Sometimes, track and field hurdle events can really be unfair and full of drama. The hero of a whole nation of more than one billion inhabitants, Liu Xiang, the first Chinese man who won an Olympic gold medal in athletics, has endured twice the bitter experience of withdrawing from the Olympic Games without even having the chance to compete. And that infortunate doom was shared this time for the man who had taken from him the world record and the Olympic title, Dayron Robles, who pulled up his hamstring at the 110m hurdles final in London. Fortunately, sometimes the long struggle to be back in an injury-plagued career can get a reward: Félix Sánchez, the man who had dominated the intermediate hurdles event in the beginning of the century, was a shadow of himself during many frustrating years. Often he thought about retirement for sure but, unexpectedly even for his most loyal fan, he lived one of the most emotive stories of the Games in London, when he recovered his lost gold medal eight years afterwards. However, not everything was drama over the barriers. Two of the most astounding performances in this Olympic cycle in any event, were precisely achieved by both 2012 Olympic champions in high hurdles, Sally Pearson and Aries Merritt. The Aussie ran the distance at the World championships in Daegu in 12.28, the best mark in the world in the event since 1992, threatening the impossible record of Yordanka Donkova, while the US athlete ended his stellar 2012 campaign with a groundbreaking world record of 12.80, improving the previous best in no less than 7 hundredths of a second. Although not as spectacular, it was equally noteworthy the big victory of Russian veteran Nataliya Antyukh at the 400m hurdles in London to culminate the hard work of a long career. Antyukh upset big favourite Lashinda Demus, the World champion one year before. As usual, the United States dominated the global rankings between 2009-2012 in all four hurdle
events by a large margin, followed by Jamaica and Great Britain. High hurdles
kept being the best event among US men overall, as in the former Olympic cycle,
with 18 athletes inside the top-50, which tallied a total of 751 points, while
their female counterparts ranked no less than 20 athletes but scored less
points (690), yet only inferior to the 784 points accumulated for the 200m
representatives. See SPRINTS RANKING BY NATIONS
Amazingly, in spite of being its deepest event, the United States were struggling in recent years at he men’s 110m hurdles to win a single gold medal at World Championships and Olympic Games. Allen Johnson’s dominance had been specially impressive, with his Olympic gold medal in Atlanta-96, and specially beating the record of three world titles which his compatriot Greg Foster had achieved in a row in the 80s, with his victories in Gothenburg-95, Athens-97, Edmonton-01 and Paris-03. However, as age was taking its toll over Johnson, other nations were taking the highlights: the reputed Cuban school of hurdlers with Anier García and then Dayron Robles and the emerging Chinese powerhouse, led by the marvellous Liu Xiang.
Men's110mHurdles Men's400mHurdles
Check out the whole TOP-50 RANKING and complete STATISTICS for every event above/*
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| Félix Sánchez celebrates his magnificent Olympic victory in London 2012, at the 400m hurdles event Michael Regan/ Getty Images Europe www.zimbio.com |
Sometimes, track and field hurdle events can really be unfair and full of drama. The hero of a whole nation of more than one billion inhabitants, Liu Xiang, the first Chinese man who won an Olympic gold medal in athletics, has endured twice the bitter experience of withdrawing from the Olympic Games without even having the chance to compete. And that infortunate doom was shared this time for the man who had taken from him the world record and the Olympic title, Dayron Robles, who pulled up his hamstring at the 110m hurdles final in London. Fortunately, sometimes the long struggle to be back in an injury-plagued career can get a reward: Félix Sánchez, the man who had dominated the intermediate hurdles event in the beginning of the century, was a shadow of himself during many frustrating years. Often he thought about retirement for sure but, unexpectedly even for his most loyal fan, he lived one of the most emotive stories of the Games in London, when he recovered his lost gold medal eight years afterwards. However, not everything was drama over the barriers. Two of the most astounding performances in this Olympic cycle in any event, were precisely achieved by both 2012 Olympic champions in high hurdles, Sally Pearson and Aries Merritt. The Aussie ran the distance at the World championships in Daegu in 12.28, the best mark in the world in the event since 1992, threatening the impossible record of Yordanka Donkova, while the US athlete ended his stellar 2012 campaign with a groundbreaking world record of 12.80, improving the previous best in no less than 7 hundredths of a second. Although not as spectacular, it was equally noteworthy the big victory of Russian veteran Nataliya Antyukh at the 400m hurdles in London to culminate the hard work of a long career. Antyukh upset big favourite Lashinda Demus, the World champion one year before. As usual, the United States dominated the global rankings between 2009-
Amazingly, in spite of being its deepest event, the United States were struggling in recent years at he men’s 110m hurdles to win a single gold medal at World Championships and Olympic Games. Allen Johnson’s dominance had been specially impressive, with his Olympic gold medal in Atlanta-96, and specially beating the record of three world titles which his compatriot Greg Foster had achieved in a row in the 80s, with his victories in Gothenburg-95, Athens-97, Edmonton-01 and Paris-03. However, as age was taking its toll over Johnson, other nations were taking the highlights: the reputed Cuban school of hurdlers with Anier García and then Dayron Robles and the emerging Chinese powerhouse, led by the marvellous Liu Xiang.
