110 m Hurdles

The challenge in this event is to sprint over 10 hurdles, each 1,067 m in height, put at intervals of 9,14 m along a course of 110 m. So the most important thing a decathlete needs to succeed in this discipline is speed, but also agility and the right technique to cross the hurdles. Most athletes take 3 steps between the hurdles and they run over the hurdles with lowered upper body, not jumping them. Hurdles may be knocked down by accident, but this usually is a distraction for the race so it should be avoided.


It is the first event of the second day and every athlete will already feel tired from the first day. So it is important to warm up properly and the result of the hurdle race might already give some idea how the second day might continue.

Good hurdle sprinters among the decathletes like formerly Frank Busemann can run time far below 14 seconds - 13,50 s corresponding to 1040 points (about 12 points for 0,1 s).

Some of the best decathletes in this event with their PBs:

• Frank Busemann (GER) - 13,45 s
• Eduard Hämäläinen (FIN) - 13,57 s
• Tomas Dvorak (CZE) - 13,61 s
• Bryan Clay (USA) - 13,74 s
• Maurice Smith (JAM) - 13,76 s

To compare the current world record for this event is 12,87 s, held by Dayron Robles.