Dayron Robles of Cuba clears a hurdle in a heat of the men's 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games. He will be back in action at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich today. - AP

ZURICH, Switzerland (CMC)

CUBAN DAYRON Robles will make his first outing since winning the 110 metres hurdles in Beijing when he appears at the Grand Prix of Zurich today. And despite taking the Olympic title just a few days ago, the 21-year old said he was still very motivated to win when he lined up in the starting blocks.

"Winning the Olympic final in Beijing was not a surprise to me. Anything else would have been a huge disappointment. So far, I have not had time to celebrate too much. I am still motivated to achieve big things," Robles said. "At Weltklasse, I would like to run a fast, exciting race to give back as much as possible to the phenomenal Zurich fans."

Sprint hurdles

Robles clocked 12.93 seconds as he easily took the sprint hurdles in Beijing. Though he has little time to rest in between the Olympics, which concluded Sunday, and this Grand Prix meeting, he said fatigue would not be a factor.

"I remember one time I came here, I arrived only two hours prior to my race, dead tired from the trip but I still managed to come in second behind Allen Johnson (four-time world champion)," Robles explained.

Arrived

"This time, I arrived in time, I am relaxed, so I will be much better prepared for the race on Friday night. It will be a great race."

He is expected to meet the Olympic bronze medallist Ameri-can David Oliver but will be without competition from world champion Liu Xiang of China who is injured.