Olympic champion Allen Johnson retained his world 110m hurdles title, clocking the fastest time in the world this year and missing the world record by two hundredths of a second. His time 12.93 equals the fifth fastest of all time. World record holder, Colin Jackson of Great Britain, was second in 13.05, the second fastest time of the year, and Igor Kovacs of the Slovak Republic finished third in 13.18.
Jackson and Johnson, running side by side in lanes four and five, were the quickest away at the gun, with Johnson marginally ahead at the first hurdle. He held his slight lead all the way to the line although there was little between them until the eighth hurdle which Jackson hit hard. He also clipped the tenth and was half a metre behind at the finish. Johnson himself hit six hurdles, three of them hard, but was able to maintain his form and his speed.
USA’s Mark Crear, in lane eight, was also away well at the start and seemed to be challenging for a medal, but he faded in the second half of the race when Kovacs came through strongly to finish only half a metre down on Jackson.
The Slovak captured his country’s first ever world championships medal, although two Czechoslovakian medallists in 1983 were Slovaks - Imrich Bugar, the 1983 world discus champion, and Jozef Pribilinec, the 1983 20km race walk silver medallist.
