Athletics: World champ Liu takes new Robles' record in his stride
Posted: 13 June 2008 1626 hrs

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BEIJING : China's world and Olympic champion Liu Xiang said Friday he was unfazed by the loss of his 110m hurdles world record to his biggest rival Dayron Robles as competition heats up before the Olympics.

Cuban Robles ran 12.87sec in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Thursday, shaving one hundredth of a second off Liu's nearly two-year-old mark of 12.88.

Liu, 24, said he was not surprised when he woke up Friday morning here to learn that Robles, 21, had taken his record.

"I think a few of the top people have the ability to do that. But he is the youngest of my rivals and he is the biggest threat because he has got all that hidden potential," Liu told China's biggest sports website, Hua Ao Xing Kong.

"So now I will be getting together with my coach Sun Haiping and working on how best to pull off an optimum performance at the Games."

"When it comes down to the Olympics, neither of us will be showing any mercy, so let's see what happens then."

Liu's coach Sun said the loss of the world record would not have a "big impact" on Liu's preparations for the August 8-24 Games. There was no question of Liu losing his confidence along with his world mark.

"In fact, the new world record will inspire Liu Xiang to work harder, so we will be continuing our preparations as normal and it won't have a big impact," he said.

"There are a lot issues you have to deal with in competition and losing a world record is not going to affect Liu's confidence one way or another."

But he did admit that in the run-up to the Olympics the competition was getting stiffer and the pressure was mounting.

"Opponents are getting better, so this is a test for us. As you can imagine, the competition in a couple of months is going to be pretty fierce."

Liu's recent Olympic preparations have been troubled by injury and disappointment.

He travelled to the United States in late May to take part in two top-level races but ended up missing them both for different reasons.

He was disqualified from the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, last Sunday for a false start and had to miss the New York athletics grand prix the previous Sunday because of a hamstring twinge.

The two races were supposed to be Liu's final warm-up races before the Olympic but that plan may have to change. Chinese national athletics team coach Feng Shuyong told journalists in Oregan after Liu's disqualification that he may run one or two domestic races in China before the Games.

- AFP/ir