110 metres hurdles

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Athletics
110 metres hurdles
Osaka07 D8M M110MH Decathlon Scene.jpg
A 110m hurdles heat of the Decathlon at Osaka 2007
World records
MenUnited States Aries Merritt 12.80 (2012)
Olympic records
MenChina Liu Xiang 12.91 (2004)
World Championship records
MenUnited Kingdom Colin Jackson 12.91 (1993)

The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurdles of 1.067 metres (3 ft 6, or 42 inches) in height are evenly spaced along a straight course of 110 metres. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner. Fallen hurdles do not carry a fixed time penalty for the runners, but they have a significant pull-over weight which slows down the run. Like the 100 metres sprint, the 110 metres hurdles begins in the starting blocks.

For the 110 m hurdles, the first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13.72 metres (45 ft) from the starting line. The next nine hurdles are set at a distance of 9.14 metres (30 ft) from each other, and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line is 14.02 metres (46 ft) long.

The Olympic Games have included the 110 metre hurdles in their program since 1896. The equivalent hurdles race for women was run over a course of 80 metres from 1932 to 1968. Starting with the 1972 Summer Olympics, the women's race was set at 100 metres. In the early 20th century, the race was often contested as 120 yard hurdles, thus the imperial units distances between hurdles.

The fastest 110 metre hurdlers run the distance in around 13 seconds. Aries Merritt of the United States holds the current world record of 12.80 seconds, set at the Memorial Van Damme meet on 7 September 2012 in Belgium.

History[]

For the first hurdles races in England around 1830, wooden barriers were placed along a stretch of 100 yards (91.44 m).

The first standards were attempted in 1864 in Oxford and Cambridge: The length of the course was set to 120 yards (109.7 m) and over its course, runners were required to clear ten 3 foot 6 inch (1.07 m) high hurdles; the height and spacing of the hurdles have been related to Imperial units ever since. After the length of the course was rounded up to 110 metres in France in 1888, the standardisation was essentially complete, except that in Germany, 1 metre high hurdles were used until 1907.

The massively constructed hurdles of the early days were first replaced in 1895 with somewhat lighter T-shaped hurdles that runners were able to knock over.

However, until 1935, runners were disqualified if they knocked down more than three hurdles, and records were only recognized if the runner had left all hurdles standing.

In 1935, the T-shaped hurdles were replaced by L-shaped ones that easily fall forward if bumped into and therefore reduce the risk of injury. However, these hurdles are weighted, so it is disadvantageous to hit them.

The current running style where the first hurdle is taken on the run with the upper body lowered instead of being jumped over and with three steps each between the hurdles was first used by the 1900 Olympic champion, Alvin Kraenzlein. The 110 metre hurdles have been an Olympic discipline since 1896.

Women's history[]

Women ran the event occasionally in the 1920s, but it never became generally accepted.

From 1926 to 1968, women competed in the 80 metre hurdles, which was increased to 100 metres starting in 1961 on a trial basis, and was officially implemented in competition in 1969. As of 2021, no timeframe has been given by the IAAF for an increase to 110 metres, despite proposals to do so.

Other events[]

In 1900 and 1904, the Olympics also included a 200-metre hurdles event, and the IAAF recognized world records for the 200 metre hurdles until 1960. Don Styron held the world record in the event for over 50 years, until Andy Turner broke the record in a specially arranged race at the Manchester City Games in 2010: Styron still holds the world record in the 220 yard low hurdles as of 2021.

Technique[]

The sprint hurdles are a very rhythmic race because both men and women take 3 steps (meaning 4 foot strikes) between each hurdle, no matter whether running 110/100 metres outdoors, or the shorter distances indoors (55 or 60 metres). In addition, the distance from the starting line to the first hurdle - while shorter for women - is constant for both sexes whether indoors or outdoors, so sprint hurdlers do not need to change their stride pattern between indoor and outdoor seasons. One difference between indoor and outdoors is the shorter finishing distance from the last (5th) hurdle indoors, compared to longer distance from the last (10th) hurdle outdoors to the finish line.

