Chinese Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang is likely to break the world record in the men's 110m hurdles in 2005, said Liu's coach in Yichun City of East China's Jiangxi Province on Saturday.

Sun Haiping told Xinhua that Liu still has great potential though he has taken the Olympic crown with a record-tying time.

Sun said Liu's condition in training now is as good as that before the Athens Olympic Games and that he has the ability to break the record by year-end.

However, whether the 21-year-old can break the record also depends on the track, the weather, the wind direction and speed and so on, Sun added.

Sun and Liu arrived in Yichun early Friday morning for a two-day national track event.

Liu is the first Chinese athlete to take Olympic gold in the short-distance race, which used to be dominated by Americans and Europeans. His time of 12.91 seconds equalled the mark set by Briton Colin Jackson at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany.