by Deji Ogeyingbo
Cordell Tinch: From Factory Floors to World Champion in the 110m Hurdles
Cordell Tinch’s recent gold in Tokyo did not come from a straight path lined with records. There were numerous detours, doubts, and years spent away from the track, working jobs that had little to do with running or hurdles. His story is less about overnight glory and more about the complicated routes athletes sometimes travel before reaching the top.
For an athlete of his calibre, he didn’t get into flow state in the heats in Tokyo. Tinch got into his running in the same heats, and it was just about putting together a good race in the final that remained. Tinch leaned over the last hurdle and powered through the finish line in 12.99 seconds, securing the men’s 110m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships. The time was the only sub-13 clocking of the final, and a moment that confirmed what many had begun to suspect this season about him being the man to beat.
The victory looked smooth, but the story behind it is anything but. Three years earlier, Tinch was in Wisconsin, working a series of jobs. He sold phones in a retail shop, installed cable, and operated machinery at a paper mill. During that time, he had walked away from the sport after struggling to find his footing in college and losing his motivation. He has been open about feeling unhappy then, even tweeting during the pandemic that he was searching for a part of himself that had gone missing.
It was a friend and his mother who nudged him back toward the track. They encouraged him to return to school and finish what he had started. That led him to Pittsburg State in Kansas, a Division II program where he found new energy. In 2023, he ran the third-fastest time in the world and reminded everyone of the talent that had once made him a standout recruit at Minnesota and Kansas. Though his first World Championships ended in the semifinals, the performance was enough to launch a professional career.
The following year brought more obstacles. A hamstring injury limited his training, and he finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 13.03 seconds. That performance was a heartbreak. The time would have won silver in Paris, but it left him at home. He did not watch the Games, choosing to block them out while competing overseas.
In 2025, everything aligned. He opened his season with a personal best of 12.87, the fastest in the world this year, and carried that form through the Diamond League, where he collected wins in five cities, including Zurich. Arriving in Tokyo, he was no longer a surprise contender. He was a favorite. When Grant Holloway, the three-time defending champion, faltered in the semifinals, the door opened wide. Tinch walked through it.
The final itself was straightforward. He broke cleanly, controlled the race from the first barrier, and never looked rattled. Orlando Bennett and Tyler Mason of Jamaica both ran personal bests for silver and bronze, but neither could threaten Tinch once he found his rhythm. At 25 years old, he became the latest American to carry on the country’s proud tradition in hurdling, extending the U.S. tally to 13 world titles in the event.
After the race, he spoke with the clarity of someone who had already processed his unusual route to the podium. He said he would not have become a world champion without the time away from the sport. Those years taught him who he was outside of the sport and gave him perspective on the life he wanted. In his words, everything he learned away from track made him the man he is now.