Top male hurdlers traditionally took 8 strides from the starting blocks to the first hurdle (indoors and outdoors). The 8-step start persisted from (at least) the 1950s to the end of the 20th century and included such World- and Olympic champions as Harrison Dillard, Rod Milburn, Greg Foster, Renaldo Nehemiah, Roger Kingdom, Allen Johnson, Mark Crear, Mark McCoy, and Colin Jackson. However, beginning in the 2000s, some hurdle coaches embraced a transition to a faster 7-step start, teaching the men to lengthen their first few strides out of the starting blocks. Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles set his 2008 world record of 12.87 using a 7-step start. Chinese star Liu Xiang won the 2004 Olympics and broke the world record in 2006 utilizing an 8-step approach, but he switched to 7-steps by the 2011 outdoor season. After the 2010 outdoor season, American Jason Richardson trained to switch to a 7-step start and went on to win the 2011 World Championship. American Aries Merritt trained in Fall 2011 to switch from 8 to 7, and then had his greatest outdoor season in 2012 - running 8 races in under 13 seconds - capped by winning the London 2012 Olympics and then setting a world record of 12.80.[1]

Of the 10 men with the fastest 110m hurdle times in 2012, seven used 7-steps, including the top 4: Aries Merritt, Liu Xiang, Jason Richardson, and David Oliver. Hurdle technique experts believe the off-season training required to produce the power and speed necessary to reach the first hurdle in 7 steps, yields greater endurance over the last half of the race. That added endurance allows hurdlers to maintain their top speed to the finish, resulting in a faster time.

Junior level competition[]

A 110m hurdles race at the 2021 Creekside Friday knight invite

In American high school track and field and at many international Under-20 athletics competitions, the 110MH are mostly the same as their professional counterparts. The main difference between the high school hurdles and college-level/ professional hurdles is the height. High school hurdles are 39’ inches high while college height hurdles are 42 inches tall. This change in height drastically changes the requirements placed on the hurdler to clear the barrier with the same amount of speed. High school hurdling technique is the same as professional except on the higher hurdles everything is exaggerated. As a high schooler makes the transition from the 39’s to the 42’s there are many things they must adjust to, the most prevailing issue is getting down after clearing the hurdle. 39-inch hurdlers are used to the normal sprinting motion right after they get off the hurdle but for a newly transitioned 42-inch hurdler that extra half a second can feel very foreign. The second major difference in technique between 39’s and 42’s is the take-off distance. When a high school hurdler approaches his first hurdle they are putting as much power into each step as possible and attempting to gain all the speed they can so by their eighth step they’ll be about six inches away from the hurdle. When attempting to clear a 42-inch hurdle the athlete can no longer run headfirst into the hurdle with disregard for the height of the hurdle. The newly made college hurdler needs to learn how to shorten their strides so they can take off the ground from farther away to clear a 42-inch barrier.

Both before and after this change of technique world class hurdler, Aries Merritt was an elite level hurdler, at the peak of his high school career Aries Merritt achieved a still standing Wheeler High school record of 13.91 seconds. Almost all top level American hurdlers started their careers in high school including Roger Kingdom at Vienna high school and many more.[2]

The world record in the 110m hurdles at the 39-inch height is 12.72 by Sasha Zhoya, achieved at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships – Men's 110 metres hurdles in Nairobi, Kenya on 21 August 2021.

