On this day in 1981 in the Weltklasse Zurich, 110m hurdles world record-holder Renaldo Nehemiah, who had run 13 seconds dead two years before, took seven tenths of second off his best to become the first sub-13-second hurdler in history &ndash; 12.93 (-0.2m/s).
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of that record run, Nehemiah reminisced about that night in Zurich. The 1979 World Cup winner and Pan American Games champion also reflected on the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, his decision to play professional American football and his return to track both as an athlete and an athlete representative. 
<h2>Running angry</h2>
&ldquo;I had been on a personal quest the entire spring and summer of 1981 to prove and finally achieve the breaking of the 13 barrier,&rdquo; began Nehemiah.
&ldquo;I had gone to train at the home of the well-known hurdling guru, Wilbur Ross. His arrogance was that little bit of &ldquo;extra&rdquo; I needed during my training sessions. Over the course of my training with him, I was steadily improving and even surprising myself. The stage was set for me to believe and expect that the world record would be broken in Z&uuml;rich. &ldquo;All was going well right up to the day of my departure flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Zurich. Except for one last minute shock. Coach told me on my day of departure that he wasn&rsquo;t going. He had no justifiable reason for not going. He just wasn&rsquo;t.
&ldquo;His sudden reversal to accompany me angered me immensely. For some reason, I sensed that he was setting me up to fail. The biggest and most important race of the year, and he simply wasn&rsquo;t going.
&ldquo;I tried everything to get him to go. Even missing my flight, having to depart a day later. Meaning, instead of arriving the day before the meet. I would actually arrive the morning of the meet.
&ldquo;Fortunately, TWA airlines had a double decker L1011, and they recognised me and permitted me to construct a make-shift bed with blankets and pillows. I was able to sleep the entire flight. When we arrived the following morning in Zurich, I felt fresh.&rdquo; 
<h2>No umbilical cord necessary</h2>
&ldquo;Throughout the day in Zurich leading into my actual warm-up preparations, I was angry. I couldn&rsquo;t believe that after all our training and preparations for this big moment, Coach Ross left me to fend for myself. As we were called to the starting line, I tried to remain focused on what I knew that I could do. Yet, thoughts of Coach Ross at home thinking I would fail without him, only fuelled my resentment toward him.
&ldquo;As the start commanded &lsquo;set&rsquo; followed by the sound of the gun, I took off like a bat out of hell! I vividly remember being out of control over the first three hurdles. I initially had a lead from the first hurdle. But, going over the third hurdle, I had so much adrenaline that I soared high over it out of control. Realising my plight immediately, I slowed myself just a bit to gain full control over my speed and hurdling.
&ldquo;It was at that point that Greg Foster pulled even with me. We then had a side-by-side foot race over the next five hurdles. I still felt in control and started to assert my speed and hurdling prowess over nine, which gave me a bit of a lead.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I aggressively attacked the 10th hurdle, enabling me to create great speed and momentum off the 10th and final hurdle, knowing that momentum would be needed to enhance my acceleration home. It did, and I sprinted victoriously across the finish line.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I curiously chose to look left to see the digital screen some 5-10 metres to my left on the infield. Seeing 12.93 confirmed that I had finally done it. The mythical 13 barrier was finally eclipsed. And I was the first man to ever do it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Equally as important to me, I did it in spite of Coach Ross not coming. Maybe that was his intention all along. To have me prove to myself that I was able to do it without an umbilical cord.&rdquo;&nbsp;
RESULT
Weltklasse, Letzigrund Stadium, Zurich (SUI).
Men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, 9:55pm (-0.2m/s wind) 1 Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) 12.93 world record 2 Greg Foster (USA) 13.03 3 Sam Turner (USA) 13.38&nbsp;
That world record was unbeaten until Roger Kingdom, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion, ran 12.92 on the same track at the Weltklasse Zurich on 16 August 1989. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/611dfed7db5ecf76128a8daa.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Renaldo Nehemiah racing in London's Crystal Palace in the late 1980s (&copy; Getty Images) 
<h2>Olympic Games - only left with &lsquo;What ifs&rsquo;</h2>
The year before going sub-13, Nehemiah along with the rest of his generation of USA athletes were forced to sit out the Moscow Olympic Games.
&ldquo;As for the US boycotting the 1980 Olympics, it took me practically 20-plus years to ever want to talk about 1980. Imagine being the favourite to win the gold medal, only to have those dreams dashed through no fault of your own," he said.
&ldquo;I had just turned 21 that March. I was just beginning to scratch the surface of my potential in the 110m hurdles. Although the then President, Jimmy Carter, announced the US boycott from the Moscow Games because the Russians had invited Afghanistan, I still held out a glimmer of hope that maybe in time leading up to our Olympic Trials, things would change.
&ldquo;First off, I knew that to be eligible to go to Moscow, I would have to make our Olympic team. There&rsquo;s irony in that statement, because even though the boycott was announced, we were still holding the Olympic Trials. So, I prepared to not just make the US yeam, I was prepared to win our Olympic Trials.
&ldquo;Leading up to the trials, I would have to endure yet another painful reality. President Carter permitted our winter Olympians to go to the Games. And the US hockey team shocked the Russians by beating them in the gold medal match. &ldquo;Surely, President Carter would want to show our total dominance, and grant permission for us summer Olympians to go to Moscow? But Carter held firm to the US boycott of the Summer Games.
&ldquo;With a heavy heart, as heavy as the cloud cover on the day of my Olympic Trials final, I mustered the intestinal fortitude remaining inside of me, and marched forward to win a birth on my first Olympic Team. I succeeded and was victorious, coming in first place with a time of 13.26.
&ldquo;The Games went on and Dr. Thomas Munkelt of East Germany would go on to win in a 13.39 time. I&rsquo;m fairly confident that I would have won that gold medal. I&rsquo;m only left with &lsquo;what ifs.&rsquo;&rdquo; 
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<h2>The world never got to see me in my prime as a hurdler</h2>
&ldquo;So, I&rsquo;m an Olympian that has never actually walked into an Olympic stadium. &ldquo;Equally as painful was over the countless years that have passed since 1980, I would almost always be introduced as 'Olympic gold medallist and world record-holder', to which I&rsquo;d have to correct them and thank them for the compliment, but that I never went to the Olympics. Most just assumed due to my dominance and winning everything, that the gold medal had to have been a given. That remained a painful reminder for many, many years.
&ldquo;The blessing that was borne out of my missing the Olympics is that that one race (Moscow 1980) didn&rsquo;t define who I was and am. I&rsquo;m still one of the most mentioned and revered hurdlers ever. And a Hall of Famer. I accomplished most of my fame by the age of 22. I know that the world never got to see me in my prime as a hurdler.&rdquo; 
<h2>Super Bowl ring &ldquo;my Olympic gold in sports&rdquo;&nbsp;</h2>
&ldquo;Soon after the US 1980 boycott, there were talks of the Eastern Bloc countries retaliating and boycotting the upcoming 1984 Olympics, which were to take place in the US, in Los Angeles. Not knowing if the 1984 Games would happen or be tarnished, I struggled to find the motivation to continue running a sport I loved. I didn&rsquo;t know if training another four years would materialise into a chance to go to another Olympics. As I persevered and pushed through, I broke the outdoor world record in Zurich.&nbsp;
&ldquo;As talks continued about a certain boycott, I could emotionally no longer bear the thought of our government taking away the joy I got from running track and field and my love for the hurdles.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The answer to Nehemiah&rsquo;s questions came when Bill Walsh, head coach of the Super Bowl-winning San Francisco 49ers American football team, called him in 1982. The rest is history.
&ldquo;It was during my USATF Hall of Fame induction speech that I referenced my 1984 Super Bowl ring as my Olympic gold in sports," he said. "I played four seasons with the 49ers, winning a Super Bowl ring with the team in 1984.&rdquo;
In 1986, with track and field athletics having turned professional, Nehemiah returned to hurdling but immediately suffered a ruptured achilles tendon.
&ldquo;I would return (again) in 1988. I noticed that American football had taken a toll on my body, as it broke down and I had trouble enduring training at efficient levels.&rdquo; Nehemiah suffered another Achilles rupture on the opposite leg in 1989.
&ldquo;I fought through other injuries and had my best season in 1991," he added. "I made the US World Championships team that would go to Japan. I didn&rsquo;t even get to race there. During my 14-hour flight to Tokyo, I apparently sat the wrong way, and it caused severe back spasms, which prevented me from being able to train. The doctors advised me not to run to avoid further injury.
"So, I watched Greg Foster and Jack Pierce run a dead heat of 13.06 in the finals. Again, struggling with injuries throughout the 1992 season, I realised that my body and mind could no longer start to stop anymore. I had to realise at 32, that my body was no longer able to train at the elite status. Football has really done a job on my body.&rdquo;
Nehemiah retired in 1992 and today he is one of the most respected authorised representatives in athletics.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I love working with and developing young aspiring athletes. I get to share my personal experiences and wisdom, as a mentor to my clients. I get to be around and in a sport I absolutely love. And I get to witness greatness up close and personal,&rdquo; concluded Nehemiah.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage

