When Aries Merritt shot out of the blocks to deny Liu Xiang victory in the 60-meter hurdles, he clinched more than just an unlikely victory. The American hurdler, who was thought to have little chance against the Chinese great, won the title and cemented a record gold medal haul for the U.S. team at the world indoor championships.

北京时间3月11日，第14届世界室内田径锦标赛在土耳其伊斯坦布尔进行男子60米栏决赛。美国选手梅里特以7秒44获得冠军，中国选手刘翔则在第二个栏出现了失误，以7秒49获得亚军。

Merritt set the pace in his final. Fastest out of the blocks, he even got the better of Liu, the 2004 Olympic champion who was trying out a new start with one step less to the first hurdle to keep the opposition at bay.

本次室内世锦赛，刘翔的主要对手罗伯斯、奥利弗等都缺阵，唯一能给刘翔带来压力的仅是美国选手梅里特。正是这位美国小将，在与刘翔的直接对决中，拿到了自己的第一个世界冠军。梅里特的最好成绩也达到了7秒43，他在比赛中也非常拼，恭喜他，这是他第一个世界冠军。输掉比赛的刘翔显得十分大度，并没有轻视这名后起之秀。

When Liu saw the blur of Merritt, it immediately unsettled him."I knew Aries Merritt is a fast starter," Liu said. "So I got out in a rush and was not able to control my technique."

在决赛中，刘翔的起跑出现了一些问题，导致第二个栏时碰到了栏，使得速度下降，7秒49的成绩并不能令刘翔感到满意。起跑反应有点慢，过了第一个栏就想迅速加起来，结果在第二个栏碰到了脚。刘翔在分析当时的情况时说，没什么感受，自己没有发挥好，还是有点遗憾。我对第二名的名次还是很满意的，但对成绩不是很满意。