Published : 2024-07-12

On July 12, 2006, local time in Switzerland, Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang (劉翔) broke the 13-year-old world record of men's 110-metre hurdle with a time of 12.88 seconds in the finals at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Super Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, and won the gold medal.

In that day's competition, Liu faced a group of world-class rivals, including American star Dominique Arnold and Cuban athlete Dayron Robles, both of whom had previously achieved good results of 13.06 seconds and 13.08 seconds at the IAAF Golden League in Paris.

The lane next to Liu Xiang was occupied by the previous year's World Championships gold medallist, Ladji Doucouré.

With the sound of the gunshot, Liu Xiang responded quickly and stormed out like a cheetah. After smoothly crossing the first few hurdles, Liu had already left others behind. He then maintained good speed and rhythm, and won the championship with a world record time of 12.88 seconds.

American veteran Arnold finished second with a time of 12.90 seconds, while another American athlete Terrence Trammell and Cuban rookie Robles ran 13.02 seconds and 13.04 seconds respectively, both refreshing their personal bests.

However, these good results paled in front of Liu Xiang's new world record of 12.88 seconds.

"It's simply unbelievable! It's like a dream. Because this is a historic moment. My performance in Paris was just all right; in Lausanne, I had a good start, but I didn't start to accelerate until the fifth hurdle," said Liu excitedly after the race.

Lausanne, Switzerland, has definitely been a lucky place for Liu Xiang. In 2002, he had already broken the world junior record set by Renaldo Nehemiah in 1979 and won the IAAF Super Grand Prix championship for the first time.

Four years later, he won again in Lausanne and even broke the world record of men's 110-metre hurdle.