DES MOINES (Iowa): Jamaican Omar McLeod clocked the fastest time of the year to win the 110m hurdles in difficult, rainy conditions at the Drake Relays on Saturday as Olympic champion Aries Merritt finished fifth on his return from a kidney transplant.

McLeod, who just turned 22 on Monday, crossed the line first in a world-leading 13.08 seconds.

With the Rio Olympics approaching in August, McLeod moved atop the 2016 rankings, improving on the 13.33 posted by Jason Richardson last week in Florida.

American David Oliver, who won gold in the 110m hurdles at the 2013 world championships, came in second (13.31) with London Olympic bronze medallist and Jamaican national record holder Hansle Parchment third (13.42).

“This weather is atrocious, it really is,” a beaming McLeod, who won the men’s 60 metres hurdles title at the world indoor championships in March, said in a trackside interview.

“I tried my hardest to get a good warmup and I started warming up real early ... going up against guys like this, you have to be warm and you have to be ready. I am just glad I was able to come out here and finish it off, which was the plan.”

World record holder Merritt, who competed in his first Olympic-style race since receiving a new kidney from his sister in September, was fifth in 13.61.

American Kendra Harrison won the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.56sec, with compatriot Kristi Castlin second in 12.62.

Former world champion Brianna Rollins of the United States was third in 12.65.

For Harrison, it was a valuable chance to race against the women she’ll be up against at the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, in June.

Meghan Beesley, who the British Indoor Championships in February, won the 400m hurdles in 55.43, two-hundredths of a second faster than Dalilah Muhammad.

It was the first trip to Drake for Beesley, who had spent the last six weeks in Florida training for Rio.

Sandi Morris took the women’s pole vault — which along with the women’s high jump was moved indoors because of the rain — at 15 feet, 5 inches. Levern Spencer won the women’s high jump at 6-4 3/4.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2016