David Oliver of the USA (far left) wins the 110m hurdles (© Getty Images)
The only sub13 seconds man in the field, American David Oliver was expected to take a comfortable win in the last event of an action-packed programme at the IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final here in Stuttgart and as expected he was the class of the field taking the win in 13.22.
Petr Svoboda was an excellent second chasing Oliver down to the line and closing at 13.33 just three hundredths of a second off his personal best time. It was the conclusion of a very positive year for the Czech national record holder and former decathlete.
With World record holder and Olympic champion Dayron Robles a late absentee from today’s competition after a foot injury suffered in Zagreb five days ago, Oliver’s main opponents were the 10 barrier lying ahead of him in lane six.
Just like in Beijing’s final where he claimed bronze, Oliver had an average start and it wasn’t until the third hurdle that he took control of the race. With no major competition but that coming from the outside lane 8 from Svoboda, Oliver was head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
Despite slightly losing his balance and his tempo after clipping the ninth and tenth hurdles, Oliver held on to a clear win, to go with other prestigious victories in Doha, Berlin, the US Olympic Trials and Lausanne among others.
27-year-old Ryan Wilson who was disqualified from last year’s World Athletics Final for false starting took third in 13.54 holding off the challenge of former World Junior champion Aries Merritt by just two hundredths of a second.
European Indoor silver medallist Marcel van der Westen was also in the mix coming in fifth at 13.57.
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF