OSAKA, Japan, 8 May 2005 — China’s world record holder Liu Xiang improved the season’s best time with Americans Justin Gatlin and Allyson Felix winning their sprint races at the Japan Grand Prix yesterday.

Liu, who set 13.23 seconds to beat the previous world leading time of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix last month, clocked 13.12 for an easy victory in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in his first international event.

Olympic champion Gatlin failed to beat Maurice Greene’s best mark of the season at 10.03, but his time of 10.15 was enough to win the men’s 100 meters beating fellow American Brian Lewis and Obadele Thompson of Barbados.

Felix, a teenage prodigy who won 200m silver in the Athens Olympics, timed 11.30 to lead an American 1-2 finish with Angela Daigle, beating Japan’s Tomoko Ishida into third in the women’s 100m.

“It was my first international race and I had aimed to run under 13.20, so my time today is good enough,” said Liu, who set a new Asian record a year ago here to prelude his world record performance in Athens.

“I think the tail wind (+1.1) helped my time a little bit, I think it would have been 13:20 without it. I’m not 100 percent yet. I’m going to move up my gear in each race and peak for the world championships in August.”

For Gatlin, the winner of the 100m gold, the 4x100m relay silver and the 200m bronze medals in Athens, it was his first individual race this season after winning the 4x100m relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia last week.

“Overall it was a good race and a good opener. Hopefully, I can continue like this,” said Gatlin.

“It was my first race and I’m not used to a Japanese starter, but I feel good, I feel better and I feel I can make an even more better start.

“I’m not a great starter and a great finisher, so hopefully by the end of the season I can combine with a good start that I can have a good finish,” added the American.

Earlier in the day, China’s Zhang Wenxiu defeated Athens Olympic champion Olga Kuzenkova of Russia to win the women’s hammer throw, narrowly missing a new Asian record in the process.

The 19-year-old Chinese marked 72.34 meters in her second throw, only eight centimeters short of her own Asian record set last year. Kuzenkova finished second with a result of 69.77.

As for the world championships in Helsinki in August, Zhang said she needs to throw 73 meters to win the gold.