Ja’Kobe Tharp broke the 110m hurdles world record during heats at the American college championships on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, from Auburn, Alabama, clocked 12.75 seconds at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) event in Eugene, Oregon.

The previous record of 12.80 was set by fellow American Aries Merritt in Brussels in September 2012.

Current Olympic champion Grant Holloway set the previous collegiate record of 12.98 in 2019.

Tharp is the first athlete to set a world record at the NCAA championships in 50 years.

His previous best was 13.01 and although he came into the meet expecting to beat that, he did not expect to take more than a quarter of a second off that mark and set a world record.

“I knew I was ready to drop something crazy,” he told reporters.

“I knew what I was capable of, but I didn’t know about that.

“It wasn’t on my bingo chart for this meet, not at all. I’m speechless, seriously.”

Tharp will compete in the final on Friday, when he aims to become the first hurdler since Holloway in 2019 to win a second straight NCAA title.