At 2026 yearNCAA Outdoor Athletics Championships men's110 m hurdles heats, a milestone in the history of human sprinting was once again rewritten. At just20 year-old American hurdlerJa'Kobe·Tharp (Ja'Kobe Tharp)with12.75 seconds(wind: +1.0m/s) officially broke the long-dormant14 years-long men's110 m hurdles world record (12.80 seconds run by Merritt in 2012).

Tharp, the Auburn University star, hasalready collected a number of major titles, including the 2024 U20 World Championships gold, the 2025 US Championships title, and the NCAA indoor 60m hurdles and outdoor 110m hurdles double national crown. This time he was crowned the men's 110m hurdles world record holder — will he rewrite more history in the future?

Tharp's breakthrough in the 110m hurdles sent countless athletics fans briefly back to 2006, when 23-year-old Liu Xiang ran 12.88 to break the men's 110m hurdles world record that Colin Jackson had held for 13 years, announcing to the world that athletes of Asian descent could also stand at the pinnacle of short hurdling. That world record has now been rewritten three times.

Now the world record has been broken again, prompting the question: when will China’s next-generation men’s 110m hurdlers crack the 13.10-second barrier? When will they once more reach the finals of top international competitions?