Notwithstanding, by 2009, all three winners at the last three 110m hurdles global major competitions, French Ladji Doucouré, Liu and Robles were fighting injuries. All three standouts were absent at the World championship final in Berlin. It was a great opportunity for veteran Terrence Trammell, who had been twice a silver medallist at the Olympic Games and also two times second at World outdoor Championships, to win at last a major gold medal. Yet he ended up again in runner-up position. The man who took full advantage of the circumstances was rising star Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados, who defeated in a blanket finish USA athletes Trammell and David Payne, who finished in identical positions than 2 years before in Osaka. Two Jamaicans made the final, the always reliable, Maurice Wignall, fifth in his last participation at Worlds, and Dwight Thomas, a former 100m dash World finalist in 2005, who had switched to the hurdles with remarkable success, setting a new national record (13.15). Brathwaite’s 13.14 was the slowest winning time at Worlds or Olympics since 1987 but it was enough to make him become the youngest ever World champion at the sprint hurdles at 21 years and the first global champion coming from Barbados, improving on the Olympic bronze medal of Obadele Thompson in 2000 in Sidney. Brathwaite had been a successful hurdler since young age, winning the silver medal at the 2005 World Youth Championships, besides other victories at Carifta and Central American junior championships and got to reach the semi-finals at the 2008 Olympic Games, setting a new national record. Nevertheless he experienced a stunning progression in 2009, training under Matt Kane in a small village in Kansas, setting up to five national records during the season, finishing in the top-3 in every one of his races. Yet after relative success the following year, with a gold medal at the Central American Games, Brathwaite had a lacklustre campaign in 2011, not going further than the heats in Daegu, when defending his World title.
At the Olympic Games, US quartermilers had swept the medals in both 400m and 400m hurdlers, in the latter event with the second Olympic victory of Angelo Taylor, ahead of Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson, the last two World Champions. The United States continued his winning streak in the event in Berlin with the 400m world indoor record holder defending his title from Osaka and Jackson grabbing the bronze medal. Yet even more significant was the gigantic progression of Puerto Rican Javier Culson, a marvellous silver medallist in a huge PB (48.09), and 17th-year-old Jehue Gordon of Trinidad, who finished just 3 hundredths of a second sort of the bronze medal, which incidentally, her compatriot Josanne Lucas snatched in the female event. On the other hand, like Wignall at the high hurdles, former Olympic silver medallist Danny McFarlane made the final in his last appearance in a global competition with Jamaica.
