The sprint hurdles at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

. The men's

110 metres hurdles 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 hu ...

has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first edition in

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...

. A men's 200 metres hurdles was also briefly held, from 1900 to 1904. The first women's sprint hurdling event was added to the programme at the 1932 Olympics in the form of the 80 metres hurdles. At the 1972 Games the women's distance was extended to the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

, which is the current international standard. The

Olympic records Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

are 12.91 seconds for the men's 110 m hurdles, set by Liu Xiang in 2004, and 12.20 seconds for the women's 100 m hurdles, set by

Kendra Harrison Kendra "Keni" Harrison (born September 18, 1992) is an American hurdler. Harrison set the world record in the women's 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.20 seconds on July 22, 2016 at the London Müller Anniversary Games, breaking the world re ...

in 2016. The fastest time recorded at the Olympics for the men's 200 m hurdles was 24.6 seconds by 1904 winner

Harry Hillman Harry Livingston Hillman Jr. (September 8, 1881 – August 9, 1945) was an American athlete and winner of three gold medals at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Hillman was a member of three Olympic tea ...

Maureen Caird Maureen Caird (born 29 September 1951) is an Australian former track athlete, who specialised in the sprint hurdles. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, she became the youngest-ever individual Olympic athletics champion at the time, at age 17, w ...

won the last women's Olympic 80 m hurdles race in 1968 with a record of 10.39 seconds. The men's 110 m hurdles world record has been broken at the Olympics on six occasions: 1908, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1972 and 2004. The women's 100 m hurdles world record has been broken only once, by

Annelie Ehrhardt Annelie Ehrhardt, (née Jahns on 18 June 1950) is a retired German hurdler. She won the gold medal in the inaugural 100 metre hurdles event at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany, setting a new world record, and becoming the f ...

at the inaugural 1972 Olympic final. In contrast the 80 m hurdles world record was set at the Olympics in 1932 (four times), 1936, and 1952 (twice). Only three athletes have won two Olympic sprint hurdles gold medals: on the men's side,

Lee Calhoun Lee Quincy Calhoun (February 23, 1933 – June 21, 1989) was an American athlete, a double winner of 110 m hurdles at the Olympic Games. Biography Born in Laurel, Mississippi, Lee Calhoun, representing North Carolina Central University, won ...

, and Roger Kingdom, and on the women's side

Shirley Strickland Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE (née Strickland; 18 July 1925 – 11 February 2004), known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports. ...

. Strickland is also the only athlete to win three such Olympic medals, having won a bronze medal before her victories.

Alvin Kraenzlein Alvin Christian "Al" Kraenzlein (December 12, 1876 – January 6, 1928) was an American track-and-field athlete known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique". He was the first sportsman in the history of the Olympic games to win four i ...

is the only athlete to have won two hurdles medals at the same Olympics, having taken the 110 m and 200 m titles. Historically, hurdlers also competed in other individual sprinting events (

Harrison Dillard William Harrison "Bones" Dillard (July 8, 1923 – November 15, 2019) was an American track and field athlete, who is the only male in the history of the Olympic Games to win gold in both the 100 meter (sprints) and the 110 meter hurdles, maki ...

and

Fanny Blankers-Koen Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen (26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earn ...

were also 100 metres Olympic champions), but this became rare after the 1950s. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

has been the most successful nation in the men's event with 19 gold medals and 56 medals in total. Though less dominant in the women's events, the U.S. also has the most women's gold medals, with five.

Medal summary

Men's 110 metres hurdles

Multiple medalists

Medals by country

Women's 80 metres hurdles

Multiple medalists

Medalists by country

* The German total includes teams both competing as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany (german: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes f ...

, but not East or West Germany.

Women's 100 metres hurdles

Multiple medalists

Medalists by country

200 metres hurdles

For a brief period, a men's Olympic 200 metres low hurdles race was held. It was a relatively common event in the early 1900s. With only two appearances in 1900 and 1904, the event's removal as an Olympic event marked the beginning of a steady decline of its popularity over the course of the 20th century and it is now a rarity. The 1900 event was won by

, who won four gold medals that year, including the 110 m hurdles title. The second and final 200 m hurdles champion,

, was again a multiple gold medallist, as the American won the 400 metres sprint and

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

Olympic titles at that games.

Intercalated Games

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and at the time were officially recognised as part of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon. At this event a men's 110 m hurdles race was held. For the top two finishers, American hurdler Robert Leavitt and British athlete Alfred Healey, this was the peak of their respective careers. Bronze medalist Vincent Duncker of Germany was the joint 100 metres world record holder at the time.Men, 100 m > World Records Progression
Brinkster Track and Field. Retrieved on 2014-02-02.

References

;Participation and athlete data

Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.

Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-07. ;Olympic record progressions *Mallon, Bill (2012)
TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS
'' Track and Field News''. Retrieved on 2014-02-07. ;Specific

External links

IAAF 110 metres hurdles homepageIAAF 100 metres hurdles homepageOfficial Olympics websiteOlympic athletics records
from ''Track & Field News'' {{History of Olympic athletics events Olympics Sprint hurdles