100 metres hurdles |
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The 100 m hurdles are an Olympic track and field athletics discipline run by women. For the race ten hurdles of a height of 83.8 cm (2 feet 9 inches) are placed evenly spaced along a straight course of 100 meters. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner. Fallen hurdles don't count against runners so long as they don't run into them on purpose. Like the 100 meter sprint the 100 m hurdles is started out of the blocks.
For the 100 m hurdles the first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13 meters from the starting line. The next 9 hurdles are set at a distance of 8.5 meters from each other, and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line is 10.5 meters long.
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 fastest 100 m hurdlers run the distance in a time of around 12.5 seconds. The world record set by Yordanka Donkova stands at 12.21 seconds, the equivalent of 8.19 meters per second or 29.48 kilometers per hour. This is 1.72 seconds slower than the straight 100 meter sprint race.
Contents |
History
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 (60 yards/75 cm height, 60 yards/61 cm, 65 yards/75 cm, 83 yards/75 cm, 100 yards/75 cm, 100 yards/61 cm, 120 yards/75 cm, 110 meters/75 cm). 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 meters 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 (or the runner was disqualified) 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.
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 meters using hurdles with a height of 76.2cm. During the 1968 Summer Olympics a decision was made to introduce the 100 m hurdles using hurdles with a height of 84cm and the first international event in the 100 m hurdles occurred at the European Athletics Championships, which were won by Karin Balzer, GDR.
A summary of the 80 m hurdles as it compares to the 100 m hurdles:
| Distance | Number of hurdles |
Height | Distance made up of | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runup | Intervals | Home stretch | |||
| 80 m | 8 | 76.2cm | 12 m | 8.0 m | 12.0 m |
| 100 m | 10 | 83.8cm | 13 m | 8.5 m | 10.5 m |
Milestones
80 m hurdles:
- First official time: 13.0 seconds, Ludmila Sychrová, Czechoslovakia, July 6, 1926
- First official world record: 12.8 seconds, Eva von Bredow, Germany, June 14, 1927
- First runner under 12 seconds: 11.8 seconds, Marjorie Clark, South Africa, May 24, 1934
- First runner under 11 seconds: 10.9 seconds, Shirley Strickland, AUS, July 24, 1952
- Last official world record: 10.2 seconds, Vera Korsakova, USSR, June 16, 1968
100 m hurdles:
- First official time registered with hurdles of reduced height (76.2cm): Pamela Kilborn, AUS, November 26, 1961
- First official time with hurdles of standard height (83.8cm): 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 (last hand timed world record; electronically timed at 12.68 seconds)
- 12.48 seconds, Grażyna Rabsztyn, POL, June 10, 1978
- First runner under 12.3 seconds: 12.29 seconds, Yordanka Donkova BUL, August 17, 1986
Most successful athletes
- Shirley Strickland (AUS): two Olympic victories, 1952 and 1956 in the 80 m hurdles
- Gail Devers (USA): three world championships, 1993, 1995, 1999, as well as runner-up at the 1991 and 2001 world championships
80 m hurdles medalists at Olympic Games
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1932 Los Angeles |  Babe Didrikson (USA) |
Evelyne Hall (USA) |
 Marjorie Clark (RSA) |