Several men claimed the 400m hurdles leadership in the transitional year of 2010. First of all, Bershawn Jackson came back to the impressive shape he had shown in 2005 when he had become World champion. “Batman” Jackson stamped his authority all along the Diamond League meetings and won the national US title in 47.32, just two hundredths short of his PB, to lead the yearly lists for a wide margin. On the other hand, the silver medallist in Berlin, Javier Culson, confirmed his rise to one of the best hurdlers in the world with consistent performances at international meetings and also setting a world class PB in Ponce (47.72). Yet he was beaten in domestic competition at the Central American Games by Jamaican Leford Green, who had also made a rather successful change from dash to hurdles during the year. Also in continental competition, L.J. Van Zyl bounced back from his dissapointment of not reaching the final in Berlin with a good victory at the African championships over his compatriot Cornel Fredericks, the new emerging talent in the best South African event for many years. However the intermediate hurdler who arguably made the biggest impression during the season was Welshman David Greene. European U-23 champion back in 2007, Greene made his international senior breakthrough two years afterwards, guided by legendary coach Malcolm Arnold, lowering his PB to 48.28 and reaching the final in Berlin, where he achieved a 7th place. In 2010, the British up-and-coming hurdler improved further his best to 47.88 but more importantly he ran his best races every time it mattered most so he won the ETC, the European championships, the Commonwealth Games over Van Zyl and the Continental Cup over Culson and Jackson.
2006 in 13.21, the second best collegiate mark in history, and since then had been among the best hurdlers in the world, making the US team at the World championship in Berlin and Daegu and being close to do it in other occasions. Yet what he accomplished in 2012 at 27 years of age can be considered a huge breakthrough. Merritt recognised to be jealous of the sudden success of countryman Jason Richardson, whom he used to beat easily in their college years. Merritt considered he had the talent to reach even higher heights than Richardson, but he had had too many injuries, perhaps because he neglected recovery after demanding workouts. In 2012, he began taking protein supplements to help recovery and also gave importance to regular massage and enough rest after training. He also followed a strict diet with vegetables and almond milk. Finally he made some technical improvements, mainly he brought the number of steps, before taking the first barrier, from 8 steps to 7. All these changements were the secret of Merritt’s big improvement in 2012.
Aries Merritt first success of the season was his victory at the 60m distance at the World indoor championships in Istanbul, over Liu Xiang and outstanding newcomers Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Andy Pozzi. In the outdoor season he began his winning streak at the national trials in 12.93 to qualify for London Olympics, ahead of World champion Jason Richardson (12.98) and surprise Jeff Porter (13.08). David Oliver and also Antwon Hicks, Dexter Faulk and Ryan Wilson did not make the team in spite of completing all of them the distance inside 13.25. It was the first time Merritt had broken the 13.00 barrier in legal conditions but not the last: he would achieve it next at the London and Monaco Diamond League meetings to warm up for the Olympics. In London, Liu Xiang could not finish his heat just like four years before in Beijing. Merritt qualified effortlessly for the final, along with Jason Richardson but not Jeff Porter. Also two Cubans joined them: defending champion Robles and the promising Orlando Ortega. 2009 World champion in Berlin, Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados was back to form and was also there. Andrew Riley, the Jamaican who had snatched NCAA gold that year at both 100m and 100m hurdles had failed to qualify, but his compatriot Hansle Parchment, the World University Games champion, had done it. He was the youngest in the final, along with host country lone representative Lawrence Clarke, who was also the only European: Shubenkov, Darien, Turner and others had been eliminated in the semi-finals. Finally, the biggest surprise in the final was South African Lehann Fourie, who had made up for the failure of his more fancied intermediate hurdler compatriots Van Zyl and Fredericks. With Robles pulling up his hamstring mid-race, Merritt