Milestones[]

  • First official IAAF world record: 15.0 seconds, Forrest Smithson (USA), 1908
  • First under 15 seconds: 14.8 seconds, Earl Thomson (CAN), 1920
  • First under 14 seconds: 13.7 seconds, Forrest Towns (USA), 1936
  • First under 13.5 seconds: 13.4 seconds, Jack Davis (USA), 1956
  • First under 13 seconds: 12.93 seconds, Renaldo Nehemiah (USA), 1981
  • First under 12.9 seconds: 12.88 seconds, Liu Xiang (CHN), 2006

All-time top 25[]

  • Correct as of September 2021.[3]
Ath.# Perf.# Time (s) Wind (m/s) Athlete Nation Date Place Ref
1 1 12.80 +0.3 Aries Merritt  United States 07 SEP 2012 Brussels [4]
2 2 12.81 +1.8 Grant Holloway  United States 26 JUN 2021 Eugene [5]
3 3 12.87 +0.9 Dayron Robles  Cuba 12 JUN 2008 Ostrava
4 4 12.88 +1.1 Liu Xiang  China 11 JUL 2006 Lausanne
4 12.88 +0.5 Robles #2 18 JUL 2008 Saint-Denis
5 6 12.89 +0.5 David Oliver  United States 16 JUL 2010 Saint-Denis
6 7 12.90 +1.1 Dominique Arnold  United States 11 JUL 2006 Lausanne
7 12.90 +1.6 Oliver #2 03 JUL 2010 Eugene
6 7 12.90 +0.7 Omar McLeod  Jamaica 24 JUN 2017 Kingston [6]
8 10 12.91 +0.5 Colin Jackson  United Kingdom 20 AUG 1993 Stuttgart
10 12.91 +0.3 Liu #2 27 AUG 2004 Athens
+0.2 Robles #3 22 JUL 2008 Stockholm
9 13 12.92 –0.1 Roger Kingdom  United States 16 AUG 1989 Zürich
+0.9 Allen Johnson  United States 23 JUN 1996 Atlanta
13 12.92 +0.2 Johnson #2 23 AUG 1996 Brussels
+1.5 Liu #3 02 JUN 2007 New York City
±0.0 Robles #4 23 SEP 2007 Stuttgart
–0.3 Merritt #2 08 AUG 2012 London
9 13 12.92 +0.6 Sergey Shubenkov  Russia 02 JUL 2018 Székesfehérvár [7]
12 20 12.93 –0.1 Renaldo Nehemiah  United States 19 AUG 1981 Zürich
20 12.93 ±0.0 Johnson #3 07 AUG 1997 Athens
–0.6 Liu #4 09 SEP 2006 Stuttgart
+0.1 Robles #5 21 AUG 2008 Beijing
+1.7 Oliver #3 27 JUN 2010 Des Moines
–0.3 Oliver #4 19 AUG 2010 Zürich
+1.2 Merritt #3 30 JUN 2012 Eugene
+0.6 Merritt #4 13 JUL 2012 London
±0.0 Merritt #5 20 JUL 2012 Monaco
13 12.94 +1.6 Jack Pierce  United States 22 JUN 1996 Atlanta
+1.5 Hansle Parchment  Jamaica 06 JUL 2014 Saint-Denis [8]
+0.5 Orlando Ortega  Cuba 04 JUL 2015 Saint-Denis [9]
16 12.95 +1.5 Terrence Trammell  United States 02 JUN 2007 New York City
+0.3 Pascal Martinot-Lagarde  France 18 JUL 2014 Monaco [10]
18 12.97 +1.0 Ladji Doucoure  France 15 JUL 2015 Angers
19 12.98 +0.6 Mark Crear  United States 05 JUL 1999 Zagreb
+1.5 Jason Richardson  United States 30 JUN 2012 Eugene
21 12.99 +1.2 Ronnie Ash  United States 29 JUN 2014 Sacramento [11]
+0.7 Devon Allen  United States 14 SEP 2021 Zagreb [12]
23 13.00 +0.5 Tony Jarrett  United Kingdom 20 AUG 1993 Stuttgart
+0.6 Anier Garcia  Cuba 25 SEP 2000 Sydney
+0.8 Daniel Roberts  United States 07 JUN 2019 Austin [13]

Most successful athletes[]

Athletes with two or more victories at the Olympic Games & World Championships:

5 wins:

  • Allen Johnson has won the most 110 m hurdles titles at Olympic and World level, one Olympic (1996) & four World (1995, 1997, 2001, 2003)

3 wins:

  • Greg Foster, three World Championship titles, 1983, 1987 & 1991 (also won Olympic silver in 1984)

2 wins:

  • Lee Calhoun (USA), two Olympic victories, 1956, 1960
  • Roger Kingdom (USA), two Olympic victories, 1984 and 1988
  • Colin Jackson (GBR), two World Championship victories, 1993 and 1999 (also won Olympic Silver in 1988)
  • Liu Xiang (CHN), Olympic, 2004, World, 2007
  • Omar McLeod (JAM), Olympic, 2016, World, 2017

Olympic Games medalists[]

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1896 Athens
details
Thomas Curtis
 United States
Grantley Goulding
 Great Britain
none awarded
1900 Paris
details
Alvin Kraenzlein
 United States
John McLean
 United States
Fred Moloney
 United States
1904 St. Louis
details
Frederick Schule
 United States
Thaddeus Shideler
 United States
Lesley Ashburner
 United States
1908 London
details
Forrest Smithson
 United States
John Garrels
 United States
Arthur Shaw
 United States
1912 Stockholm
details
Fred Kelly
 United States
James Wendell
 United States
Martin Hawkins
 United States
1920 Antwerp
details
Earl Thomson
 Canada
Harold Barron
 United States
Feg Murray
 United States
1924 Paris
details
Daniel Kinsey
 United States
Sid Atkinson
 South Africa
Sten Pettersson
 Sweden
1928 Amsterdam
details
Sid Atkinson
 South Africa
Steve Anderson
 United States
John Collier
 United States
1932 Los Angeles
details
George Saling
 United States
Percy Beard
 United States
Don Finlay
 Great Britain
1936 Berlin
details
Forrest Towns
 United States
Don Finlay
 Great Britain
Fritz Pollard
 United States
1948 London
details
William Porter
 United States
Clyde Scott
 United States
Craig Dixon
 United States
1952 Helsinki
details
Harrison Dillard
 United States
Jack Davis
 United States
Arthur Barnard
 United States
1956 Melbourne
details
Lee Calhoun
 United States
Jack Davis
 United States
Joel Shankle
 United States
1960 Rome
details
Lee Calhoun
 United States
Willie May
 United States
Hayes Jones
 United States
1964 Tokyo
details
Hayes Jones
 United States
Blaine Lindgren
 United States
Anatoly Mikhailov
 Soviet Union
1968 Mexico City
details
Willie Davenport
 United States
Ervin Hall
 United States
Eddy Ottoz
 Italy
1972 Munich
details
Rod Milburn
 United States
Guy Drut
 France
Thomas Hill
 United States
1976 Montreal
details
Guy Drut
 France
Alejandro Casañas
 Cuba
Willie Davenport
 United States
1980 Moscow
details
Thomas Munkelt
 East Germany
Alejandro Casañas
 Cuba
Aleksandr Puchkov
 Soviet Union
1984 Los Angeles
details
Roger Kingdom
 United States
Greg Foster
 United States
Arto Bryggare
 Finland
1988 Seoul
details
Roger Kingdom
 United States
Colin Jackson
 Great Britain
Tonie Campbell
 United States
1992 Barcelona
details
Mark McKoy
 Canada
Tony Dees
 United States
Jack Pierce
 United States
1996 Atlanta
details
Allen Johnson
 United States
Mark Crear
 United States
Florian Schwarthoff
 Germany
2000 Sydney
details
Anier García
 Cuba
Terrence Trammell
 United States
Mark Crear
 United States
2004 Athens
details
Liu Xiang
 China
Terrence Trammell
 United States
Anier García
 Cuba
2008 Beijing
details
Dayron Robles
 Cuba
David Payne
 United States
David Oliver
 United States
2012 London
details
Aries Merritt
 United States
Jason Richardson
 United States
Hansle Parchment
 Jamaica
2016 Rio de Janeiro
details
Omar McLeod
 Jamaica
Orlando Ortega
 Spain
Dimitri Bascou
 France
2020 Tokyo
details
Hansle Parchment
 Jamaica
Grant Holloway
 United States
Ronald Levy
 Jamaica

