Auburn junior Ja'Kobe Tharp broke the world record in the men's 110-meter hurdles Wednesday night, running a blistering time of 12.75 seconds at the NCAA outdoor track and field championship meet Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Tharp, the defending champion in the event, surpassed American Aries Merritt's record of 12.80, a mark that had stood since September 2012. He set the mark in a semifinal race and told the ESPN broadcast, "I have more in my legs." The final is set for Friday night.
Tharp said he was only focused on "surviving and advancing."
"I'm speechless. I didn't mean to," Tharp said in an Auburn news release. "I knew going into this meet I would be in really good shape because we started deloading to hit my peak into this meet. It was about executing and doing it."
Tharp became the first individual since Dwight Stones in the high jump 50 years ago to break a world record at the NCAA championships. He shaved .26 off his previous best time of 13.01.
"I knew what I was capable of," he said. "I knew I had something faster than 13.0 in my legs."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.