U.S. athlete Aries Merritt sets world record in 110-m hurdles at Brussels' King Baudouin Stadium on Friday.
Aries Merritt already had the Olympic gold, so there was only one way to make this season even more special.
And in his last near-perfect 100-meter hurdles race of the year, the American put in a world record-breaking performance that had even himself shaking his head in disbelief.
Merritt finished in 12.80 seconds at the Van Damme Memorial, slicing a full 0.07 seconds off the four-year-old world record held by Cuba’s Dayron Robles.
In an event where records are usually broken by one or two hundredths of a second at a time, Merritt was as stunned as the crowd when his time came up.
“It was ‘What? What? What is this I am seeing?” he said. “I just started screaming because I was in complete shock because I could not believe I could run that fast.”
It was by far the marquee moment of the final Diamond League meet of the season, totally upstaging Usain Bolt’s routine 100-meter victory in 9.86.
Merritt shot out of the blocks and didn’t touch any of the 10 hurdles he swept over. Sensing the moment had come, he lunged at the line with both arms flung backward and chest outward.
The American already had the six top times of the season and had come within 0.05 seconds of Robles’ mark. But in balmy conditions with a slight tail wind, he finally shattered the record.
“It was almost perfect,” Merritt said. “I knew the track was going to be scorching.”
So was he.
Merritt dominated this entire season while stars like Liu Xiang and Robles struggled to keep up and then both pulled up injured at the London Olympics.
“I knew one day (I’d break the record), I didn’t know when,” he said. “It was kind of getting frustrating, because I kept running the same time over and over.”
Time to change it to 1280.
“I was in shock when I saw the time pop up on the scoreboard,” he said.
It was the biggest improvement of the record in 31 years.
Jason Richardson took second place, way behind in a time of 13.05.
Bolt, for once, was almost an afterthought. The triple Olympic champion ran a controlled race after a slow start to win the 100 in 9.86 seconds and win the diamond trophy for the top competitor of the season.
“I want to take it easy now,” Bolt said.
Fellow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake followed it up with a blistering 200, blasting out fast from the gun before finishing in 19.54 seconds, unchallenged by anyone.
Aries Merritt already had the Olympic gold, so there was only one way to make this season even more special.
And in his last near-perfect 100-meter hurdles race of the year, the American put in a world record-breaking performance that had even himself shaking his head in disbelief.
Merritt finished in 12.80 seconds at the Van Damme Memorial, slicing a full 0.07 seconds off the four-year-old world record held by Cuba’s Dayron Robles.
In an event where records are usually broken by one or two hundredths of a second at a time, Merritt was as stunned as the crowd when his time came up.
“It was ‘What? What? What is this I am seeing?” he said. “I just started screaming because I was in complete shock because I could not believe I could run that fast.”
It was by far the marquee moment of the final Diamond League meet of the season, totally upstaging Usain Bolt’s routine 100-meter victory in 9.86.
Merritt shot out of the blocks and didn’t touch any of the 10 hurdles he swept over. Sensing the moment had come, he lunged at the line with both arms flung backward and chest outward.
The American already had the six top times of the season and had come within 0.05 seconds of Robles’ mark. But in balmy conditions with a slight tail wind, he finally shattered the record.
“It was almost perfect,” Merritt said. “I knew the track was going to be scorching.”
So was he.
Merritt dominated this entire season while stars like Liu Xiang and Robles struggled to keep up and then both pulled up injured at the London Olympics.
“I knew one day (I’d break the record), I didn’t know when,” he said. “It was kind of getting frustrating, because I kept running the same time over and over.”
Time to change it to 1280.
“I was in shock when I saw the time pop up on the scoreboard,” he said.
It was the biggest improvement of the record in 31 years.
Jason Richardson took second place, way behind in a time of 13.05.
Bolt, for once, was almost an afterthought. The triple Olympic champion ran a controlled race after a slow start to win the 100 in 9.86 seconds and win the diamond trophy for the top competitor of the season.
“I want to take it easy now,” Bolt said.
Fellow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake followed it up with a blistering 200, blasting out fast from the gun before finishing in 19.54 seconds, unchallenged by anyone.
