Reece Lightning | Australian Burning up the Quarter Mile

It took a pandemic to keep Reece Holder off the global stage, but just 44.79-seconds for him to introduce himself to the world. The dreadlocked Queenslander with Caribbean blood is staying in his lane ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Denied a World Under 20 Athletics Championships debut in 2021 with Australia not travelling to Kenya, the sprinter was forced to wait for his turn in the limelight.

“When you do love the sport, it’s really easy to stay motivated,” Holder said.

Arriving in Chengdu, China for the FISU World University Games two years later, the 21-year-old seized the moment with a scorching equal meet record of 44.79-seconds over 400m for silver – landing himself fifth on the Australian all-time list in the process.

“My mindset going in was to run to the gameplan and not play the mind games that everyone else does. I go into races to come up against fast people and I went over to China and Europe to lose basically, because I enjoy being challenged,” Holder said.

“I didn’t look up who was in my heat or what time they have run, that doesn’t matter to me.”

Serving up a series of runs including 46.10 (Heat), 45.75 (Semi) and 44.79 (Final) across three consecutive days, Holder nailed the Paris Olympic Games standard of 45.00 to breakthrough on the world stage – delivering on his potential.

“The time that popped first after we finished was like 43.13 and me and the guy from Portugal just looked at each other like ‘no way’, but even when the 44 popped up it was a bit of a shock. It didn’t feel that fast in a sense, it’s still surreal,” Holder said.

“I’m lucky to be doing this now before the Olympics next year. What I take away from the European season is just the level of preparation that you need for those races.”

Coached by Sharon and Chris Dale, the long-striding Australian proved he has the maturity to match his talent, providing an honest response after missing the 2023 World Championships qualifying window by four days.

“I would have loved to have raced at the World Championships, but at the same time I don’t really think I was ready for it. It would have been an awesome experience, but Paris is definitely the main goal next season,” Holder said.

“I just want to get stronger, that’s the one thing I have been lacking in – overall strength.”

With his dad growing up playing football in Trinidad and Tobago and his mum pursuing swimming, Holder was born in England before moving to Australia during primary school, finding his niche in athletics after being “decent” on sports carnival days.

The rising star would soon become a domestic staple of one of athletics’ most dreaded events.

“The pain afterwards! Every event has its own pain, but the 400m is probably the most gruesome. I look up to people like Wayde van Niekerk and guys like that, but I guess everyone has their own take on the event,” Holder said.

Holder has kicked on in 2023 after six consecutive years of running between 46-47 seconds, now sitting pretty above the likes of Olympic finalist Steve Solomon and just 0.06-seconds behind Commonwealth champion John Steffensen.

“This year was a bit all over the place coming in due to previous injuries from last season. We just knuckled down in training and here we are, that’s all I can say really,” Holder said.

“We knew pretty early in training; I just needed a race scenario to put it in place. Everyone thought I was crazy running like that, but to run fast you have to run the whole race fast.”

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 13/9/2023