On this day in 1981 in the Weltklasse Zurich, 110m hurdles world record-holder Renaldo Nehemiah became the first sub-13-second hurdler in history.

Nehemiah reminisces on 40th anniversary of first sub-13

The form guide pointed to a Jamaican one-two in the 110m hurdles and that pre-championships premonition played out in the final at the IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018.
Damion Thomas crashed out at the semifinal stage in Bydgoszcz two years ago but he made amends not only in his final race of the season but also in his final race over the U20 99cm barriers. The gold medal was the crowning moment of a long competition season for the Jamaican which also included a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships where he was running for Louisiana State University.
Thomas and his teammate Orlando Bennett had already separated themselves from the field by the first hurdle which saw the demise of Spain&rsquo;s Enrique Llopis but the outcome was decidedly more clear-cut than it was at the Jamaican U20 Championships in Kingston when just 0.01 separated the two protagonists.
On that day, Thomas equalled Wilhem Belocian's world U20 record with 12.99 but here on a decidedly cooler and cloudier evening in Tampere, a winning time of 13.14 sufficed for the title ahead of Bennett in 13.33.
"I can't explain how I feel, I came here to win and I'm feeling so blessed," said Thomas who won Jamaica&rsquo;s first ever title in the 110m hurdles at the World U20 Championships. "It means a lot to me to share the podium with a teammate. I can't remember the race very well, just crossing the finish-line. I'm done with my season now so I'm just going to relax."
Bennett indeed made it a Jamaican one-two in the final. &ldquo;I hope to become the Olympic champion one day. I&rsquo;m just so happy to make my coach, my family and my country proud tonight,&rdquo; he said, not lacking confidence in his abilities.
The world senior and Olympic gold medals are both Jamaican property with Omar McLeod winning back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. Bennett has already gone one step better than McLeod who didn&rsquo;t even make the world U20 team in the 110m hurdles in 2012 - although he did run in that championships in the 4x400m relay.
Japan&rsquo;s Shunsuke Izumiya wasn't ranked inside the top 10 on the 2018 world lists but he raised his game brilliantly, coming away with the bronze medal in a lifetime best of 13.38. Naturally the Olympic Games are not far away from his thoughts either.
&ldquo;Before the race I had a feeling I could win a medal tonight," he said. "I was happy with the result as I stayed close to the gold and silver medallists. This race gives me a lot of confidence ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but there is a lot more work to do in the future."
Steven Mills for the IAAF

