Tharp Wins First Ultimate 110m Hurdles Title in 12.94

Ja'Kobe Tharp won the men's 110m hurdles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest. He clocked 12.94 to take gold. The result made him the event's first-ever champion.

A first crown on a track he already owned

The final was run at Budapest's Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ on the meeting's opening night. Tharp arrived as the season's world number one and the reigning world-record holder. He crossed the line in 12.94 to settle the title.

He knew the venue well. Two months earlier, on the same track, he had won the István Gyulai Memorial in 12.85, the fifth-fastest time in history. That night he beat a field that included world champion Cordell Tinch and Jamal Britt.

From a shock NCAA record to Budapest gold

The title caps a season that began with a jolt. In June, Tharp ran 12.75 in an NCAA Championships semifinal at Hayward Field. He broke Aries Merritt's 12.80 mark from 2012 and won that heat by five metres.

It was the first world record set at the NCAA meet since Dwight Stones in 1976. The Auburn University athlete had gone from student ranks to the top of the world list in a single stride.

His rivalry with Britt shaped the year. Britt beat him at the Eugene Diamond League, 12.86 to 12.91, before Tharp turned it around in Budapest. In the Hungarian capital, the young American had the last word.

The Ultimate Championship was built to gather the sport's best over three days. Tharp leaves it with the first title in his event's short history.