Aries Merritt, Jason Richardson advance to Olympic hurdles final

By Helene Elliott

Aug. 8, 2012 12 AM PT

LONDON -- Two of three U.S. men who competed in the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles advanced to the final, which will be contested later Wednesday night.

Jason Richardson, who trains in Los Angeles, won his heat in 13.13 seconds. Aries Merritt, of Marietta, Ga., won his heat in 12.94 seconds, .01 off the world-leading time he has recorded three times this season.

But in the third semifinal, Jeff Porter of Somerset, N.J., finished fifth in 13.41 and didn’t qualify.

World record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba had the second-best semifinal time, a season-best 13.10 seconds. Robles set his record more than four years ago.

Richardson had a strong start and cruised to the finish.

Merritt ran all the way through, another impressive performance and his fourth sub-13-second mark this season.

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

Aries Merritt, Jason Richardson advance to Olympic hurdles final

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