The form guide pointed to a Jamaican one-two in the 110m hurdles and that pre-championships premonition played out in the final at the IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018.

Report men’s 110m hurdles – IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018

World U18 champion De'Jour Russell's rise through the ranks is such that he made the Jamaican senior team for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April, making the final just days after celebrating his 18th birthday.
But the superlative standard at U20 level in Jamaica is also such that Russell, who has already clocked 13.32 over the senior barriers, has only been selected for the 4x100m relay in Tampere. This is despite the fact he is still more than two-tenths faster over the 0.99cm hurdles than the fastest non-Jamaican sprint hurdler in 2018.
The search for a replacement for Usain Bolt in the 100m and 200m is ongoing (Jamaica doesn't have any sprinters ranked inside the top 10 in either event at senior level in 2018 at the time of writing) but they have a crop of outstanding young hurdlers led by Damion Thomas who equalled the world U20 record (pending ratification) with 12.99 at the Jamaican U20 Championships.
Thomas began as one of the favourites for the title in 2016 but the 17-year-old's campaign came to an inauspicious halt in the semifinals when he hit a hurdle and fell. Thomas, who has competed more frequently over the senior barriers this season, will be hoping to avoid any such misfortunes in his final season in the U20 ranks.
But right behind him at the Jamaican U20 Championships was Orlando Bennett who clocked 13.00, running Russell out of the team in the process.
Spain's Luis Salort is third on the entry lists with 13.31 just ahead of Cory Poole, who won both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles titles at the US Junior Championships, with 13.34. Poole has entered both events in Tampere.
Steven Mills for the IAAF

World U18 champion De'Jour Russell's rise through the ranks is such that he made the Jamaican senior team for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April, making the final just days after celebrating his 18th birthday.

Preview: men’s 110m hurdles – IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018

