After his surprising win over last year’s World leader in the high hurdles, David Oliver, China’s Xiang Liu was reserved in his analysis of the race in the final press conference of the Dunlop Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.

Liu has been through too much since he was forced to pull out of his defence of his Olympic title in Beijing to make rash predictions of the future.

“I'm quite satisfied with my performance tonight,” began the 2004 Olympic champion.

“It was my first outdoor event of the season. I finished with 13.07 seconds and the results were beyond my expectations. I had a pretty good start - in the middle of it I performed quite well, and in the final dash, I also performed very well. Tonight I used seven steps to approach the first hurdle, instead of eight steps. Techniques work differently for different people.

“As I said in a previous press conference, I didn't quite expect too much from my new technique. It's just a try. In the coming days I will have to try and increase my speed as I go across each hurdle, and I need to pay attention to my rhythm.

“I need to be patient, because sometimes when you are applying a new technique, like me - I have to make sure I run my own race instead of being affected by the other athletes beside me. I don't believe David Oliver performed at his best form tonight, so I won.

For his part, Oliver was disappointed with his race and had no real answer as to why he was below par: “I wish I had the answer, but I under-performed tonight, so I just have to get ready for my next competition, and train harder.”

Liu, though, thought that Oliver was tense before the race started: “I had a pretty good start, but was a little anxious. I slightly hit several hurdles. Considering the performance of David Oliver, I thought he was a little nervous and wasn't very relaxed.  I think he is able to go under 13 seconds. He is way stronger than me.”

Xiang has said that his aim this season is to dip under 13sec and admitted that tonight’s performance has given him the confidence to believe that he can achieve that: “It's just a goal, but after this competition - after tonight's results, I'm more confident. I think I have the ability to achieve that goal,” said Liu.

Another of Liu’s stated goals is to get on the podium in the London Olympics next year. Did he still think that was realistic? “If I'm lucky,” said Liu. “But I will never be satisfied with these results, I will try to do better, to run faster.”

It was another night of triumph for Jamaican sprinting as both Veronica Campbell-Brown and Asafa Powell won. While Powell was expected to win, it was by no means certain that Campbell-Brown would be able to beat American Carmelita Jeter who has been running strongly in the early season.

Not the most effusive of athletes, Campbell-Brown was typically restrained in her analysis of the race: “I thought I executed well. I have a lot to work on, it's early in the season. Hopefully, each race will get a little better.

For his part, Powell has been struggling with niggling injuries for some time. Last weekend he had jogged home last in a 200m in Kingston when he felt a twinge. Was that why he was so conservative in his tactics today when he appeared to be running at half throttle so as to avoid injury?

“That was the plan, to finish the race healthy, and that's what I did. I followed instructions. My coach told me not to push too hard, and I'm happy with that,” concluded Powell.