dominated the final in the same way than the rest of the season to become the first 110m hurdles Olympic champion for the USA, since Allen Johnson’s victory in 1996. Merritt won in 12.92 leading an excellent Jason Richardson who added silver to his gold in Daegu (13.04) and Hansle Parchment (13.12 NR), the big revelation of the final. Rising athlete Clarke finished a remarkable fourth, ahead of Brathwaite, Ortega and Fourie. After his powerful display at the Olympics, Merritt dipped under the 13.00 barrier again in Birmingham and Berlin, for a record eight times during the same season and eventually topped his groundbreaking campaign with a marvellous world record of 12.80 at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
At the 400m hurdles there was not such an outstanding favourite for the Olympic gold medal in London. David Greene, the World champion, had only won a race so far, before heading to the Olympic Games, but everybody knew him as an athlete who was able to rise to the occasion and besides he was competing at home. On the other hand, Javier Culson had been unbreakable during the whole season, winning each one of his six international races and was also the world leader with 47.78. He seemed determined to stop being the bridesmaid but had he the necessary mental strenght to crowned himself Olympic champion? So far his biggest victory was a modest gold at the Central American championships in 2009. On the other hand, Puerto Rico, in an unprecedented success, was going to London with three hurdlers: Culson, NCAA runner-up Jamele Mason and Iberoamerican champion Eric Alejandro. Then there was the US team which had failed badly in Daegu. His three main standouts for nearly a decade seemed all of them in crisis: Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson had been unable of breaking 48.00 during the year and defending champion Angelo Taylor seemed just too old to win again. A clear symptom of their decadence: both in 2011 and 2012, all three had been beaten at the national trials, heading to Daegu by Jeshua Anderson and heading to London by Michael Tinsley, who had been at the shadow of the outstanding trio for years. Anyway, Taylor and Clement got to qualify, along with Tinsley for the Olympics. Jackson and other leading intermediate hurdlers in the country as Anderson, Johnny Dutch and Justin Gaymon had to watch the Games on TV. On the other hand, South African stars L.J Van Zyl and Cornelius Frederick had picked up injuries, so they had even been beaten at the African championships by NCAA’s brand new champion Amaechi Morton of Nigeria and Mamadou Kasse Hann of Senegal.
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| David Greene competes at the 2009 World Championsips in Daegu, where he won the 400m hurdles gold medal for Great Britain Stu Forster/ Getty Images Asia Pac www.zimbio.com |
Several men claimed the 400m hurdles leadership in the transitional year of 2010. First of all, Bershawn Jackson came back to the impressive shape he had shown in 2005 when he had become World champion. “Batman” Jackson stamped his authority all along the Diamond League meetings and won the national US title in 47.32, just two hundredths short of his PB, to lead the yearly lists for a wide margin. On the other hand, the silver medallist in Berlin, Javier Culson, confirmed his rise to one of the best hurdlers in the world with consistent performances at international meetings and also setting a world class PB in Ponce (47.72). Yet he was beaten in domestic competition at the Central American Games by Jamaican Leford Green, who had also made a rather successful change from dash to hurdles during the year. Also in continental competition, L.J. Van Zyl bounced back from his dissapointment of not reaching the final in Berlin with a good victory at the African championships over his compatriot Cornel Fredericks, the new emerging talent in the best South African event for many years. However the intermediate hurdler who arguably made the biggest impression during the season was Welshman David Greene. European U-23 champion back in 2007, Greene made his international senior breakthrough two years afterwards, guided by legendary coach Malcolm Arnold, lowering his PB to 48.28 and reaching the final in Berlin, where he achieved a 7th place. In 2010, the British up-and-coming hurdler improved further his best to 47.88 but more importantly he ran his best races every time it mattered most so he won the ETC, the European championships, the Commonwealth Games over Van Zyl and the Continental Cup over Culson and Jackson.
