Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados dipped at the line to win the men's 110-metre hurdles yesterday in a photo finish at the World Championships.

Brathwaite hit the first hurdle but ran a clean race the rest of the way and won the gold in 13.14 seconds, taking home Barbados' first medal ever from the Worlds.

Terrence Trammell of the United States finished second and American teammate David Payne took bronze. Both runners were clocked at 13.15, but Trammell was awarded the silver in a photo finish.

"At the first hurdle, I thought 'I do not have this race anymore'," Brathwaite said. "But then I fought and kept to the rhythm."

Another silver

Trailing the Americans after the first hurdle, Brathwaite made up ground over the last 40 metres as Trammell and Payne both hit a string of hurdles with their drag foot and neither American was able to catch the Barbados runner at the tape.

Trammel, the runner-up at two Olympics and two World Champion-ships, was forced to settle for yet another silver.

"You really can't get any closer," Trammel said. "I made some mistakes that I just couldn't afford to make in this race. I thought that I had squeezed it out at the end. I just hit too many hurdles at the end."

Payne, the silver medallist at last year's Beijing Olympics, also said mistakes cost him the top spot on the podium.

"I hit a hurdle around six or seven and I kind of fell back a little bit. I could feel him (Brathwaite) surge just a tiny bit," Payne said. "When we went into the line, I knew that I was a little bit behind."

Semi-final heat

The final was missing the event's two biggest stars. Defending world champion Liu Xiang of China is out with an injury and Olympic champion and world-record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba failed to make it into the final, pulling up injured after hitting the first three hurdles in his semi-final heat.

The Cuban had to be helped off the track after his heat, unable to put any pressure on his left leg.

"Robles is injured. We have to protect him," said Alberto Juantorena, the president of the Cuban Athletics Federation.

Despite the seriousness of his injury, he said he still wanted to go out and try, if only because he had promised Cuban leader Fidel Castro to bring home the gold medal for him.

The Cuban first injured his left hamstring at a meet in France in February and said he always had a nagging suspicion it was not fully recovered. Two weeks ago, it started troubling him again.