A 60-meter hurdles race that lives up to its billing

DOHA, Qatar -- It makes one wistful, it really does, because the men's 60-meter hurdle final Sunday here at track and field's World Indoor Championships had all the stuff that makes the sport great.

If only it was always like this. If you could capture the excitement and the theater of this race and bottle it, track and field might yet again be what it ought to be, what it once was -- a very, very big deal.

What else could you want? The 2008 Olympic hurdles champion -- who is also the world-record holder in that outdoor 110-meter event -- lined up in Lane 6. The 2004 Olympic champion was in Lane 7. The 2000 and 2004 Olympic silver medalist, who had run the fastest 60m time in the world this winter, and just two weeks ago, was in Lane 4. The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist was in Lane 8.

They broke clean from the start. They ran hard. They leaned at the tape.

Dayron Robles of Cuba, the 2008 Olympic champ, who came on strong late, won.

Terrence Trammell of the United States, twice the Olympic silver medalist, two times before -- in 2001 and 2006 -- the world indoor champion, took second. A bobble over the final hurdle -- Trammell later said he had no idea what  happened, or why -- threw Trammell off just enough for Robles to surge past.

American David Oliver, the Beijing Games bronze medalist, emphatically making plain here his return from a torn calf muscle, got third.

Robles ran a World Indoor Championships-best 7.34 seconds. Not a world record but -- the next-best thing.

Trammell tied the American record, 7.36. "I'm grateful," he said. "I was coming here for the win but it's OK. I'm good with this."

Oliver ran a personal best, 7.44.

Oh, and Liu Xiang of China finished seventh.

That Liu -- the 2004 Olympic champion, sporting hero to 1 billion Chinese, coming back here from the Achilles injury that memorably saw him limp out of the heats at the Beijing Games.

Liu had said here many times he would be happy simply to make the final. He declared he wasn't a medal threat.

Turned out he wasn't kidding.

In the earlier semifinal races Sunday, Liu had finished second in his heat, albeit a whopping 17-hundredths of a second behind Trammell, and said, "I had no power in the legs."

He wasn't sandbagging. Really, he didn't have Liu-style power in his legs.

As a point of contrast: In winning the prior indoor Worlds, in 2008 in Valencia, Spain, Liu ran 7.46. In Sunday's final, he managed 7.65.

"An athlete has ups and downs," Liu, his right ankle wrapped in tape, said afterward, "and I'm OK with it."

Robles' win made up for one of the more bizarre moments in recent track history.

In one of the hurdles heats at Valencia in 2008, Liu and Robles lined up next to each other.

Liu began to move before the gun but, as the electronic timer would show, his feet didn't move until 0.105 after the gun went off. Robles stood up, expecting a re-start.

Didn't happen.

Here in Doha, Robles' start in Friday's first heat was so godawful an unofficial IAAF recap said it looked "like a primary school boy start."

A full beat behind everybody else, Robles finally got going, turned it on and coasted through.

In the semifinals, again, Robles' start proved poor. Once again, though, he turned it on over the third and fourth hurdles -- and the race was over.

In the finals, finally, Robles paid attention.

Though it was close at the tape, Robles knew immediately he had won. He bounced up and down and put his hands on his head. He hugged Trammell.

"I wanted to break the world record here," Robles said later, setting off on a most excellent stream-of-consciousness riff.  Here it is, in its entirety:

"Many people at home were expecting this gold.  I did it here with the world's best hurdlers so I am very happy.

"I  knew the race would be decided in the photo finish as Trammell is very fast and has a great start. I love racing with him because every time we meet I run great times. I am as excited as breaking the world record. It is as important as winning the Olympic gold.

"Everyone was waiting for this. This is my first world title and I especially dedicate it to my cousin Yoridis, who is celebrating his birthday today. I told him this victory would be for him. I also felt my mom's blessings. The world indoor record will fall one day. Doha was my main goal in 2010 and I expect great things in the summer."

Really -- what else could you want?