Entering a competition as a favourite is one thing, but leaving with the title of world champion is another. Just ask Marcus Krah, who admirably shouldered that pressure en route to a convincing victory in the 110m hurdles at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016.
&ldquo;It still hasn&rsquo;t hit me all the way yet, I&rsquo;m still getting congrats from family, friends, people on Twitter, people I don&rsquo;t even know, it feels good,&ldquo; said the Durham, North Carolina native, still savouring the 13.25 victory that brought him his first international laurels.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waiting for this for I don&rsquo;t know how long. I never thought that I would be a world champion but I&rsquo;ve been waiting to get on a USA team for years.&rdquo;
Hearing an 18-year-old say he has been waiting &ldquo;years&rdquo; for something could seem over the top, but in Krah&rsquo;s case, it&rsquo;s not really that hefty of an exaggeration.
<h3>Hurdling an early career choice</h3>
Beginning in the sport as a five-year-old &ndash; &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t skip a year,&rdquo; he said&nbsp;&ndash; Krah was already excelling at age-group events regionally and nationally by the time he was 13. First it was in the long and triple jumps, his first loves in the sport, and then the hurdles which he took up that year. It was a passion strong enough for Krah to already whittle down his career path choices.
&ldquo;I made the decision that I wanted to (eventually) go pro in the hurdles and run in the Olympics, when I was 13,&rdquo; he said. If he is half as determined as he is affable, Krah is already well on his way.
His early inspirations included his father, Myer Krah, who played professional soccer in Liberia, and his older brothers, who excelled in American football. Krah was also an accomplished wide receiver on his high school football squad, but he didn&rsquo;t allow that to take away from his love for track and field.
On the track he progressed quickly. Before moving on fully to the national stage this year, Krah capped his high school career in May with three North Carolina 4A, or large school, titles, taking the long jump, triple jump and 110m hurdles crowns on the same day, with 7.01m, 14.83m and 13.32 performances respectively. It was the latter, one that landed him on the doorstep of the world U20 all-time top 20, that attracted the most attention.
Just four days later he was on his first international flight as part of a squad selected to compete in the junior portion of the Barrientos Memorial in Havana.
"It was an amazing experience," Krah said, seemingly more enamoured by the travel experience and the hospitality and pride of the people he met on the Caribbean island than by the competition itself. On the track, he suffered his only outdoor high hurdles defeat of the year, ending up on the short end of a 13.56 dead heat with teammate Trey Cunningham.
He followed up in mid-June with a 13.39 victory at the New Balance Games &ndash; the de facto national high school championships &ndash; before cruising to victory at the US Junior Championships in 13.25, a performance he equalled in the Bydgoszcz final.
&ldquo;I had an amazing start, one of the best starts I ever had,&rdquo; he said, reflecting on the final. &ldquo;I was really focusing on that. I think I hit the third to the last or the fourth to the last hurdle but I just kept my momentum. It was a really good race.&rdquo;
That victory has already put him in the footsteps of some of the greatest high hurdlers of all time. In Bydgoszcz, he became the first US hurdler to win the world U20 crown since Aries Merritt&rsquo;s triumph in 2004, eight years before he would claim the Olympic title and break the world record.
Next month, when he begins the next chapter of his journey as a student at the University of North Carolina, he&rsquo;ll be shadowing Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic and four-time world champion, who attended the same university.
The comparisons bring on a smile and then a laugh. Emulating those greats may come down the road, but there are more immediate concerns, the first being his transition to the higher senior hurdles.
&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s a big concern, but it will be a challenge,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;especially because of my height, since I&rsquo;m only 5ft 9in &ndash; I think. Hopefully.&rdquo; Again he laughs.
&ldquo;I know I can do it. I just have to believe in myself. I&rsquo;m probably going to be frustrated at times &ndash; I just have to continue to focus. Hopefully my times will continue to drop once my sophomore season comes. They may drop even during my freshman year.&rdquo;
<h3>'I really love helping people'</h3>
Adjusting to the academic demands of the university will be another challenge he is ready and eager to tackle head-on.
An honours student at Durham&rsquo;s Hillside High School, Krah impressed his teachers and administrators when he and a close friend co-founded a peer-tutoring programme at their school so they could help others excel in the classroom as well. An offshoot project of that one will eventually help provide academic scholarships to students throughout the state.
&ldquo;I really love helping people,&rdquo; Krah said. &ldquo;I can help people pretty easily.&rdquo;
He hasn&rsquo;t yet decided what field of study he&rsquo;ll pursue, but is considering business studies so he can later help expand and finance the mentoring and scholarship projects he has started.
Likewise on the track where, despite his success over the hurdles, he&rsquo;ll be keeping his options open. For now.
&ldquo;I want to hopefully be just as good in the jumps,&rdquo; he said, emphasising that it was the long and triple jumps that attracted him to the sport early on. But with PBs of 7.07m and 14.85m, he realises it will be an uphill battle to be truly competitive in those events as well.
&ldquo;I know that it&rsquo;s kind of rare, but I know it&rsquo;s possible. I&rsquo;ll be shooting for it. I have goals I set for myself. Hopefully I&rsquo;ll meet them.&rdquo;
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

After Bydgoszcz triumph, Krah setting out to follow in Merritt and Johnson’s footsteps

Krah sets out to follow in Merritt and Johnson’s footsteps

Living up admirably to his role as pre-meet favourite, Marcus Krah of the US produced a confident run to capture the 110m hurdles title, clocking 13.25.
Visibly ahead by the second hurdle, the 18-year-old gradually added to his lead over the next five barriers and maintained the advantage to convincingly fend off the late-race challenge by teammate Amere Lattin who took silver in 13.30, a personal best by 0.02 seconds.
Krah equalled his career best to lead the first US 1-2 finish in the event and the first by any nation since Colin Jackson and Jon Ridgeon at the championships' inaugural edition in 1986.
"It feels amazing, unbelievable," said Krah, the US junior champion who lost just one outdoor contest this season.
"Setting a PB was a goal, but most of all it was about winning gold. I never thought I would actually get it until I got here."
Lattin in turn barely edged Japan's Takuma Furuya who clocked 13.31, an Asian U20 record.
"I executed the race the way my coach wanted and I set a PB in the final, so I have to be happy about that," said Lattin, 19, who was a notable fifth at the NCAA Championships last month.
Just behind, De'Jour Russell of Jamaica was fourth in 13.39, the day after clocking 13.20 in the semifinals, a world U20 lead.
Dawid Zebrowski of Poland, who entered the championships with a 13.64 PB, was fifth in 13.45, his second career best in as many days.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Report: Men's 110m Hurdles - IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016

Report: men's 110m hurdles – IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016

With the two fastest performances of the season to his credit, US junior champion Marcus Krah will start as the man to beat.
Entering the season with a 13.84 best over the 99cm barriers, the 18-year-old improved steadily and markedly to emerge as the country's undisputed top U20 high hurdler. He won the North Carolina high school crown in 13.32 and the New Balance Games &ndash; the de facto national high school championships &ndash; title in 13.39 before cruising to victory at the US Junior Championships in 13.25.
Krah's only loss this season came in photo finish against Trey Cunningham at the Barrientos Memorial in Havana in late May, where both were credited with 13.56.
Teammate Amere Lattin, however, isn't that far behind.
The 19-year-old first-year university student also clocked 13.32 at the US Junior Championships over the 99cm barriers, and has a 13.59 best over the senior hurdles. He was also a notable fifth at the NCAA Championships one month ago.
Others to watch include Australian Nicholas Andrews who raced his way into medal contention at the Bauhaus Junior Gala in Mannheim last month where he clocked 13.33 in the heats, the third-fastest in the world this year, before finishing second in the final in 13.44.
The winner in Mannheim was Britain&rsquo;s James Weaver who performed even better overall, winning in 13.33 after clocking 13.34 in the heats.
Jamaican Damion Thomas (13.42), Weaver's teammate Matthew Treston (13.48) and South African Mpho Tladi (13.49A) could also be in the medal mix.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

With the two fastest performances of the season to his credit, US junior champion Marcus Krah will start as the man to beat.

