Timeout Tinch finds his happy place on global stage

TOKYO :Cordell Tinch goes into the World Athletics Championships as a medal favourite in the 110 metres hurdles but he would not be in Tokyo at all but for a decision to get back on the track three years ago.

The American always had athletic talent but he gave up first a football scholarship and then a shot at Division I track and field at the University of Minnesota, and by late 2022 was a cellphone salesman in Green Bay.

Offered a second chance at the Division II programme at Pitt State, Tinch was still not sure he had made the right decision to go back to school and compete in athletics.

"When we went to our first meet in Washburn, in Kansas, when the gun went off, that's when I knew I'm back where I'm supposed to be," he told reporters on the eve of the world championships on Friday.

"It was just kind of, once we turned that page, everything just fell into place."

Tinch impressed enough to turn professional in 2024 but he hit a rough patch after mid-season surgery and missed out on a spot in the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics.

This season, however, the 25-year-old has dominated the high hurdles and his sizzling 12.87 seconds at the Shanghai-Keqiao Diamond League in May made him the joint fourth-fastest man of all time with 2008 Olympic champion Dayron Robles.

Tinch backed that up with a time of 12.92 in the Diamond League Final in Zurich, his last outing before heading to Tokyo.

Landing a gold medal at his first global championships will still be a big ask, however, especially as he will need to get in front of his teammate Grant Holloway to do it.

Olympic champion Holloway will be gunning for his fourth straight world title and has proved time and again that he has the temperament for the big occasion.

Tinch's journey