be joining former teammates Hall and Stark.

After finishing fourth in the 5,000, one spot out of making the team, Valby was runner-up in the 10,000 with a late push at the finish line past Karissa Schweizer in a time of 31:41.56. But the 21-year-old from Tampa and six-time national champion was shy of the automatic Olympic qualifying standard of 30:40.

Valby will learn Sunday whether she’s awarded a spot on the U.S. team.

Several swimmers with UF ties also will be compete in Paris, led by seven-time gold medalist Caeleb Dressel . Dressel will compete in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, after winning both trials, and anchor the 4×100 freestyle relay.

Bobby Finke, a three-time national champion and NCAA record-holder in the 1,650 freestyle, will defend his 1500 and 800 titles . Incoming freshman Luke Whitlock made the team in the 800 freestyle.

Kieran Smith , a two-time national champion and bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in the 400 freestyle, will race in the 4X200 relay. Emma Weyant, a rising senior at UF and seven-time All-American, will get another shot at a gold medal in the 400 individual medley after she won silver at the 2020 Games.

UF’s successful gymnastics program also will be represented in Paris.

Rising senior Leanne Wong earned a sport as one of two replacement athletes to the five-woman squad for the second time. Wong, a 22-time All-American and 2024 national champion in the uneven bars, was a member of the U.S.’s gold medal team at the 2022 and 2023 world championships.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com