DEFENDING 110H CHAMPION Ja’Kobe Tharp knew he could get inside his opponents’ heads by making a statement in the semifinals. But a World Record? Seriously?
Yes, the Auburn junior threw down a 12.75 (wind 1.0) to expunge Aries Merritt’s 12.80 set in ’12 from the record book.
The Hayward Field crowd was stunned. Stadium announcer Paul Swangard was stunned. TV announcer Dwight Stones (the last man to set a WR at the NCAA meet, coincidentally) was stunned.
But the most shocked of all was Ja’Kobe Tharp.
“I didn’t mean to, bro,” he said to reporters afterward. “I swear I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t on my bingo chart for this meet, not at all.”
His statement time was actually a response. In the previous heat, Texas junior Kendrick Smallwood had thrown down a PR 13.02 — only 0.01 shy of Tharp’s PR from last season, and 0.03 better than Tharp had managed this year.
Asked if he was motivated by Smallwood, Tharp said, “I’m always only focused on me. I knew what I was capable of. I didn’t know about that, but I did know that [sub-13] was on my list.”
During the race, Tharp knew he was doing something special. His lead made it obvious. But when he turned around and saw the clock, the look on his face was pure amazement.
“I was going pretty fast. The last hurdle was kind of iffy. Because I was like, ‘Whoa, I think the hurdle is coming up kind of fast.’” He said he thought maybe he’d matched Grant Holloway’s 12.98 Collegiate Record. “But to see that, it was like, ‘I’m speechless,’ seriously.
“I’m never thinking about time. I think about execution. I knew that I’d come in here and break the [collegiate] record, but I didn’t really think of a time, per se.”
Tharp said he really wanted “to send that message that I’m here and they got to come see me.” Mission accomplished there, but of course, the ultimate goal still lies ahead. The record gets him a place in the history books, but in this meet earns nothing but advancement to the final.
“I’m trying to focus on what’s here in front of me,” he said. “I still gotta finish it come two days, so I’m still focused on that.”
