100 metres hurdles

Cornelia Oschkenat (nearest camera), Heike Theele and Kerstin Knabe (1986)

The race started back in the 1830s in England where wooden barriers were placed along a 100 yard. The hurdles event was included as part of the inaugural Women’s World Games in 1922 and made its first appearance in the Olympic Games in 1932 as 80m hurdles instead of 100m. Starting with the 1972 Summer Olympics the women's race was lengthened to 100 m hurdles. [1]

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 metres/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 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 (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. Hurdles are weighted, so when properly set for the height (for women, closer to the fulcrum of the "L"), 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.

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 (0.915 m) 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.[2][3]

100 m hurdles:

• First official time registered with hurdles of reduced height (76.2 cm): Pamela Kilborn, AUS, November 26, 1961
• First official time with hurdles of standard height (83.8 cm): 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
• First country to win gold, silver, and bronze in the women's 100 m hurdles in one Olympics: America (Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin), 2016; this was also the first time American women achieved such a sweep in any Olympic event[4]

• Correct as of October 2019.[5]

Rank	Time	Wind (m/s)	Athlete	Country	Date	Place	Ref
1	12.20	+0.3	Kendra Harrison	United States	22 July 2016	London	[6]
2	12.21	+0.7	Yordanka Donkova	Bulgaria	20 August 1988	Stara Zagora
3	12.25	+1.4	Ginka Zagorcheva	Bulgaria	8 August 1987	Drama
4	12.26	+1.7	Ludmila Narozhilenko	Russia	6 June 1992	Seville
	12.26	+1.2	Brianna Rollins	United States	22 June 2013	Des Moines	[7]
6	12.28	+1.1	Sally Pearson	Australia	3 September 2011	Daegu	[8]
7	12.32	+0.8	Danielle Williams	Jamaica	20 July 2019	London	[9]
8	12.33	–0.3	Gail Devers	United States	23 July 2000	Sacramento
9	12.34	+1.9	Sharika Nelvis	United States	26 June 2015	Eugene	[10]
	12.34	+0.3	Nia Ali	United States	6 October 2019	Doha	[11]
11	12.35	+0.9	Jasmin Stowers	United States	15 May 2015	Doha	[12]
12	12.36	+1.9	Grażyna Rabsztyn	Poland	13 June 1980	Warsaw
13	12.37	+1.5	Joanna Hayes	United States	24 August 2004	Athens
	12.37	-0.2	Dawn Harper	United States	7 August 2012	London
15	12.39	+1.5	Vera Komisova	Soviet Union	5 August 1980	Rome
	12.39	+1.8	Nataliya Grygoryeva	Soviet Union	11 July 1991	Kiev
17	12.40	+1.2	Jasmine Camacho-Quinn	Puerto Rico	13 May 2018	Knoxville	[13]
		+0.6	Janeek Brown	Jamaica	8 June 2019	Austin	[14]
19	12.41	+0.5	Alina Talay	Belarus	31 May 2018	St. Pölten	[15]
20	12.42	+1.8	Bettine Jahn	East Germany	8 June 1983	Berlin
	12.42	+2.0	Anjanette Kirkland	United States	11 August 2001	Edmonton
22	12.43	-0.9	Lucyna Kalek	Poland	19 August 1984	Hannover
	12.43	-0.3	Michelle Perry	United States	26 June 2005	Carson
	12.43	+0.6			11 July 2006	Lausanne
	12.43	+0.2	Lolo Jones	United States	18 August 2008	Beijing
	12.43	+1.2	Queen Harrison	United States	22 June 2013	Des Moines	[7]

• Shirley Strickland (AUS): two Olympic victories, 1952 and 1956 in the 80 m hurdles.
• Ludmila Narozhilenko-Engquist (URS) later (SWE): Olympic victory, 1996, two World Championship victories, 1991 and 1997.
• Gail Devers (USA): three World Championships, 1993, 1995, 1999, as well as runner-up at the 1991 and 2001 World Championships. [16]
• Sally Pearson (AUS): Olympic victory in 2012, as well as runner-up in 2008. [17] World Championship victories in 2011 and 2017, as well as runner-up in 2013.[18]
• Brianna Rollins (USA): Olympic victory in 2016, World Championships 2013.

• Women's 100 metres hurdles world record progression

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 100 metres hurdles.

• IAAF list of 100-metres-hurdles records in XML

• Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article (retrieved February 13, 2006).
• All-Time List
• Year Lists