On the other hand, it was overall an awesome year for British hurdlers. In the mid-eighties and the nineties, the likes of Colin Jackson, Tony Jarrett and Jonathan Ridgeon had stood among the best high hurdlers in the world, even defying the traditional powerhouse in the specialty, the United States. Yet, after those big stars had left the track, no British 110m hurdler had got to qualify in nearly a decade for a Worlds or Olympics final. Similar crisis was being experienced at the intermediate barriers, where the feats of Kriss Akabusi seemed too far away. Actually, the still standing national record holder had been the last Briton who had won the 400m hurdles gold medal at the European Championships, in 1990, before Dai Greene claimed it back twenty years later, to lead besides an impressive 1-2 for his country, along with training partner and also native of Wales, Rhys Williams. On the other, hand, at the 110m hurdles, William Sharman had ended up with his country’s long drought at the event, with a sensational fourth place in Berlin, but it was his compatriot Andy Turner who recovered an European title which Colin Jackson had won four times in a row, with his victory in Barcelona over French rising star Garfield Darien and Hungary’s Daniel Kiss. Turner, along with Sharman and European junior champion Lawrence Clarke would also achieve a magnificent 1-2-3 at the Commonwealth Games for his country. Much of the credit for those successes belonged to the acclaimed coach, Malcolm Arnold, the man who had attended every Olympic Games since Mexico City in 1968 and had won more than 60 major medals in flat sprints and hurdles, guiding the likes of Ugandan legend John Akii-Bua, Canadian Mark McKoy and Colin Jackson. Since 1998, Arnold had been the head coach of the Regional Performance Centre in the University of Bath, being there the main responsible of athletes as Dai Greene, William Sharman, Rhys Williams, Eilidh Child and other younger standouts as Jack Green, Lawrence Clarke and Andy Pozzi,
If Bershawn Jackson was the 2010 world leader at the intermediate hurdles, another US athlete was even more dominant in the shorter event over the barriers. David Oliver, the bronze medallist in Beijing, had also being absent in Berlin, because a calf strain had not allow him to run at the national trials. Coming back from this dissapointment, he won every one of his outdoor races, breaking four times the 13 seconds barrier to set twice a national US record and become with 12.89 the second fast man ever over the distance, tantalisingly close to the 12.87 Dayron Robles had set in 2008. Oliver won the gold medal at the Continental Cup and it is a pity there were not other global championships during the season, because in following years he would not reach anymore that impressive shape. On the other hand, there were good news from Robles and Liu Xiang, who seemed to be leaving their injury troubles behind. The World record holder claimed the gold medal at the World indoors in Doha over Trammell and Oliver and kept winning during the summer. On the other hand, Liu Xiang reappeared in September at the Grand Prix in Shanghai, running the distance in a very good 13.15, only beaten narrowly by Trammell and then went on for a third consecutive victory at the National Games, over usual partner Shi Dongpeng and every one in the new generation of Chinese hurdlers: Ji Wei, Xie Wenjun, Jian Fang... under an enthusiastic crowd of 70.000 people which had come to witness his return. To end the year, Liu also won at the Asian Championships and East Asian Games. In 2010, Liu competed only in a few races but got ready for an outstanding victory at the Asian Games in 13.09.
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| Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles competing at the 110m hurdles final at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu Adrian Dennis/ AFP/ Getty Images http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/29/140040046/two-disqualifications-roil-world-athletics-championships |
At the beginning of the 2011 season, David Oliver was understandably the favourite to win the gold medal at the World Championships in Daegu. In June he looked on the right way, as he scored 12.94 in Prefontaine to beat Liu Xiang and some weeks later won in style the national trials. However, by August he had slowed down, losing several races. On the other hand, his teammate Jason Richardson, third at those trials, seemed to have peaked much more better, running a PB (13.08) in his very last race before Worlds at the Aviva London meeting, relinquishing only before Robles, another athlete in perfect timing for Daegu. On the other hand, Liu had not raced in nearly two months and nobody knew his real shape, but he won convincingly his heat and semi-final to meet the rest of the favourites in the decisive race. In the final, Robles went for the win from the gun, leading the whole race, with Richardson following closely. Yet Liu progressed from behind with his trademark strong finish and matched the Cuban just before the last barrier, but at that moment the challenged Robles invaded his lane and grabbed his arm, so the Asian champion lost his balance and ended up third. Eventually, the winner Dayron Robles was disqualified and Richardson upgraded to gold and Liu to silver, while Andrew Turner got bronze. David Oliver finished fourth, out of the medals, just ahead of third US representative Aries Merritt, tied in fifth place with William Sharman, who completed an excellent day for Great Britain. Jason Richardson, the 2003 World youth champion in both hurdles events, had brought back the title to the United States 8 years afterwards.
