Ziyah Holman drops 51-second 400m split for incredible relay comeback

Last weekend, the University of Michigan hosted an indoor track meet in Ann Arbor. In the women’s 4 x 400m relay, the Michigan squad was well back of the lead heading into the final leg. That was when Ziyah Holman, a freshman who was anchoring for her team, threw down an incredible couple of laps to steal the win for her school.

Holman dropped a 51.79 400m split, overcoming a four-second deficit to win in the final stretch and turn her into a viral sensation. 

Despite the massive gap between Holman and her competitors, she set off at a blistering pace to chase them down. By the end of her first 200m lap (which she ran in 25.029 seconds), Holman had caught the runner from second-place Ohio State, but she still had a lot of ground to make up if she wanted to catch Indiana’s anchor, who was a couple of seconds ahead.  

Holman posted a second 200m split of 26.758 seconds, leading her past the Indiana runner in the final straightaway and across the line for the relay win in a time of 3:48.013. In the span of less than a minute and just 400m of running, Holman carried her team from third (and last) place, four seconds back of the lead, to the win, crossing the line with a comfortable gap of about half a second for what is one of the best comebacks the track world has seen in recent years. 

Not a fluke

Holman´s big performance in the 4 x 400m is nothing new. Earlier that same day, she won the 600m by four full seconds, stopping the clock in a PB of 1:29.27. In 2019, she helped the American 4 x 400m team to a gold medal and U20 world record at the Pan American U20 Championships in Costa Rica, where they ran 3:24.04. Finally, more recently, Holman beat her 600m PB from last weekend, running 1:28.08 at a meet in Indiana on Saturday to set a Michigan school record. 

posted Monday January 25th
by Ben Snider-McGrath