MANY ARE THE REASONS and inspirations for the tremendous success enjoyed this summer by newly crowned World Junior 110H champ and co-U20 WR holder Le’Ezra Brown, who just 3 years ago was coming off major surgery and had just clocked his first sub-15 in the event. Last Saturday, he completed a 7-week run through the recordbooks in Eugene with his fifth straight sub-13 over the 39-inch barriers — a 12.72 blinder that tied Sasha Zhoya’s ’21 mark set at altitude.
Looking back, you could start with the talent and natural speed he first displayed as a prep yearling in spring ’22, then the fortitude he summoned while recovering from a major football injury, with ACL and MCL surgery the following fall. The success of that return from serious injury owes no small thanks to the motivation and mentoring from his mother, Theria Mims, and acclaimed Dudley (Greensboro, North Carolina) coach TeQuille Jackson. Then there was the subsequent breakthrough indoors his junior year in early ’24 as he suddenly ascended to national class in the 60H.
There was his decision to commit to Georgia, a subsequent stellar All-American senior season at Dudley, and then launching his Bulldog career with a strong, if inconsistent, frosh year. Finally, there was the full buy-in — spurred on by a subpar first NCAA Outdoor — to a return to the 39-inchers and a crack at these World U20s.
But ultimately, as Brown would finally say during a lengthy chat in the mixed zone following his electrifying triumph, there was a certain friendly SEC rival who provided the final spark leading to his gold-medal, record-tying performance.
“Ja’Kobe Tharp,” he admits with a laugh. “Ja’Kobe Tharp is the reason why, man.” The question was actually about the new “gen” of hurdlers and why this explosion of records and all-time performances is happening now.
But Brown soon revealed it was more personal than that. “I knew [Tharp] for a long time; we talk a lot,” he says. “He just texted me yesterday, telling me to go get it… telling me the same thing my coach was telling me, keep the trail leg tight and execute the race… and I did it.
“That’s my dog, that’s my guy,” he adds. But Brown, who has now thrashed Tharp’s AJR of 13.05 from the ’24 World U20s in Peru four times, couldn’t help adding what he was planning to say when he called him after the interview: “I ran faster than you!”
The shocking blitzkrieg of sub- and low-13s began here at the U.S. U20s in June, led by Brown and his Worlds teammate Zacchaeus Brocks, setting the stage for what happened last week. The Bulldog crushed Tharp’s AJR with a 12.95 stunner in his prelim, while Brocks ran 13.00. Then the high schooler nipped Brown in the final, both running 12.98.
“My boy Zach, he’s going to be back next year,” he said after Brocks followed him in the World final with a 13.00 for bronze. “He’s going to get the title.”
In the first round here, however, Brown made a statement right away, blasting a 12.89 in the sixth of seven prelims, while Brocks ran 13.11. In the semi 6 hours later, he was even quicker, shattering the field mid-race to cross the line in a windy 12.82 (2.7). But elation became concern when his left calf seized up, causing him first to hop on his right leg and grab the calf beyond the finish, then walk gingerly into the tunnel.
“Yesterday, I slowed up, cramped up… then today I felt it this morning a little bit,” he said after the final. “I’m like, ‘Oh man, but we going to push through it.’”
Then in the momentous final, he said, “I didn’t think I had a great start. I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re gone’… I felt like I was behind, but I didn’t panic. That’s what [UGA coach Caryl Smith Gilbert] also taught me. At SECs outdoor, I panicked, didn’t even finish the race, pushed the hurdle down.
“But [my] top end [speed] is crazy, as you can see. When I got to hurdle 5, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m moving.’”
This time, when Brown crossed the line, fans saw a new side of him, as he jumped up and down, pumping his fist: “It was crazy, I don’t ever show emotion on the track. That was my first time for real. I just had a long season. Proud of myself.”
Brown’s ’26 outdoor campaign caught fire early, with a 13.23 and 13.22 over the 42-inchers in April, just 0.04 off of Tharp’s AJR there. There was disappointment, however, in having DNFed at the SEC and missing the final at the NCAA. But Brown eagerly studied and learned from his coaches.
“We do film at Georgia. Coach Caryl critiques me and I just take it and run with it, and it works,” he says. “I got a better cut-step now. Coach Mel [Melia Cox], Coach Karim [Abdel Wahab], they got me right with that. I usually stay too long, then I just run up on the hurdle, but I chopped it up some [in the final], glided right over the hurdle.”
Brown, who also credits sprint coach Kyle Stevenson for his speed development, clearly feels the family atmosphere at Georgia, saying Smith Gilbert is “like a second mom” to him. “She taught me how to become a better man. I appreciate her for all the things she’s done for me.”
He was also extremely motivated to follow Bulldog teammate and women’s 100H champ in Eugene, Maddi Cooper, to the top of the podium. “We’ve been talking about this since after Nationals and we did it,” he says. “I’m proud of her.”
Brown will now turn his full attention to his soph year at UGA and back to the 42s — with a promise: “Starting indoor, it’s going to be a different me. Trust me.”
