100 metres hurdles
The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women. For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of. The first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13 metres from the starting line. The next 9 hurdles are set at a distance of 8.5 metres from each other, and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line is 10.5 metres long. The hurdles are set up so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner, but weighted so this is disadvantageous. Fallen hurdles do not count against runners provided that they do not run into them on purpose. Like the 100 metres sprint, the 100 m hurdles begins with athletes in starting blocks.
The fastest 100 m hurdlers run the distance in a time of around 12.5 seconds. The world record set by Kendra Harrison stands at 12.20 seconds.
History
The Olympic Games had included the 80 m hurdles in the program from 1932 to 1968. Starting with the 1972 Summer Olympics the women's race was lengthened to 100 m hurdles.The hurdles sprint race has been run by women since the beginning of women's athletics, just after the end of World War I. The distances and hurdle heights varied widely in the beginning. While the men had zeroed in on the 110 m hurdles, the International Women's Sport Federation had registered records for eight different disciplines by 1926. At the first Women's World Games in 1922 a 100 m hurdles race was run.
From 1926 until 1968 on only the 80 m distance was run. For the 80 m race women had to clear eight hurdles placed at a distance of 8 metres from each other and a height of 76.2 cm.
Just like with the men's races, until 1935 no more than three hurdles could be knocked over and records were only officially registered if the runner had cleared all her hurdles clean. In 1935, this rule was abandoned, and L-shaped hurdles were introduced that fell over forward easily and greatly reduced the risk of injury to the runner. Hurdles are weighted, so when properly set for the height, they serve as a consistent disadvantage to making contact with the barrier.
The 80 m hurdles was on the list of women's sports demanded by the International Women's Sport Federation for the Olympic Summer Games in 1928, but wasn't included as an Olympic discipline until 1932. Starting with 1949, the 80 m hurdles was one of the disciplines included in the women's pentathlon.
During the 1960s, some experimental races were run over a distance of 100 metres using hurdles with a height of 76.2 cm. During the 1968 Summer Olympics, a decision was made to introduce the 100 m hurdles using hurdles with a height of 84 cm. The first international event in the 100 m hurdles occurred at the European Athletics Championships, which were won by Karin Balzer, GDR. The modern 100 m race has an extra 2 hurdles compared to the 80 m race, which are higher and spaced slightly further apart. The home stretch is shorter by 1.5 m.
Masters athletics
A version of the 100 metres hurdles is also used for 50- to 59-year-old men in Masters athletics. They run the same spacing as women, which coordinates with existing markings on most tracks, but run over 36-inch hurdles. In the 60-69 age range, the spacings are changed. Women over age 40 and men over age 70 run 80 metre versions with different heights and spacings.Milestones
100 m hurdles:- First official time registered with hurdles of reduced height : Pamela Kilborn, AUS, November 26, 1961
- First official time with hurdles of standard height : 15.1 seconds, Connie Pettersson, USA, May 28, 1966
- First official world record: 13.3 seconds, Karin Balzer, GDR, June 20, 1969
- First runner under 13 seconds: 12.9 seconds, Karin Balzer, GDR, September 5, 1969
- First runner under 12.5 seconds:
- *12.3 seconds, Annelie Ehrhardt GDR, July 20, 1973
- *12.48 seconds, Grażyna Rabsztyn, POL, June 10, 1978
- First runner under 12.3 seconds: 12.29 seconds, Yordanka Donkova BUL, August 17, 1986
- First country to win gold, silver, and bronze in the women's 100 m hurdles in one Olympics: America, 2016; this was also the first time American women achieved such a sweep in any Olympic event
All-time top 25 hurdlers
- Correct as of October 2019.
