Retired Chinese star Liu Xiang watched from the crowd as his rival David Oliver of the US won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.17 seconds at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting on Sunday.
Liu still got the loudest ovation from the hometown fans. He got the victory lap, too.
Liu, who became one of China’s most celebrated athletes after winning the hurdles gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, retired a month ago at the age of 31 due to recurring injuries, depriving Chinese fans of farewell races in Shanghai and at the world championships in Beijing in August.
Photo: Reuters
With Liu not in the race, Oliver edged Cuban hurdler Orlando Ortega by 0.02 seconds. World record holder Aries Merritt of the US was third.
After the race, a tearful Liu was honored in a ceremony on the track, and then jogged around the stadium with Merritt and Oliver.
“I have been moved by your concern for me, your understanding and your encouragement,” Liu told the crowd. “I am grateful and very honored.”
Oliver recalled racing against Liu in front of a raucous crowd in Shanghai.
“He had to go out [before the race] and quiet down the crowd and it was like: ‘Man, he’s got a lot of support here.’ That’s very cool. You know as an American, we don’t really see that type of stuff for us,” Oliver said.
Also on Sunday, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare signaled she may be the woman to beat in the women’s 100m at the world championships, beating a strong field that included two-time world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.
Almaz Ayana won the women’s 5,000m with the third-fastest time ever of 14 minutes, 14.32 seconds. The 23-year-old Ethiopian was just three seconds shy of breaking countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba’s world record.
Okagbare got a strong start in the 100m and held off a fast-closing Tori Bowie of the US to win in 10.98 seconds. Bowie was second in 11.07, just ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye.
“I focused on my start and it went well,” Okagbare said.
Fraser-Pryce faded over the last 50m to finish fifth in 11.25, well off her personal best of 10.70.
Ayana took the lead about halfway through the women’s 5,000m and built a huge advantage, beating ssecond-placed Viola Jelagat Kibiwot of Kenya by 26 seconds and smashing her own personal best by 11 seconds.
“I didn’t know I was so close to the world record,” she said.
The much-anticipated duel in the men’s high jump between Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, the world indoor champion last year, and Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine, the 2013 world outdoor champion, never really materialized as Barshim easily cleared 2.38m on his first attempt to win, while Bondarenko could do no better than 2.32 for silver.
Even though he still had two attempts left, Barshim opted not to attempt to match Javier Sotomayor’s 22-year-old world record of 2.45m.
Both Barshim and Bondarenko have inched closer to the record in the past year, with the Qatari coming within 2cm at a meeting in Belgium in September last year.
Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada dominated in the men’s 400m, winning in 44.66 seconds — nearly a full second ahead of Tony McQuay of the US. World champion LaShawn Merritt was third.
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