Ja'Kobe Tharp
American athlete (born 2005)
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Ja’Kobe Tharp (born 30 September 2005) is an American hurdler. He won the 110 metres hurdles at the 2025 American Championships and the 2024 World U20 Championships. He was a finalist at the 2025 World Championships. In 2026, he became the third fastest man to run the 60 metres hurdles and broke Grant Holloway's collegiate record as he retained his NCAA Indoor Championships title, first won in 2025. That year, he also won the NCAA Outdoor Championships over 110 metres hurdles.[1]
110m hurdles: 12.75 (2026)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 30 September 2005 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | Hurdles | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 60m hurdles 7.32 (2026) 110m hurdles: 12.75 (2026) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
He attended Rockvale High School in Tennessee.[2]
Career
2024: World U20 champion
He finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships in June 2024, running for Auburn University. He finished the NCAA season with a 13.18 seconds personal best.[3] He achieved that in winning the Southeastern Conference in Gainesville, Florida. This time set a new national U20 record breaking the previous mark set by Renaldo Nehemiah in 1978.[4] Later that month, he won the 110m hurdle final at the USATF U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon.[5]
He competed at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, qualifying for the final with a year world U20 leading time of 13.11 seconds.[6] He won the gold medal in the final with a 13.05 seconds (-0.5m/s) lifetime best time, and a national U20 record over the 99cm hurdles, as well as a 2024 world U20 leading time.[7][8]
2025: American champion
Tharp ran 7.45 seconds to win the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach on 15 March 2025.[9] He ran 13.15 seconds for the 110m hurdles to finish second at the 2025 SEC Championships, a time which moved him to fifth on the NCAA all-time list.[10] In June 2025, he also won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships 110 metres hurdles title in Eugene, Oregon, in a personal best time of 13.05 seconds.[11][12] He ran 13.17 seconds to place third at the 2025 Herculis event in Monaco on his Diamond League debut on 11 July 2025.[13]
On 3 August 2025, he ran a personal best 13.01 seconds to win the 2025 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon ahead of Cordell Tinch.[14] He was a finalist competing at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in the men's 110 metres hurdles in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2025, placing sixth overall.[15][16] In December he was one of three finalist for the 2025 Bowerman Award, ultimately won by Jordan Anthony.[17]
2026: World record holder
In February 2026, he won the 60 metres hurdles in 7.48 seconds at the SEC Indoor Championships, winning by 0.02 seconds from Ja'Qualon Scott.[18] Tharp ran a personal best of 7.36 to win his preliminary 60m hurdles heat on 13 March at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships. The time was the second fastest in NCAA history and just .01 seconds behind the NCAA record of Grant Holloway, and the fourth fastest in world history.[19] The following day, Tharp won the final in 7.32 seconds to break Holloway‘s 7.35 collegiate record, and move to second on the American all-time list and third worldwide behind Holloway and Colin Jackson.[20][21] In May, Tharp ran 13.05 to win the 110 m hurdles at both the SEC Championships and NCAA East Regionals and qualified for the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships.[22][23][24] In the preliminary heats of the NCAA championship, he broke the world record with a time of 12.75, pending ratification.[25]
Personal life
Both his parents were basketball players, his father, Jimmie Ware, was a high school player and his mother, Aminda, played for Tennessee–Martin and Dyersburg State CC.[26]