South Africa’s Van Zyl started the 2011 season in impressive fashion, running the 400m hurdles distance in 47.66 in Pretoria in February to break the national record of Olympic legend Llewellyn Herbert. Then in the beginning of the summer campaign he won three international meetings, running in the last of them in Ostrava again in 47.66. Yet, just like David Oliver he started to run out of gas since then. Anyway, he and his countryman Cornelius Frederick still made Daegu final, while one half of the US team, defending champion Kerron Clement and the surprising winner of the national trials and NCAA champion Jeshua Anderson, did not achieve it. The final was quite open with Bershawn Jackson, Javier Culson and Dai Greene standing as favourites. Jackson went out too fast and was overcome by Javier Culson, who entered the homestretch leading. The Puerto Rican looked the winner but Greene came from behind in a well controlled race to become the first ever British World champion at the 400m hurdles, though with the slowest winning time in the history of the championships (48.26). Culson won his second straight silver at the championships and Van Zyl the bronze, just ahead Félix Sánchez, with no medal for US athletes Jackson and Taylor.
Robles took revenge with his victory at the Pan American Games, ahead of Colombian Paulo Villar and a second Cuban, Orlando Ortega, the new talent coming from the thriving school of hurdles led by 2010 IAAF coach of the year, Santiago Antúnez. Another up-and-coming Cuban, Omar Cisneros won also the gold at the intermediate hurdlers ahead of Jamaican Isa Phillips, joining besides the 47 seconds club (47.99), yet in a race without Javier Culson and Leford Green, who had upset again the Puerto Rican at the Central American Championships. In another continental competition, the Asian Championships in Kobe, besides Liu Xiang’s victory, World junior silver medallist Takatoshi Abe brought back the 400m hurdles continental supremacy to Japan, ahead of Yuta Imazeki, after the shocking victory of Indian athlete Joseph Abraham at the Asian Games in Delhi. Japan continues being one of the countries with the largest depth in the event (they ranked no less than 5 athletes in the 2009-12 top-50) but they do not have anymore athletes as former World medallist Dai Tamesue, able to challenge the best in the world. Maybe Takayuki Kishimoto in some years time.
Meanwhile, Great Britain kept showing how good was being its work at grassroots level, with Jack Green and Nathan Woodward winning gold and silver at the 400m hurdles at the European U-23 in Ostrava, and Lawrence Clarke in bronze medal position at the 110m hurdles, while Andy Pozzi finished runner-up at the European juniors at the latter event. By 2012, Clarke and Pozzi were already making a good impression in front of senior athletes and, with Turner and Sharman far from their best shape, they would carry on in the sprint hurdles the host country responsabilities for London Olympics. Nevertheless, arguably the most outstanding breakthrough among the new European generation of hurdlers came from Russian Sergey Shubenkov, archrival of Lawrence Clarke in age categories and the man who had beaten him in Ostrava. Other Eastern European hurdlers had created great expectations in previous years, specially Polish Artur Noga, World junior gold medallist in 2006 and Olympic finalist in Beijing, and Czech Petr Svoboda, 6th at Berlin World Championships and 2011 European indoor champion. However, both athletes were hindered by recurring injuries, specially Svoboda who could not compete neither in Daegu nor in London Olympics. Shubenkov is called to be the new standout from the Eastern European area and his quick rising are very good news for Russian athletics which for years had had only Yuriy Borzakowsky as the only medal contender in male track events at world level. In the Olympic year, Shubenkov set an outstanding new national record (13.09) and also won the 110m continental title in Helsinki, ahead of Darien and Noga. Another young European hurdler with convincing performances in important competitions was Serbian Emir Bekric, who progressed from 400m hurdles U-23 bronze in Ostrava to senior silver in Helsinki, in a race won by Rhys Williams, with Ukrainian Stanislav Melnikov repeating bronze. Lately, the most promising hurdlers in the continent seem to come from France. Watch out for Pascal Martinot Lagarde, the 110m hurdles world champion in 2010 in Moncton and already a bronze medallist two years later at the World indoors senior in Istanbul, and for Wilhem Belocian, from the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, a Carifta Games winner and a World youth and junior bronze medallist. Lagarde and Belocian, along with more established athletes as Darien and Bascou can make France become a worthy rival of United Kingdom for the hurdles leadership in Europe and maybe in the world in the years to come. However the last World junior champion come again from Cuba: Yordan Luis O’Farril, an athlete who, with his competitive ways and optical lenses, looks like a Dayron Robles clone.
