OSAKA - China's hurdles world record holder showed typical humility when he said he'd be satisfied with a medal finish at this week's World Athletics Championships in Japan.
Liu XiangMen's 110m star Liu Xiang was coy about his prospects at the biggest competition before the Beijing Olympics in a press conference in Osaka on Sunday.
"To be honest, my goal is to make the top three," he said.
But the lanky athlete's reticence defies the fact he is hot favorite to win Friday's final race.
Many expect him to set a new world record, breaking the 12.88-second mark he set in Lausanne last summer.
Liu became a hero overnight when he became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic track and field title at the Athens Games in 2004.
This week's meet is the sixth time the 24-year-old has run in Osaka, where he won gold at a World Athletics Tour event in May, six years after he blitzed the 2001 East Asian Games.
But the Shanghai express remains modest as always.
"The previous five times are different from this one," he said.
"This is a meet for the world's fastest - everybody wants to win."
Coach Sun Haiping admitted that Liu had only just recovered from a fever.
While the star is short of top form, his coach expects him to feature among the fastest three in the race.
Liu defeated a number of world-class US hurdlers in New York in June with a 2007 world best of 12.92 seconds, the fifth fastest time in history.
Olympic silver medalist American Terrence Trammell posted 12.95, the year's second best time.
Other rivals include France's defending world champion Ladji Doucoure and Cuban Dayron Robles.
The former ran his personal best of 13.06 seconds in 2004 and the latter 13 flat in 2006.
Liu refused to comment on his rivals, who he considers friends.
The men's 110m hurdles heats begin on Wednesday followed by Thursday's semifinal before Friday's final showdown.