LOS ANGELES, United States, March 14, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - American Ja'Kobe Tharp ran the fastest 60-meter hurdles time in the world this year on Friday, winning his heat in 7.36 seconds at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The 20-year-old, a 2024 under-20 world champion at the 110m hurdles in Lima, went ahead in the heats of the elite US college meet ahead of Saturday's final.

Reigning US 110m hurdles champion Tharp, sixth in the event in last year's World Championships at Tokyo, improved on the prior best of 7.37 shared by compatriots Trey Cunningham and Dylan Beard and Poland's Jakub Szymanski.

Tharp did not compete in the US trials and will not take the track at next week's World Indoor Championships.

Tharp's time made him the fourth-fastest performer of all time in the discipline, level with compatriots Allen Johnson, Terrence Trammell and Greg Foster but well off Grant Holloway's world record of 7.27.