Student breaks 110m
hurdles world record

Ja’Kobe Tharp, a 20-year-old U.S. student,
has smashed the 110m hurdles world
record at a college track event in
Oregon – clocking a time
of 12.75 seconds (with
a legal tailwind of one
metre per second)

WORLD RECORD
PROGRESSION, since 1977,
when World Athletics* introduced
automated timing to 1/100th second

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

13.30 seconds
13.20
13.10
13.00
12.90
12.80
12.70

Sofia
Aug 21, 1977
A. Casañas
(CUB)
13.21

San Jose
Apr 14, 1979
R. Nehemiah
(USA)
13.16

Westwood
May 6, 1979
R. Nehemiah
(USA)
13.00

Zürich
Aug 19, 1981
R. Nehemiah
(USA)
12.93

Zürich
Aug 16, 1989
R. Kingdom
(USA)
12.92

Stuttgart
Aug 20, 1993
C. Jackson
(GBR)
12.91

Athens
Aug 27, 2004
X. Liu
(CHN)
12.91

Athens
Jul 11, 2006
X. Liu
(CHN)
12.88

Ostrava
Jun 12, 2008
D. Robles
(CUB)
12.87

Brussels
Sep 7, 2012
A. Merritt
(USA)
12.80

Eugene
Jun 10, 2026
J. Tharp
(USA)
12.75

NEW WORLD
RECORD

*Formerly International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
Sources: BBC, NBC, World Athletics
March 2026 file photo: Newscom
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