Liu Xiang breezes to win in hurdles at Prefontaine

EUGENE, Oregon (AP) ― Liu Xiang was giddy over his win and even more gleeful after seeing his time.

The 110-meter hurdler from China bounded around the track with an unbridled exuberance after holding off a star-studded field at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, finishing in a time of 12.87 seconds.

That time would’ve tied the world record, but it was wind-aided by a slight margin. So the world mark belonging to Cuba’s Dayron Robles remains safe ― for now.

Robles was actually scheduled to be in the field, but had trouble securing his visa and pulled out of the competition at the last hour.

There were still plenty of other rivals to push Liu, who held off Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson in what was billed as one of the marquee events at Pre. This race certainly lived up to the billing, with Liu getting off to a good start in the impressive victory.

“I just treated it as a regular race,” Liu said through a translator.

Pistorius falls under ‘A’ standard

Oscar Pistorius is trying to become the first double-amputee to run in the Olympics this summer in London. The chances are dwindling for the South African.

Pistorius ran the 400 meters at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday in 46.86 seconds, well below the Olympic “A” standard of 45.30. He thinks he needs to reach that mark in an international meet before June 30 for the South African athletics federation to consider him for the Olympics.

Pistorius finished last in a strong field at the Diamond League event.