David Oliver completed his domination of the men’s 110-meter hurdles Sunday, winning his first U.S. outdoor championship in style.
By defeating two-time Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell in the final, Oliver ran the fastest time in all four rounds, including the most important one.
Undefeated in two days, he said he was just hoping to be in the top three.
“I came here to place in the top three and that’s exactly what I did,” he said. “I’m just happy I was able to get the win first and foremost. I ran very well through the rounds and set myself up in a good position to be able to make some things happen here in the final. I’m just happy to be going to Beijing. That’s the No. 1 goal all year.”
He ran a wind-aided 12.95 to lead Trammell in 13.00 and David Payne in 13.25 onto the Olympic team.
Oliver ran 12.89 seconds to win the first semifinal, but a too-strong tailwind of 3.2 meters per second kept it from breaking Dominique Arnold’s American record of 12.90.
He also ran 13.24 and 13.07 in the first two rounds on Saturday.
Despite his overwhelming success in Eugene, Oliver thinks he still has more room to improve.
“It wasn’t my time to do big things last year,” he said. “I believe I have gotten stronger and will really be able to make some improvements in Beijing.”
Trammell, who had raced in only three meets coming into the Trials, was satisfied with the outcome.
“I’m happy,” he said. “I came out healthy and now I can get ready for Beijing. I just knew I had to run through the line. This is just my fourth meet of the year, so for me to run 13.00 is good. It’s still early for me.”
He had the lead late in the race, but was unable to hold off Oliver.
“The last 20 meters I got a little impatient in my hurdle form, but I won’t let that happen again,” he said.
Running in lane two, Anwar Moore was in position to challenge for a spot in the top three all the way until he clipped the 10th and final hurdle.
“I think I over-exaggerated my trail leg a little bit,” he said. “I think the wind was pushing too hard, whatever, and I just got off real bad and I fell. It’s a tremendous disappointment to me.”
Aries Merritt finished fourth, a mere .02 seconds behind Payne, with Antwon Hicks fifth, Andrew Brunson sixth, Ty Akins seventh and Moore eighth.
Former Oregon All-American Eric Mitchum finished fifth in his semifinal, just missing a place in the final. His time of 13.34 was the fastest non-qualifier.
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