Preview: men's 110m hurdles – IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016

A clutch of outstanding sprint performances highlighted the US Junior Championships, which concluded on Sunday (26) after three days of action in Clovis, California.
The most notable of all of the weekend's performances came in one of the preliminary rounds.
Running in the heats of the 100m hurdles, 15-year-old Tia Jones clocked a sensational 12.84 to equal* the existing world U20 record set by Cuba's Aliuska Lopez in 1987.
Tobi Amusan of Nigeria clocked 12.83 in El Paso on 30 April, but that mark won&rsquo;t be ratified as there was no post-race drugs test and a 12.74 clocking by USA's Dior Hall in 2015 was not ratified as a world U20 record for the same reason.
Jones, whose time was also a world U18 best and a world age-15 best, will be still young enough to compete at the IAAF World U18 Championships Nairobi 2017 and will still be a junior up to and including 2019.
Much of her speed carried over to the final, but there she was surprisingly nipped at the line by Alexis Duncan by a scant 0.01, 13.04 to 13.05.
It was a personal best for the 17-year-old Duncan, who will now be targeting a podium finish at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 to make up for a disappointing seventh place finish at last year's IAAF World U18 Championships in Cali where she started among the favourites.
Sydney McLaughlin's high powered momentum continued with her 54.54 400m hurdles victory, just outside the 54.46 world U18 best she ran on 19 June.
"I was nervous for the first one hundred, I didn&rsquo;t get out as I wanted to, but as the race went on I got back to my place and finished well," McLaughlin said. "This was a good way to get back and run another 54 and get that under my belt."
Next stop for the 16-year-old world youth champion will be the US Olympic Trials where she'll be aiming to become one of the youngest ever track and field Olympians.
Her brother Tyler will also be joining her on the team for the World U20 Championships after he won the men's 400m hurdles in 50.74.
<h3>Hill and Lyles impress in 100m</h3>
Sprinters Candace Hill and Noah Lyles produced impressive 100m performances to highlight the first day's action.
Hill, the world youth 100m and 200m champion and still just 17, blazed through the opening round in 11.09, the fastest U20 performance in the world this year, before dominating the final in 11.24. Jayla Kirkland edge Celera Barnes in a tight battle for second, each credited with 11.41.
"It wasn&rsquo;t the best race for me but I&rsquo;m pleased," said Hill, who entered the weekend with an 11.19 season's best. "It feels amazing, I came out here, this was my goal [to qualify for the IAAF World U20 Championships] and make the team in the 100."
Hill made waves last year when she clocked 10.98 at age 16 to become the youngest girl to run under 11 seconds in the event.
After winning her 200m heat in 22.76, Hill didn't start for the final. In her absence, the title went to Kirkland in 23.16.
In the men's 100m, Lyles was as dominant as Hill was, running away with the title in 10.08. His performance was assisted by a 2.2m/s tailwind, just beyond the 2.0m/s allowable for record purposes.
"It felt pretty nice, this is my first time in three weeks getting back to racing, so I&rsquo;m just trying to get race sharp and everything," said the 18-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia, a member of the winning medley relay at last year's IAAF World U18 Championships in Cali.
All-round sprint talent Michael Norman broke the championship record in the 200m. The 18-year-old won by a comfortable margin of 0.62 to win in 20.15, moving to sixth on the world U20 all-time list. Norman, who also has a 400m PB of 45.19, will now shift his focus to the US Olympic Trials.
Just three hundredths separated Will London and Kahmari Montgomery in the men&rsquo;s 400m, with London taking the title in 45.61.
Two days after finishing fifth in the 100m, world youth silver medallist Lynna Irby convincingly won the 400m in 52.51.
<h3>World U20 leads from Krah and Matthews</h3>
Marcus Krah cruised to an impressive victory in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.25, also the fastest in the world by a U20 athlete this season and just outside the event&rsquo;s world all-time top-10 list.
"My form going over, my start, my finish, my quickness over the hurdles, just felt great,&rdquo; said Krah, who clocked his previous personal best of 13.32 five weeks ago.
In a competitive race, Amere Lattin was second in 13.32, also a career best.
Chris Nilsen topped 5.50m on his third attempt to take the pole vault title over Deakin Volz, who cleared a personal best of 5.45m.
"One of the biggest things in pole vault is to stay consistent," Nilsen said. "This is my sixth time over 18 feet (5.48m) in a meet, so I&rsquo;m happy to represent myself and stay consistent."
World youth champion Sammy Watson won a close 800m in a PB of 2:02.91 to finish just five hundredths ahead of Aaliyah Miller.
Alexa Efraimson produced a dominant display in the 1500m, the event in which she holds the North American U20 record. She won in 4:16.75 to finish more than a second ahead of her nearest rival.
In other action, Jamari Ward won the men's long jump with a 7.84m personal best and Bria Matthews won the long jump at 6.49m, the best jump by a U20 athlete in the world this season.
Fiona O'Keefe won a close women's 5000m over Anna Rohrer 15:56.84 to 15:57.92, personal bests for both, and Kate Murphy won the 3000m in 9:10.51.
On the men's side, world youth champion Adrian Piperi won the shot put with 20.18m, his first time using the junior 6kg implement in competition. Vincent Crisp won the 800m in 1:46.97 and Charles Brown Jr took the triple jump with 16.35m.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
*pending the usual ratification procedures

A clutch of outstanding sprint performances highlighted the US Junior Championships, which concluded on Sunday (26) after three days of action in Clovis, California.

