Olympic hurdler shares plans to break world record

US Olympic champion hurdler Aries Merritt said he hopes to break his own world record at the Beijing World Championships next year, while speaking at a sponsor promotional event in Beijing on Thursday.

Merritt is slated to compete at the IAAF World Championships, which will be held at the National Stadium in Beijing in August 2015.

"I am very focused on the 2015 Beijing World Championships. My goal is to obviously win gold medal in Beijing," Merritt said after a media session introducing Nike Free technology and the Natural Motion training concept.

Merritt became a household name in track and field after breaking the previous world record in the 110m hurdle with a time of 12.80 seconds at the Diamond League's Belgium leg in September 2012, just a month after he claimed the gold medal at the London Olympics in 12.92 seconds.

He failed to deliver his best at the 2013 Moscow Worlds, only finishing sixth in 13.31 seconds, but the 28-year-old has his mind set on smashing his own world record.

"Hopefully, I can break another world record. It's really hard to break a world record, and it's really hard to say when you will break it. I don't know if it is going to happen in Beijing but we will see."

"It (the world record) is not the main focus (in Beijing). The focus is to win the championship and to let the time come. But hopefully, it will happen in the future."