World Championships medalists[]

Championships Gold Silver Bronze
1983 Helsinki
details
 Greg Foster (USA)  Arto Bryggare (FIN)  Willie Gault (USA)
1987 Rome
details
 Greg Foster (USA)  Jon Ridgeon (GBR)  Colin Jackson (GBR)
1991 Tokyo
details
 Greg Foster (USA)  Jack Pierce (USA)  Tony Jarrett (GBR)
1993 Stuttgart
details
 Colin Jackson (GBR)  Tony Jarrett (GBR)  Jack Pierce (USA)
1995 Gothenburg
details
 Allen Johnson (USA)  Tony Jarrett (GBR)  Roger Kingdom (USA)
1997 Athens
details
 Allen Johnson (USA)  Colin Jackson (GBR)  Igor Kováč (SVK)
1999 Seville
details
 Colin Jackson (GBR)  Anier García (CUB)  Duane Ross (USA)
2001 Edmonton
details
 Allen Johnson (USA)  Anier García (CUB)  Dudley Dorival (HAI)
2003 Saint-Denis
details
 Allen Johnson (USA)  Terrence Trammell (USA)  Liu Xiang (CHN)
2005 Helsinki
details
 Ladji Doucouré (FRA)  Liu Xiang (CHN)  Allen Johnson (USA)
2007 Osaka
details
 Liu Xiang (CHN)  Terrence Trammell (USA)  David Payne (USA)
2009 Berlin
details
 Ryan Brathwaite (BAR)  Terrence Trammell (USA)  David Payne (USA)
2011 Daegu
details
 Jason Richardson (USA)  Liu Xiang (CHN)  Andy Turner (GBR)
2013 Moscow
details
 David Oliver (USA)  Ryan Wilson (USA)  Sergey Shubenkov (RUS)
2015 Beijing
details
 Sergey Shubenkov (RUS)  Hansle Parchment (JAM)  Aries Merritt (USA)
2017 London
details
 Omar McLeod (JAM)  Sergey Shubenkov (ANA)  Balázs Baji (HUN)
2019 Doha
details
 Grant Holloway (USA)  Sergey Shubenkov (ANA)  Pascal Martinot-Lagarde (FRA)
 Orlando Ortega (SPA)

Season's bests[]

