Robles, a former World Junior star medalist, and Jamaican, Maurice Wignall, led the way on the men's side, while Jamaicans, Brigitte Foster-Hylton and an impressive Kaliese Spencer shared the glory on the female side of things.

Men's Review

The year was scheduled around two global meetings other than the IAAF World series in Europe. These two meetings were the World Indoor Championships and the Commonwealth Games, both of which were held in the somewhat silent month of March.

Nevertheless, the region's male hurdlers in particular, excelled much further than just these two championships, with Robles evidently being the more notable competitor.

Evident transformation

The 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships silver medallist quickly transformed his youth success into senior glory and leaped majestically from a position of 28th to finish the year as the second ranked hurdler with a score of 1387, just 13 points behind the Olympic champion Lui.

The Cuban won 9 of his main 15 110m Hurdles starts and improved his career best several times before finally settling for 13.00 seconds.

During his indoor outing, Robles surprised his more mature oppositions to win a silver medal behind American Terrence Trammell at the world indoors. The 20-year-old clocked an indoor personal best of 7.46 to just finish behind Trammell, at 7.43. He was also a dominant force throughout the rounds and his medal performance at the end was not too surprising.

Robles also claimed his first international title at the 20th Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Cartagena, Colombia, with a run of 13.12. His performance bettered the 1998 previous record of 13.27, set by his countryman Anier Garcia, the 2000 Olympic champion from Sydney.
 
Running injury free in a more demanding arena at the senior level, Robles went on to accumulate ten timings at 13.20 or quicker, including his career best at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart. He then finished off a blooming campaign with a 13.04 third place run at the 10th IAAF World Cup at the Athens Olympic Stadium a few days later.

Nicked named the "baby" by his rivals, the Cuban rising star ran in the same spotlight as his elite counterparts, who praised the young hurdler for an absolutely dazzling season.

"He is obviously the future of Cuban hurdling. I think everyone has to look up for him in the future," American former Olympic and World champion Allen Johnson was quoted as saying.

On his take on Robles, Liu said: "He has very good future. He is very young and is already very strong at his age."

Moderate year for Wignall

It was another up and down season for Jamaican Wignall, despite giving 110 percent at all times. The Olympic finallist ran well this season without being fully rewarded.

After narrowly missing a bronze medal in 60m hurdles in Moscow, with a time of 7.52, the second fastest in his career, Wignall ran away with his first Commonwealth Games title in Australia. His indoor campaign also featured a quick 7.54, achieved at the Stuttgart Sparkassen Cup in Germany in February.

Nonetheless, Wignall became a victim of poor first-half races in the peak of the season and was unable to succeed at playing catch-up at times.

He, however, recorded victories at the Belém Brazil Grand Prix, the Thessaloniki Olympic Meeting and Helsinki GE Money Grand Prix, a meeting in which he equalled his seasonal best of 13.26. He ran the same time to win the Commonwealth Games title.

Other highlighted male hurdlers in 2006 were Cuban Yoel Hernández, the CAC bronze medallist and a finallist at the world indoors, Jamaican Richard Phillips, Haitian Dudley Dorival and Trinidadian-born Kerron Clement, who finished the year as the fastest 400m hurdles runner with a time of 47.39.

Jamaican Kemel Thompson, the Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner also ran well in 2006, especially during the IAAF and European tours. His fellow Jamaican countryman Danny McFarlane, the Olympic silver medal winner ended the year one ranking slot below Thompson, at seventh with a best time of 48.47.

Women's Review

Finishing the year with a time of 12.49, the fourth quickest in the world in the 2006 season, Foster-Hylton easily cemented herself as the top female hurdler for another year.

The World bronze medallist from Helsinki, Finland, last year, won the Commonwealth Games title with a time of 12.76 seconds, a great improvement from her first round exit in Manchester.

She finished the year behind American World champion Michelle Perry and Sweden's Susanna Kallur in the World event Rankings after landing top three positions in all her major starts. 

Junior glory

Spencer also recorded an excellent year. The 19-year-old Jamaican, who ran away with the Beijing IAAF World Junior Championships title in August, with a time of 55.11, was the third-fastest Caribbean runner in the 400m hurdlers in 2006.

She, however, was the top regional performer on the IAAF ranking list, taking over from the likes of Barbadian Andrea Blackett, who is said to be focusing on the upcoming world championships and Olympic Games in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Enjoying some success too this year were Cuban Anay Tejeda (12.72); Jamaican world silver medallist Delloreen Ennis-London (12.74); and Melaine Walker (12.75). In the 400m obstacles, Cuban Daimí Pernía recorded the quickest time from the region when finishing sixth at the IAAF World Cup in Athletics in Athens, on September 16.

Walker also ran well in this event, posting a time of 54.87, while Trinidadian Josanne Lucas (55.29) and (13.02) improved her personal records in the 100m and 400m hurdles disciplines in the term.

Another season campaigner, Lacena Golding-Clarke of Jamaica had a fantastic year indoors after clocking the fastest time of 7.83 to finish the quickest, but she was unable to transform that form outdoors.