If several hurdlers had made the highlights in 2011, the Olympic year belonged to only one athlete: Aries Merritt of United States of America. Merritt was not at all a new face in the track and field circuit. He had become World junior gold medallist in 2004, NCAA champion in  |
Aries Merrit at the Olympic USA Trials with Jason Richardson and Jeff Porter
Christian Petersen/ Getty Images
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Aries Merritt first success of the season was his victory at the 60m distance at the World indoor championships in Istanbul, over Liu Xiang and outstanding newcomers Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Andy Pozzi. In the outdoor season he began his winning streak at the national trials in 12.93 to qualify for London Olympics, ahead of World champion Jason Richardson (12.98) and surprise Jeff Porter (13.08). David Oliver and also Antwon Hicks, Dexter Faulk and Ryan Wilson did not make the team in spite of completing all of them the distance inside 13.25. It was the first time Merritt had broken the 13.00 barrier in legal conditions but not the last: he would achieve it next at the London and Monaco Diamond League meetings to warm up for the Olympics. In London, Liu Xiang could not finish his heat just like four years before in Beijing. Merritt qualified effortlessly for the final, along with Jason Richardson but not Jeff Porter. Also two Cubans joined them: defending champion Robles and the promising Orlando Ortega. 2009 World champion in Berlin, Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados was back to form and was also there. Andrew Riley, the Jamaican who had snatched NCAA gold that year at both 100m and 100m hurdles had failed to qualify, but his compatriot Hansle Parchment, the World University Games champion, had done it. He was the youngest in the final, along with host country lone representative Lawrence Clarke, who was also the only European: Shubenkov, Darien, Turner and others had been eliminated in the semi-finals. Finally, the biggest surprise in the final was South African Lehann Fourie, who had made up for the failure of his more fancied intermediate hurdler compatriots Van Zyl and Fredericks. With Robles pulling up his hamstring mid-race, Merritt dominated the final in the same way than the rest of the season to become the first 110m hurdles Olympic champion for the USA, since Allen Johnson’s victory in 1996. Merritt won in 12.92 leading an excellent Jason Richardson who added silver to his gold in Daegu (13.04) and Hansle Parchment (13.12 NR), the big revelation of the final. Rising athlete Clarke finished a remarkable fourth, ahead of Brathwaite, Ortega and Fourie. After his powerful display at the Olympics, Merritt dipped under the 13.00 barrier again in Birmingham and Berlin, for a record eight times during the same season and eventually topped his groundbreaking campaign with a marvellous world record of 12.80 at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
At the 400m hurdles there was not such an outstanding favourite for the Olympic gold medal in London. David Greene, the World champion, had only won a race so far, before heading to the Olympic Games, but everybody knew him as an athlete who was able to rise to the occasion and besides he was competing at home. On the other hand, Javier Culson had been unbreakable during the whole season, winning each one of his six international races and was also the world leader with 47.78. He seemed determined to stop being the bridesmaid but had he the necessary mental strenght to crowned himself Olympic champion? So far his biggest victory was a modest gold at the Central American championships in 2009. On the other hand, Puerto Rico, in an unprecedented success, was going to London with three hurdlers: Culson, NCAA runner-up Jamele Mason and Iberoamerican champion Eric Alejandro. Then there was the US team which had failed badly in Daegu. His three main standouts for nearly a decade seemed all of them in crisis: Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson had been unable of breaking 48.00 during the year and defending champion Angelo Taylor seemed just too old to win again. A clear symptom of their decadence: both in 2011 and 2012, all three had been beaten at the national trials, heading to Daegu by Jeshua Anderson and heading to London by Michael Tinsley, who had been at the shadow of the outstanding trio for years. Anyway, Taylor and Clement got to qualify, along with Tinsley for the Olympics. Jackson and other leading intermediate hurdlers in the country as Anderson, Johnny Dutch and Justin Gaymon had to watch the Games on TV. On the other hand, South African stars L.J Van Zyl and Cornelius Frederick had picked up injuries, so they had even been beaten at the African championships by NCAA’s brand new champion Amaechi Morton of Nigeria and Mamadou Kasse Hann of Senegal.
