by Jim Slater
1 hour, 27 minutes ago

EUGENE, Oregon (AFP) - China's Liu Xiang, the reigning Olympic and world 110-meter hurdles champion, remains the target for American hurdlers even though Cuba's Dayron Robles swiped his world record three weeks ago.

Terrence Trammell, a two-time world and Olympic runner-up, and David Oliver, the 2008 US leader with a 12.95-second run in a May 9 victory at Doha, hope to book Beijing Olympics berths this weekend at the US Track and Field Trials.

Both have tossed down challenges even as they praise the global stars, Oliver warning Wednesday that having seven Americans among the world's best performers this year could set the stage for even bigger results at Beijing.

"The three Americans coming out of this meet, they have got to be favorites at the Olympics. It's about as good as the Olympics itself," Oliver said.

"The USA still has, top to bottom, the best hurdles in the world. Outside of Robles and Liu, we have the other seven guys in that (top) list. We might not have the world record. We're still doing pretty good."

Liu lost his world record on June 12 when Robles won in 12.87 with Trammell second, .34 of a second back. Oliver compared the world-record effort to an artistic masterpiece.

"It was no shock he was able to run the world record," Oliver said. "It was like Picasso. At the start you use a lot of brush strokes. At the end you use fewer strokes and paint masterpieces."

But Oliver says Liu deserves to be regarded as the man to beat, especially because he will be racing in his homeland.

"He's still the favorite. Any time the defending champion is in the event he has to be the favorite," Oliver said. "It's cool Robles broke the world record. It was a good race but winning other meets up until this doesn't matter."

Trammell spoke confidently earlier this year about his chances even as he heaped praise and pressure upon Liu, the Shanghai star who set a world record of 12.88 in 2006.

"He has shown himself to be a consistent athlete when the title is on the line. How I see him and rank him is as a very good competitor. But outside of that I say I'm going to win," Trammell said in April.

"I think he'll be under an extreme amount of pressure. He's pretty much holding a nation on his shoulders. They're all watching. I can't even fathom 1.3 billion people anywhere in the world.

"One thing that would play a major part is the expectations. They are no longer hopes. They are expectations."

But those expectations have been hit hard by reality in the past month. Liu withdrew from a May 31 race in New York with a hamstring injury and was disqualified after a false start here last month at the Prefontaine Classic.