Bajan Brathwaite speeds to quarter-finals »

Bajan Brathwaite speeds to quarter-finals

Barbadian hurdler Ryan Brathwaite set a new national record as he went through to next round of the men's 110m hurdles at the Beijing Olympics yesterday.

The 20 year old hurdler, the youngest member of Barbados' small 3-member track contingent, set a new mark of 13.38 seconds.

Running in Heat 3, Brathwaite came second in his heat behind Colombia's Paulo Villar. However, in a sign of potentially positive things to come, his time was the third-fastest qualifying time for the quarter-finals.

The first round heat was filled with drama as two top contenders, one a home-town hero, pulled out due to injury. Chinese Liu Xiang, the Olympic and World Champion suffered a flare up of an old Achilles tendon injury and was forced to pull out of the race before it officially started, after seeming to injure it during an initial false start.

American Terrence Trammell, a multiple silver medallist in the event, fell to the track after pulling his hamstring and was unable to complete his race. Trammell was looking to finally win gold after winning four silvers at major meets - the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics and both the 2003 Paris and 2007 Osaka World Championships.

Brathwaite will continue his Olympic journey at 9:02 a.m. this morning (Eastern Caribbean time) in Heat 3 of the quarter-finals.

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