20-Year-Old Breaks 110m Hurdles World Record at NCAAs

A college sophomore just did something no one expected at the NCAA Championships: he broke a world record that seemed untouchable.

Ja'Kobe Tharp stepped onto the track at Hayward Field on Wednesday hoping to beat his personal best of 13.01 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles. The 20-year-old Auburn athlete crossed the finish line in 12.75 seconds, the fastest time in history.

The time shaves five hundredths of a second off Aries Merritt's 2012 world record. It also obliterates Grant Holloway's 2019 collegiate record by nearly a quarter of a second.

What makes this moment even more remarkable is where it happened. No man had set a world record at the NCAA Championships since 1976, when Dwight Stones cleared a high jump record. World records typically come from the Olympics or elite Diamond League meets, not college semifinal heats.

"I swear I didn't mean to," Tharp told reporters with a laugh. "I knew what I was capable of. I didn't know about that, but I did know that I still had faster than 13 in my legs."

Tharp's journey to this moment started with rejection. He grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in a basketball family where both his parents played college ball. When he got cut from his middle school basketball team in seventh grade, he joined track to stay active.

His coach spotted potential in the lanky kid's long stride and pointed him toward the hurdles. By eighth grade, Tharp had won a Tennessee state title.

The success kept building. He won World U20 gold in 2024, then shocked professionals by winning the USATF national title at just 19 years old. He made the World Championships final in Tokyo and finished sixth against the world's best.

Why This Inspires

Tharp's story reminds us that rejection can redirect us toward something we never knew we were meant to do. The basketball team that cut him unknowingly launched a world record holder.

He hasn't lost a single hurdles race this season heading into Friday's NCAA final, where he'll chase his second straight title. The last man to win back-to-back? Grant Holloway, whose records Tharp keeps erasing.

From a seventh grader looking for something to do after school to the fastest hurdler on Earth, Ja'Kobe Tharp just proved that the path to greatness rarely looks like we expect it to.