When Aries Merritt shot out of the blocks to deny Liu Xiang victory in the 60-meter hurdles, he clinched more than just an unlikely victory.
The American hurdler, who was thought to have little chance against the Chinese great, won the title and cemented a record gold medal haul for the U.S. team at the world indoor championships.
Merritt set the pace in his final. Fastest out of the blocks, he even got the better of Liu, the 2004 Olympic champion who was trying out a new start with one step less to the first hurdle to keep the opposition at bay.
When Liu saw the blur of Merritt, it immediately unsettled him."I knew Aries Merritt is a fast starter," Liu said. "So I got out in a rush and was not able to control my technique."
北京时间3月11日，第14届世界室内田径锦标赛在土耳其伊斯坦布尔进行男子60米栏决赛。美国选手梅里特以7秒44获得冠军，中国选手刘翔则在第二个栏出现了失误，以7秒49获得亚军。
本次室内世锦赛，刘翔的主要对手罗伯斯、奥利弗等都缺阵，唯一能给刘翔带来压力的仅是美国选手梅里特。正是这位美国小将，在与刘翔的直接对决中，拿到了自己的第一个世界冠军。“梅里特的最好成绩也达到了7秒43，他在比赛中也非常拼，恭喜他，这是他第一个世界冠军。”输掉比赛的刘翔显得十分大度，并没有轻视这名后起之秀。
在决赛中，刘翔的起跑出现了一些问题，导致第二个栏时碰到了栏，使得速度下降，7秒49的成绩并不能令刘翔感到满意。“起跑反应有点慢，过了第一个栏就想迅速加起来，结果在第二个栏碰到了脚。”刘翔在分析当时的情况时说，“没什么感受，自己没有发挥好，还是有点遗憾。我对第二名的名次还是很满意的，但对成绩不是很满意。”
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