Jones, McLaughlin, Hill and Norman impress at US Junior Championships

Who would have thought that without Chinese hurdling hero Liu Xiang present &ndash; not even for a farewell appearance &ndash; the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai would produce such a dramatic 110m hurdles? But that&rsquo;s exactly what happened at the night-time meeting on Saturday (14).
Let&rsquo;s jump to the end first: in the final race of the programme, Jamaica&rsquo;s Omar McLeod ran his third outdoor world lead in as many races by taking victory in 12.98.
The 22-year-old has already become the first sub-13-second 110m hurdler to run under 10 seconds for the flat 100m, and all these bravura performances have followed on from his gold medal in the 60m hurdles at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 earlier this year.
At Friday&rsquo;s preview press conference, McLeod had said that he welcomed the attention his new role as &lsquo;the man to beat&rsquo; had drawn to him.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no pressure,&rdquo; McLeod told a questioner. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to be at this level.&rdquo;
The &lsquo;no pressure&rsquo; line faced a stern test in Shanghai.
As he had done at the first IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha last week, McLeod faced a loaded field; world record-holder Aries Merritt, former world champions Jason Richardson and David Oliver, Hansle Parchment, Dmitri Bascou and Orlando Ortega were among those lining up alongside him.
Even without Liu, the hurdles occupied its traditional spot as the last individual event on the Shanghai programme.
The tension racked up a notch when Ortega was disqualified for a false start at the first attempt, then it went off the scale when Merritt was similarly ruled out after moving too soon following the second start.
Pacing his lane, trying to maintain his composure, McLeod grabbed a sip from his water bottle after the second false start &ndash; he could have been forgiven for wishing the bottle contained something a little stronger.
Jangling nerves or not, the Jamaican still had the quickest reaction time when the seven surviving members of the original field got away at the third attempt.
Parchment clung to him through the first half of the race, and even seemed to be taking some ground out of McLeod over the eighth and ninth hurdles.
If there was a challenge, McLeod repelled it impressively, taking the 10th cleanly and powering home the stronger on the run-in. His lean at the line took him to a time of 12.98, 0.07 faster than the time he ran in more favourable conditions in Doha, and just 0.01 outside the meeting record set by Liu in 2012.
McLeod confirmed after the race that his expectations had been sub-13, but admitted these were shaken by the two false starts.
&ldquo;Before the race I expected to run a sub-13 time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;However, after two false starts it got a little cold and I told myself to stay focused and run safe.
&ldquo;Because of this I did not expect to run this time. It&rsquo;s the first time I have been in a race with two false starts. This is something you never experience in training.&rdquo;
Parchment took second place in 13.12, repeating the 1-2 from Doha. Xie Wenjun edged Bascou for third, the two men both recording 13.34.
It is trite, but necessary, to say that the Olympic year is a long and arduous year. Certainties in May can become much less so by August, but Omar McLeod has certainly set out on his Olympic journey like a man on a mission.
<h3>Rotich&nbsp;surprises Rudisha, Ahoure upsets</h3>
In the men&rsquo;s 800m, world champion David Rudisha was upset by fellow Kenyan Ferguson Rotich, a result undoubtedly affected&nbsp;by the confusion which reigned at the start of the race, when half the field hesitated after the starting gun. Rudisha was one of those, but despite losing several metres, he&nbsp;made his way to the front after 200 metres, and passed 400m just behind pace maker Bram Som, who went through in 52.68.&nbsp;
Rudisha hit 600m at the front in 1:19.68, but was overtaken on the home straight by Rotich, who took victory in 1:45.68 as Rudisha faded to fifth at the finish in 1:46.24.
In the women&rsquo;s 200m, two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown was beaten by Murielle Ahoure, who took victory in 22.72 ahead of Campbell-Brown&rsquo;s 22.82.
Len Johnson for the IAAF

Who would have thought that without Chinese hurdling hero Liu Xiang present – not even for a farewell appearance – the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai would produce such a dramatic 110m hurdles? But that’s exactly what happened at the night-time meeting on Saturday (14).

McLeod keeps cool and storms to sub-13 clocking in Shanghai – IAAF Diamond League

Kendell Williams and Dior Hall ran the fastest times in the history of the event at the IAAF World Junior Championships to win gold and silver for the USA for the first time ever.Williams set a championship record of 12.89 to erase the previous mark of 12.96, set by Cuba’s world junior record-holder Aliuska Lopez in Sudbury 1988. Hall, with 12.92, was also faster than the previous mark and erased the 35-year-old US high school record.Hall, the world youth silver medallist, arrived at the first hurdle in front and kept a narrow lead over Williams and heptathlon bronze medallist Nadine Visser of the Netherlands until the last hurdle, when Williams caught her and beat her to the line with a stronger finish. World junior leader Williams produced the second-fastest time of her life and came respectably close to the world junior record of 12.84, set by Lopez in 1987.Visser chased both US sprint hurdlers and was rewarded with a Dutch juniro record of 12.99.Great Britain’s Yasmin Miller also set a national junior record with 13.13 and Venezuela’s Genesis Romero set a senior national record with 13.26, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Romero was only 0.01 shy of the South American junior record.Javier Clavelo Robinson for IAAF

Kendell Williams and Dior Hall ran the fastest times in the history of the event at the IAAF World Junior Championships to win gold and silver for the USA for the first time ever.