London semi-finals were won by Culson ahead of Angelo Taylor, Tinsley ahead of Leford Green and Sánchez ahead of Jehue Gordon. Kerron Clement and Dai Greene just qualified as the fastest losers, giving a bad impression. On the other hand, Félix Sánchez led all eight finalists, breaking the 48 seconds barrier for the first time since 2004, the year he had won the Olympic gold medal in Athens. It was amazing that the man who had won at the 400m hurdles 43 races in a row, two World Championships and one Olympic title, the undisputed number one in the specialty for four years, had not given up his athletic career yet, in spite of eight years of injuries and bitterness. The Dominican had had even the courage of reaching every major final during those frustrating years with the only exception of Beijing Olympics. Did his good performance at the semi-final mean he was up again for something great? The decisive race was on and three men had entered the homestretch in contention for Olympic victory: favourite Javier Culson and old men Angelo Taylor and Félix Sánchez. The Dominican with an impressive last burst left his rivals behind and romped home to recover back his Olympic title eight years afterwards, clocking exactly the same time than in that first triumph (47.63). Coming from behind, Tinsley snatched a noteworthy silver medal in a PB (47.91), while a dissapointed Culson ended up with bronze in 48.10. Greene (fourth) and Taylor (fifth) finished out of the medals. Félix Sánchez’s emotive and inspirational victory in London made one of the true highlights of the Olympic Games, earning the Dominican hurdler the Laureus prize for comeback of the year.
| Men's110H | Men's400H | |||||
1
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Aries Merritt
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USA
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1
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Félix Sánchez
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DOM
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2
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Jason Richardson
|
USA
|
2
|
Javier Culson
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PUR
| |
3
|
Liu Xiang
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CHN
|
3
|
David Greene
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GBR
| |
4
|
Hansle Parchment
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JAM
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4
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Michael Tinsley
|
USA
| |
5
|
Ryan Brathwaite
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BAR
|
5
|
Angelo Taylor
|
USA
| |
6
|
Dayron Robles
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CUB
|
6
|
Kerron Clement
|
USA
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7
|
David Oliver
|
USA
|
7
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Bershawn Jackson
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USA
| |
8
|
Orlando Ortega
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CUB
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8
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L.J. Van Zyl
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RSA
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9
|
Andrew Turner
|
GBR
|
9
|
Jehue Gordon
|
TRI
| |
10
|
William Sharman
|
GBR
|
10
|
Leford Green
|
JAM
| |
11
|
Terrence Trammell
|
USA
|
11
|
Cornel Fredericks
|
RSA
| |
12
|
Dwight Thomas
|
JAM
|
12
|
Omar Cisneros
|
CUB
| |
13
|
Lawrence Clarke
|
GBR
|
13
|
Jeshua Anderson
|
USA
| |
14
|
Jeff Porter
|
USA
|
14
|
Johnny Dutch
|
USA
| |
15
|
David Payne
|
USA
|
15
|
Justin Gaymon
|
USA
| |
16
|
Ryan Wilson
|
USA
|
16
|
Amaechi Morton
|
NGR
| |
17
|
Dexter Faulk
|
USA
|
17
|
Jack Green
|
GBR
| |
18
|
Sergey Shubenkov
|
RUS
|
18
|
Danny McFarlane
|
JAM
| |
19
|
Antwon Hicks
|
USA
|
19
|
Isa Phillips
|
JAM
| |
20
|
Garfield Darien
|
FRA
|
20
|
Rhys Williams
|
GBR
|
Men's110mHurdles Men's400mHurdles
Check out the whole TOP-50 RANKING and complete STATISTICS for every event above/*
