110m High Hurdles

110 meter is a men's hurdling sprint event. It employs the use of high hurdles (42 inches) which are spaced 10 meters apart. The first hurdle is placed 15 meters from the starting line while the last hurdle is 14.02 meters from the finish line. The hurdles are lightweight and the possibility of them falling when a runner hits them is very high. Barring intentional hitting of the hurdles, there is no penalty imposed on hitting the hurdles, although they usually slow runners down. This race starts out of the blocks. The number of strides taken to reach the first hurdle depends on which foot is used to kick off. The usual number of strides is 7 -8, depending on the racers power.

Some high schools run the 110 hurdle event with a 39 inch hurdle instead of the standard 42 inch one.

This event originated from England during the 1830s, where heavy wooden barriers were used as hurdles, and were distributed evenly along a 100 yard track. The very first games attempted took place in 1964, in Oxford and Cambridge, where the wooden barriers 3 and a half feet high were distributed along a 120 yard track. In 1888, the track distance was rounded off to 110 meters, in France, while the hurdles were standardized everywhere except for Germany, who still employed 1 meter high hurdles until 1907.

By 1895, the heavy wooden barriers were replaced with T-shaped hurdles, which are light enough to be knocked over if the runners hit them. By 1896, it became an official track and field event in the Olympic games program. Up until 1935, runners get disqualified if they knock over more than 3 hurdles, and records were only taken if all hurdles remain erect and standing. Also in 1935, the T-shaped hurdles were replaced by L-shaped hurdles, which are easier to knock over, but makes participants less prone to injuries.

The first official world record in the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) was 15 seconds, and it was made by Forest Smithson of the United States in 1908.

The current world record for this event is 12.88 seconds, and it belongs to Liu Xiang of China. Taking this time and the distance he covered, his speed averages at 8.54 meters per second, or 30.75 kilometers per hour. Prior to this he shared the record with Colin Jackson from the United Kingdom, with a time of 12.91 seconds.