Report: women's 100m hurdles – IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014

French hurdler Wilhem Belocian ended a dream junior career on the highest possible note by becoming the first teenager to break the 13-second barrier.The Guadeloupe native clocked 12.99 at Hayward Field to confirm himself as the fastest junior hurdler in history. This past winter, he also broke the world junior indoor record in the 60m hurdles with 7.48.“I can’t put into words what I am feeling now," he said. "It is an explosion of joy. We were tense during the warm-up and the start, but the tension disappeared when I learned I had broken the record. I’m now going to bring my season to an end.“I did not know if I would break the 13-second barrier today because we did three races, one every day. Each time, I had to do my best. Today, the weather was good, I wanted to break the record and focused on it. I felt the Jamaican (silver medallist Tyler Mason) was getting closer as I started to hit the hurdles. I made some technical mistakes, but it is over,” he added.At 19 years, he continued France’s successful hurdling tradition in the modern era that dates back to Guy Drut’s 1976 Olympic gold medal. More recently Pascal Martinot-Lagarde clinched the silver medal at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and set a French record of 12.95 this summer.“I know the rich history of the sprint hurdles in France and I want to follow their example,” said the native of Les Abymes, who joined Martinot-Lagarde as a 110m hurdles world junior winner. The latter took gold in 2010.It was his first global title following his bronze medals at the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships on home soil in Lille and bronze a year later at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona. He moved up to become the European junior champion in the Italian town of Rieti last summer.Belocian has become familiar with breaking records. In 2012, he set the still-standing world youth best with 13.12 and he was twice the holder of the European junior record prior to his world record run on Thursday.“Since the bronze in Barcelona, we changed the training, the number of training sessions per week and the intensity," he said. "I would like to congratulate my coaches Rico Vaitilingon and Ketty Cham. They do a great job."Reflecting on his world junior record performance, he said: “It is very special to know I am among the world’s best hurdlers. We have a long way to go, but it is impressive and a great reward for all the hard work we did.”The European junior champion is looking forward to celebrating with his family and members of the Stade Lamentin club back home in Guadeloupe. He took up athletics 13 years ago and later chose to specialise in the hurdles because: “I was intrigued by them.”With his junior career having come to a close, the big question now is: how fast can he run when he joins the ranks of the big boys? There is always a period of adjustment to the higher barriers in senior races but Belocian has already shown he should have little problem making the transition after setting a French junior record of 13.54 last month.Martinot-Lagarde took barely a year before he was winning medals on the world stage as a senior, going from winning at the World Juniors in 2010 to taking the world indoor bronze medal in 2012. &nbsp;It could be a trajectory also followed by Belocian. For now, though, he says: “I want to enjoy the moment and I would like to cheer on all my compatriots in Eugene as they did to me. This is my first competition in the US. I felt the vibe at the stadium. It is really beautiful here.” Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF

French hurdler Wilhem Belocian ended a dream junior career on the highest possible note by becoming the first teenager to break the 13-second barrier.

Belocian completes a dream junior career with world junior record in Eugene

Wilhem Belocian of France became the first junior athlete to ever run the 110m hurdles faster than 13 seconds when he clocked 12.99* over the 99cm barriers to produce the second world junior record of the IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014.<o:p></o:p>The European junior champion stormed out of the blocks first and steadily increased the lead with a seamless run over the hurdles.<o:p></o:p>Belocian had talked about setting a world junior record from the start of the year and had clocked a European junior record of 13.15 recently but his margin of improvement over the previous world record of 13.14, set by the USA’s Eddie Lovett in 2011, was still staggering.As Lovett's 13.14 was slower than Liu Xiang's 13.12 over the senior hurdles, his mark was not an official world junior record. In 2009 Wayne Davis<o:p>clocked 13.08, but that was never ratified. But as Belocian's mark is quicker than all three of those performances, now there is no doubt over what the world junior record is.</o:p>The bronze medallist two years ago in Barcelona, Belocian follows in the footsteps of his fellow countryman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who took the global junior title in 2010.<o:p></o:p>Jamaica’s Tyler Mason made up some ground in the second half of the race and on another day might have had a gold medal hung around his neck after a sparkling run of 13.06, the second-fastest run in history by a junior, but had to settle for the silver medal.<o:p></o:p>Great Britain’s David Omoregie, another pre-race favourite, finished third in 13.35 after a ragged last three hurdles. He was closely followed home by Liberia’s Welington Zaza, who set an African junior record of 13.38 to finish fourth.<o:p></o:p>Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF*subject to the usual ratification procedures<o:p></o:p>

Wilhem Belocian of France became the first junior athlete to ever run the 110m hurdles faster than 13 seconds when he clocked 12.99 over the 99cm barriers to produce the second world junior record of the IAAF World Junior Championships, Oregon 2014.