| 1936 Berlin | .svg){kind=small} Trebisonda Valla (ITA) |
 Anni Steuer (GER) |
 Elizabeth Taylor (CAN) |
| 1948 London |  Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED) |
 Maureen Gardner (GBR) |
 Shirley Strickland (AUS) |
| 1952 Helsinki | Shirley Strickland (AUS) |
 Maria Golubnichaya (URS) |
 Maria Sander (GER) |
| 1956 Melbourne | Shirley Strickland (AUS) |
 Gisela Köhler (EUA) |
Norma Thrower (AUS) |
| 1960 Rome |  Irina Press (URS) |
Carole Quinton (GBR) |
Gisela Birkemeyer (EUA) |
| 1964 Tokyo | Karin Balzer (EUA) |
 Teresa Ciepły (POL) |
Pam Kilborn (AUS) |
| 1968 Mexico City | Maureen Caird (AUS) |
Pam Kilborn (AUS) |
 Chi Cheng (ROC) |
100 m hurdles medalists at Olympic Games
.svg){kind=small}
100 m hurdles medalists at world championships
History of world records
Electronically timed
| Time | Athlete | Nation | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.21 s | Yordanka Donkova |  Bulgaria |
August 21, 1988 | Stara Zagora |
| 12.25 s | Ginka Zagorcheva | Bulgaria |
August 8, 1987 | Drama |
| 12.26 s | Yordanka Donkova | Bulgaria |
September 7, 1986 | Ljubljana |
| 12.29 s | Yordanka Donkova | Bulgaria |
August 17, 1986 | Cologne |
| 12.34 s | Yordanka Donkova | Bulgaria |
August 17, 1986 | Cologne |
| 12.36 s | Yordanka Donkova | Bulgaria |
August 13, 1986 | Sofia |
| 12.36 s | Grażyna Rabsztyn | Poland |
June 12, 1980 | Warsaw |
| 12.48 s | Grażyna Rabsztyn | Poland |
June 18, 1979 | Warsaw |
| 12.48 s | Grażyna Rabsztyn | Poland |
June 10, 1978 | Fürth |
| 12.59 s | Annelie Ehrhardt |  East Germany |
September 8, 1972 | Munich |
Manually timed
| Time | Athlete | Nation | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.3 s | Annelie Ehrhardt | East Germany |
July 22, 1973 | Dresden |
| 12.5 s | Annelie Ehrhardt | East Germany |
August 13, 1972 | Potsdam |
| 12.5 s | Pam Ryan | Australia |
June 28, 1972 | Warsaw |
| 12.6 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
July 31, 1971 | Berlin |
| 12.7 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
July 25, 1971 | Berlin |
| 12.7 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
July 26, 1970 | Berlin |
| 12.7 s | Teresa Sukniewicz | Poland |
September 20, 1970 | Warsaw |
| 12.8 s | Chi Cheng |  Chinese Taipei |
July 12, 1970 | Munich |
| 12.8 s | Teresa Sukniewicz | Poland |
June 20, 1970 | Warsaw |
| 12.9 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
September 5, 1969 | Berlin |
| 13.0 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
July 27, 1969 | Leipzig |
| 13.3 s | Karin Balzer | East Germany |
June 20, 1969 | Warsaw |
| 13.3 s | Teresa Sukniewicz | Poland |
June 20, 1969 | Warsaw |
All-Time Top Ten
In brackets: Wind in m/s
| Pos. | Time | Athlete | Country | Venua | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12.21 (+0.7) | Yordanka Donkova | Bulgaria |
Stara Zagora | August 20, 1988 |
| 2 | 12.25 (+1.4) | Ginka Zagorcheva | Bulgaria |
Drama | August 8, 1987 |
| 3 | 12.26 (+1.7) | Ludmila Engquist |  Russia |
Seville | June 6, 1992 |
| 4 | 12.33 (−0.3) | Gail Devers |  United States |
Sacramento | July 23, 2000 |
| 5 | 12.36 (+1.9) | Grażyna Rabsztyn | Poland |
Warsaw | June 13, 1980 |
| 6 | 12.37 (+1.5) | Joanna Hayes | United States |
Athens | August 24, 2004 |
| 7 | 12.39 (+1.5) | Vera Komissova |  Soviet Union |
Rome | August 5, 1980 |
| 8 | 12.39 (+1.8) | Natalya Grigoryeva | Soviet Union |
Kiev | July 11, 1991 |
| 9 | 12.42 (+1.8) | Bettine Jahn | East Germany |
Berlin | June 8, 1983 |
| 10 | 12.42 (+2.0) | Anjanette Kirkland | United States |
Edmonton | August 11, 2001 |