FOR AUBURN’S Ja’Kobe Tharp, there was a very real possibility of winning the battle but losing the war.
In the semifinals, the Auburn junior shocked the world — and himself — by smashing the World Record. He lowered the global standard in a brilliantly executed 12.75 (1.0), chopping 0.05 from Aries Merritt’s 2012 performance. “That wasn’t on my bingo chart,” a dazed Tharp said afterward. (see sidebar)
But no medals are awarded for semifinal records, not even the greatest in history. There was still so much that could go wrong two days later — a false start, tripping over a hurdle, or just a poorly executed race. And Texas’ Kendrick Smallwood, who ran a PR 13.02 in the semis, was ready to pounce on any mistakes.
Tharp, the defending champ, made sure none of that happened. In the final, he showed he could handle the new pressure of the global spotlight, blasting a smooth 12.90 into a light -0.2 headwind.
Smallwood did indeed pounce, lowering his best to 12.95.
But Tharp’s run was near-perfect and uncatchable. He had the tiniest flinch before the gun, but not enough to trigger the pressure-sensitive blocks. He went over every hurdle cleanly — unlike Smallwood, who clipped hurdles 7, 8 and 9.
“This is all I wanted out of this meet,” said a jubilant Tharp. “Oh, I take that back. I wanted the Collegiate Record, and I wanted to win, to help my team, push for this team title run. It feels good.”
Getting his head together for the final after the WR was simply a matter of “just honing in on what I do that makes me great. I mean, really focusing on my execution. On the front half, the back half.”
He said the pressure from Smallwood, who was in the adjacent lane, didn’t faze him.
“I try to focus on my lane as much as I can. I mean, went out there, tried to run fast — which is the opposite of what coach told me to do. The exact opposite of Wednesday, because I didn’t mean to do that, of course, but, I mean, it feels good.”
The three days were “almost like a dream,” he said. “I wasn’t waking up Wednesday morning thinking, Oh, I’m going to break the World Record today. I knew I was gonna go out there and run fast, but, I mean, that’s just, it’s just crazy.”
Smallwood was so ecstatic about finally breaking the 13-second barrier that one might have thought he was the winner.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “Being able to do it at the NCAA final, a year later, after getting disqualified, it feels great.”
MEN’S 110 HURDLE RESULTS
FINAL (June 12; wind –0.2)
1. *Ja’Kobe Tharp (Aub) 12.90 (x, =8 A; x, 2 C);
2. *Kendrick Smallwood (Tx) 12.95 PR (2, 3 C; =13, x A);
3. *Braxton Brann (OhSt) 13.07 PR (7, x C);
4. *Jason Holmes (NCAT) 13.16 PR;
5. **Bradley Franklin (Samf) 13.19 PR;
6. *Demario Prince’ (Bay-Jam) 13.25;
7. *Andre Korbmacher (FlSt) 13.30;
8. Matthew Sophia’ (LSU-Neth) 13.50;
9. Zach Extine (FlSt) 13.59.
SEMIS (June 10)
I(0.0)–1. Smallwood 13.02 (5, 5 C) PR;
2. Brann 13.17 PR; 3. Korbmacher 13.27 PR; 4. **Jamir Brown (Syr) 13.37; 5. ***Abdoul Sy-Savane (Ar) 13.44; 6. ***Ja’Shaun Lloyd (TxSt) 13.45; 7. **Anthony Waterman (Ky) 13.85; 8. Trenton Givens (CoSt) 14.22.
II(1.0)–1. Tharp 12.75 WR, AR, CR (old WR, AR 12.80 Aries Merritt [Reeb] ’12; old CR 12.98 Grant Holloway [Fl] ’19);
2. Prince’ 13.15 (=10, x C);
3. Sophia’ 13.30; 4. Jerome Campbell’ (Ar-Jam) 13.38; 5. **Karamoko Sacko (Ar) 13.42 =PR; 6. *Malachi Snow (TxT) 13.49; 7. Leonard Mustari (FlAM) 13.58; 8. Sharvis Simmonds’ (Clem-Jam) 13.67.
III(0.2)–1. Holmes 13.17 PR; 2. Franklin 13.29; 3. Extine 13.36; 4. Ja’Qualon Scott (TxAM) 13.45; 5. ***Le’Ezra Brown (Ga) 13.49; 6. *Josh Parrish (Wich) 13.52; 7. *Kai Graves-Blanks (Or) 13.57; 8. *John Paredes’ (Az-Col) 13.95.