Report: men's 110m hurdles – IAAF World Junior Championships Oregon 2014

Spain&rsquo;s Eusebio Caceres and USA&rsquo;s Barbara Pierre were crowned as &lsquo;the best performers&rsquo; at the Meeting de Madrid, the annual IAAF World Challenge Meeting in the Spanish capital on Saturday (19).However, gusting winds that picked up throughout the evening meant their impressive respective winning performances, 8.16m for Caceres in the long jump and 11.08 by Pierre over 100m, were wind-aided.In the long jump, the last field event to finish, South Africa&rsquo;s former world and Olympic silver medallist Godfrey Mokoena was the early leader with a 7.93m effort in the opening round but the reigning European under-23 champion Caceres leapt 7.97m in round two to take the top spot. However, it would be his fellow Spaniard, Jean Marie Okutu, who would be the author of the first 8.00m-plus leap with 8.05m in round three. USA&rsquo;s Tyron Stewart, who can boast of a personal best of 8.39m set in April, came close to the lead when he reached 8.02m with his fourth jump but the fireworks only took place in the final round when the 22-year-old Caceres landed at a wind-assisted 8.16m to win the contest ahead of Okutu and Stewart, with Mokoena in fourth also reaching 8.00mCaceres, who finished a fine fourth at last year&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships in Moscow, commented: &ldquo;I felt very strong physically but I still have to improve my technique." Asked of his expectations for the European Championships next month, a cautious Caceres said: &ldquo;I only think now about my next competition which will be the Spanish Championships next weekend, but I&rsquo;m optimistic of my chances in Zurich."As was the case 12 months ago, Barbara Pierre took the win in the women&rsquo;s 100m although the 27-year-old US sprinter could not run as fast as last year and had to settle for an 11.08 clocking, despite a tailwind of 2.6m/s. Pierre was pushed to the finish line by Jamaica&rsquo;s Kerron Stewart, who was given the same time but not the verdict.&ldquo;I like the new track, I think it&rsquo;s fast but it will faster when time goes on," said Pierre, who has a career best of 10.85. "I&rsquo;m very consistent this season running under 11.10 and hope to dip under 11 (seconds) soon."Nazarov beyond 80 metres again The men&rsquo;s hammer throw, part of the 2014 IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, saw Egypt&rsquo;s African record-holder Mostafa Hicham Al-Gamal take an early lead with with an opening throw of 76.00m but soon was overtaken by Dilshod Nazarov&rsquo;s 77.61m second effort. Al-Gamal regained the lead from the prolific Tajikistan thrower, with Madrid being his 13th contest already in 2014, in round two thanks to a 78.23m effort but Nazarov&rsquo;s response in the third round was a huge toss of 80.51m to head the contest at the halfway point. It was his second-best throw of the year and his third best ever, just 20cm short of his career best set last year. Neither Nazarov nor Al-Gamal could go further with their remaining three attempts and so the victory went to the 32-year-old Nazarov, who finished fifth at last year's World Championships in Moscow.Nazarov consolidated his second place in this year's IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, in which the best three competitions are taken into account and metres are converted into points. He now has 241.37 points but he is still effectively more than two metres in arrears of challenge leader Krisztian Pars from Hungary. There were two sparkling performances over one lap of the track from Jamaican women.Jamaica&rsquo;s world indoor 400m silver medallist Kaliese Spencer took the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles in 55.08. This season&rsquo;s world leader was still fresh after her commanding win at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco the night before, where she ran 54.09. &ldquo;To be honest, I felt a little bit tired after yesterday&rsquo;s race in Monaco," she said. "In addition, it was quite windy and it also hampered my performance. I&rsquo;m now heading to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where my primary goal will be to set a career best (52.79). If I can do that, I should win a medal there."Getting on the podium in Glasgow would ease her frustration at major championships successive fourth places at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Ukraine&rsquo;s Hanna Titimets came home a solid second in 55.49.No blues for McPherson on new trackJamaica&rsquo;s Stephenie McPherson, fourth at the World Championships, ended a five-month drought in her favourite event when she won the 400m comfortably in 50.45. Spain&rsquo;s Indira Terrero finished a distant second in 51.65.Cuba&rsquo;s rising star Orlando Ortega was the overwhelming favourite in the 110m hurdles following his massive personal best of 13.01 in Monaco the night before, but the 23-year-old felt some discomfort on his right leg and decided to give up the race after only negotiating the first two barriers. Ortega confirmed afterwards: &ldquo;the injury is not important, I just dropped out of the race as a precautionary measure but I&rsquo;m OK."With Ortega out, USA&rsquo;s Alec Harris proved to be the quickest and won in a windy 13.18. A powerful second-round heave of 20.91m gave USA&rsquo;s two-time world indoor champion Ryan Whiting an easy win in the men&rsquo;s shot put ahead of Jamaica&rsquo;s O&rsquo;Dayne Richards, who was second with 20.33m.Latoy Williams of The Bahamas was an impressive winner of the men's 45.17, holding off Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s fast-finishing Renny Quow who had to settle for second in 45.36. The 15-event programme was held at a newly refurbished blue track in the Madrid suburb of Moratalaz on a windy evening which saw temperatures steadily drop over the main two-hour programme, finishing at about 16 degrees Celsius.Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF

 IAAF World Challenge; Eusebio Caceres; Barbara Pierre; Madrid 