17:I[87134,["/_next/static/chunks/abf43a076ddbd945.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/5ac73fe2b25fc6c9.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/92bdbfeca3f655f7.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/733be0453bf96ece.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/27718c319dd13e9b.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/34c922b381f458e9.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA","/_next/static/chunks/c85eefbddd563073.js?dpl=dpl_F6KiLDDFSAiMcLzw3V2cQMgAbhkA"],"default"] 18:T4e1,

Ja'Kobe Tharp shattered the 110m hurdles world record in the heats at the NCAA championships on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old athlete from Auburn, Alabama, recorded a time of 12.75 seconds at the National Collegiate Athletic Association meet in Eugene, Oregon.

The prior mark of 12.80 had been established by fellow American Aries Merritt in Brussels back in September 2012.

Reigning Olympic champion Grant Holloway had held the previous collegiate standard of 12.98 since 2019.

Tharp becomes the first competitor to claim a world record at the NCAA championships in half a century.

His earlier personal best stood at 13.01, and while he arrived expecting to improve on that figure, he never anticipated trimming more than a quarter-second from it to claim the global mark.

"I knew I was ready to drop something crazy," he told reporters.

"I knew what I was capable of, but I didn't know about that.

"It wasn't on my bingo chart for this meet, not at all. I'm speechless, seriously."

Tharp will line up in the final on Friday as he targets becoming the first hurdler since Holloway in 2019 to capture consecutive NCAA titles.