| Rank | Time | Wind | Athlete | Country | Date | Venue | Ref |
| 1 | 12.20 | +0.3 | Kendra Harrison | 22 July 2016 | London | ||
| 2 | 12.21 | +0.7 | Yordanka Donkova | 20 August 1988 | Stara Zagora | ||
| 3 | 12.25 | +1.4 | Ginka Zagorcheva | 8 August 1987 | Drama | ||
| 4 | 12.26 | +1.7 | Ludmila Narozhilenko | 6 June 1992 | Seville | ||
| 4 | 12.26 | +1.2 | Brianna Rollins | 22 June 2013 | Des Moines | ||
| 6 | 12.28 | +1.1 | Sally Pearson | 3 September 2011 | Daegu | ||
| 7 | 12.32 | +0.8 | Danielle Williams | 20 July 2019 | London | ||
| 8 | 12.33 | –0.3 | Gail Devers | 23 July 2000 | Sacramento | ||
| 9 | 12.34 | +1.9 | Sharika Nelvis | 26 June 2015 | Eugene | ||
| 9 | 12.34 | +0.3 | Nia Ali | 6 October 2019 | Doha | ||
| 11 | 12.35 | +0.9 | Jasmin Stowers | 15 May 2015 | Doha | ||
| 12 | 12.36 | +1.9 | Grażyna Rabsztyn | 13 June 1980 | Warsaw | ||
| 13 | 12.37 | +1.5 | Joanna Hayes | 24 August 2004 | Athens | ||
| 13 | 12.37 | -0.2 | Dawn Harper | 7 August 2012 | London | ||
| 15 | 12.39 | +1.5 | Vera Komisova | 5 August 1980 | Rome | ||
| 15 | 12.39 | +1.8 | Nataliya Grygoryeva | 11 July 1991 | Kiev | ||
| 17 | 12.40 | +1.2 | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn | 13 May 2018 | Knoxville | ||
| 17 | 12.40 | +0.6 | Janeek Brown | 8 June 2019 | Austin | ||
| 19 | 12.41 | +0.5 | Alina Talay | 31 May 2018 | St. Pölten | ||
| 20 | 12.42 | +1.8 | Bettine Jahn | 8 June 1983 | Berlin | ||
| 20 | 12.42 | +2.0 | Anjanette Kirkland | 11 August 2001 | Edmonton | ||
| 22 | 12.43 | -0.9 | Lucyna Kalek | 19 August 1984 | Hannover | ||
| 22 | 12.43 | -0.3 | Michelle Perry | 26 June 2005 | Carson | ||
| 22 | 12.43 | +0.6 | Michelle Perry | 11 July 2006 | Lausanne | ||
| 22 | 12.43 | +0.2 | Lolo Jones | 18 August 2008 | Beijing | ||
| 22 | 12.43 | +1.2 | Queen Harrison | 22 June 2013 | Des Moines |
Assisted marks
Any performance with a following wind of more than 2.0 metres per second does not count for record purposes. Below is a list of all wind-assisted times equal or superior to 12.37:- Cornelia Oschkenat ran 12.28 sec in Berlin, August 25, 1987.
- Yordanka Donkova ran 12.29 sec in Lausanne, June 24, 1988.
- Gail Devers ran 12.29 sec in Eugene, May 26, 2002.
- Lolo Jones ran 12.29 sec in Eugene, July 6, 2008.
- Brianna Rollins ran 12.30 on June 22, and 12.33 on June 21, in Des Moines in 2013.
- Bettine Jahn ran 12.35 sec in Helsinki, August 13, 1983
- Kellie Wells ran 12.35 sec in Gainesville, April 16, 2011.
- Dawn Harper ran 12.36 sec in Eugene, Oregon, June 28, 2009.
- Gloria Siebert ran 12.37 sec in Berlin, August 25, 1987.
- Danielle Carruthers ran 12.37 sec in Eugene, Oregon, June 26, 2011.
Most successful athletes
- Shirley Strickland : two Olympic victories, 1952 and 1956 in the 80 m hurdles.
- Ludmila Narozhilenko-Engquist later : Olympic victory, 1996, two World Championship victories, 1991 and 1997.
- Gail Devers : three World Championships, 1993, 1995, 1999, as well as runner-up at the 1991 and 2001 World Championships.
- Sally Pearson : Olympic victory in 2012, as well as runner-up in 2008. World Championship victories in 2011 and 2017, as well as runner-up in 2013.
- Brianna Rollins : Olympic victory in 2016, World Championships 2013.
Olympic medalists