13.09 – A long cry from the 12.88 Liu Xiang ran to set the world record back in 2006, but I am happy to see him getting back into form: Since his achilles injury Liu has absorbed a lot of disappointment from the Chinese people beginning in the 2007 season when he started showing signs of injury. Infamously, he walked off of the track in the 110 hurdle prelims during the Beijing Olympics.
The hurdle void Liu left was quickly filled by Dayron Robles, a kid from Cuba. In 2008, he lowered Liu’s world record to 12.87 and went on to win the Beijing Olympics in 12.93. When Robles injured himself in 2009, David Oliver took over and finished this past season undefeated. By the way, Oliver makes Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson look like a normal person.
Now that Liu seems to be on his way back to good form, I’m interested to see how the 2011 season shapes up. Hopefully, Dayron Robles is healthy also, and the three fastest men in hurdle history get to battle it out.
KWAME 