Year Time Athlete Place
1966 13.47  Willie Davenport (USA) New York City
1967 13.43  Earl McCullouch (USA) Minneapolis
1968 13.33 A  Willie Davenport (USA) Mexico City
1969 13.45  Willie Davenport (USA) Miami
 Leon Coleman (USA) Miami
1970 13.42  Thomas Hill (USA) Bakersfield
1971 13.46 A  Rod Milburn (USA) Cali
1972 13.24  Rod Milburn (USA) Munich
1973 13.41  Rod Milburn (USA) Zürich
1974 13.40  Guy Drut (FRA) Rome
1975 13.28  Guy Drut (FRA) Saint-Étienne
1976 13.30  Guy Drut (FRA) Montreal
1977 13.21  Alejandro Casañas (CUB) Sofia
1978 13.22  Greg Foster (USA) Eugene
1979 13.00  Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) Westwood
1980 13.21  Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) Zürich
1981 12.93  Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) Zürich
1982 13.22  Greg Foster (USA) Koblenz
1983 13.11  Greg Foster (USA) Westwood
1984 13.15  Greg Foster (USA) Zürich
1985 13.14  Roger Kingdom (USA) Modesto
1986 13.20  Stéphane Caristan (FRA) Stuttgart
1987 13.17  Greg Foster (USA) Lausanne
1988 12.97 A  Roger Kingdom (USA) Sestriere
1989 12.92  Roger Kingdom (USA) Zürich
1990 13.08  Colin Jackson (GBR) Auckland
1991 13.05  Tony Dees (USA) Vigo
1992 13.04  Colin Jackson (GBR) Cologne
1993 12.91  Colin Jackson (GBR) Stuttgart
1994 12.98  Colin Jackson (GBR) Tokyo
1995 12.98  Allen Johnson (USA) Cologne
1996 12.92  Allen Johnson (USA) Atlanta
1997 12.93  Allen Johnson (USA) Athens
1998 12.98  Allen Johnson (USA) Zürich
1999 12.98  Mark Crear (USA) Zagreb
2000 12.97  Allen Johnson (USA) Sacramento
2001 13.04  Allen Johnson (USA) Edmonton
2002 13.03  Anier García (CUB) Lausanne
2003 12.97  Allen Johnson (USA) Saint-Denis
2004 12.91  Liu Xiang (CHN) Athens
2005 12.97  Ladji Doucouré (FRA) Angers
2006 12.88  Liu Xiang (CHN) Lausanne
2007 12.92  Liu Xiang (CHN) New York City
 Dayron Robles (CUB) Stuttgart
2008 12.87  Dayron Robles (CUB) Ostrava
2009 13.04  Dayron Robles (CUB) Ostrava
2010 12.89  David Oliver (USA) Saint-Denis
2011 12.94  David Oliver (USA) Eugene
2012 12.80  Aries Merritt (USA) Brussels
2013 13.00  David Oliver (USA) Moscow
2014 12.94  Hansle Parchment (JAM) Saint-Denis
2015 12.94  Orlando Ortega (CUB) Saint-Denis
2016 12.98  Omar McLeod (JAM) Shanghai
2017 12.90  Omar McLeod (JAM) Kingston
2018 12.92  Sergey Shubenkov (RUS) Székesfehérvár
2019 12.98  Grant Holloway (USA) Austin
2020 13.11  Orlando Ortega (ESP) Monaco
2021 12.81  Grant Holloway (USA) Eugene

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Source for switch from 8-step start to 7-step start amongst men is Track & Field News magazine, March 2013 (Vol. 66, no. 3), "Is the 8-Step Hurdle Approach Gone?", by Jon Hendershott; pp. 7-8; interviews with Aires Merritt's coach Andreas Behm and Renaldo Nehemiah.
  2. ^ "From High School to College". Hurdles First. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  3. ^ "All-time men's best 110m hurdles". alltime-athletics.com. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  4. ^ Bob Ramsak (7 September 2012). "12.80!! Merritt stuns with World record in 110m Hurdles in Brussels - Samsung Diamond League - FINAL, Part 2". IAAF. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  5. ^ Jonathan Gault (26 June 2021). "Grant Holloway Runs 12.81, 2nd Fastest Ever in 110m Hurdles". Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  6. ^ Kayon Raynor (24 June 2017). "Athletics: Olympic champion McLeod sets sizzling 110m hurdles pace". Reuters. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  7. ^ Bob Ramsak (3 July 2018). "Shubenkov scorches to 12.92 world lead at Gyulai Memorial". IAAF. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  8. ^ "IAAF Diamond League". IAAF. Archived from the original on 19 July 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  9. ^ "110m Hurdles Results" (PDF). static.sportresult.com. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  10. ^ Mike Rowbottom (18 July 2014). "Kiplagat shows his class with 3:27.64 in Monaco - IAAF Diamond League". IAAF. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ^ http://www.legacy.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2014/USATF-Outdoor-Championships/Complete-Results.aspx
  12. ^ Chris Broadbent (14 September 2021). "Niyonsaba breaks world 2000m record in Zagreb". World Athletics. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. ^ "110m Hurdles Results" (PDF). cloudfront.net. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.

External links[]

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