JINAN, Shandong province: The city of Jinan is gearing up for the highly anticipated Liu Xiang performance when the track star takes part on Saturday in the men's hurdles preliminaries.

That will be Liu's second race since he collapsed at the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008 due to an Achilles tendon injury. He staged his comeback race at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix last month, where he ran in a wind-aided 13.15 for second place, only narrowly beaten by world No 2 Terrence Trammell of the US.

Liu's timing at Shanghai is tied for ninth-fastest in world rankings this year by the IAAF, the world athletics governing body, but is well off his personal best of 12.88 and the current world record of 12.87.