Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1956 returned: gold medalist Lee Calhoun of the United States, fourth-place finisher Martin Lauer of the United Team of Germany, and fifth-place finisher Stanko Lorger of Yugoslavia. Calhoun was favored to win again, though Lauer was a serious contender; they shared the world record at 13.2 seconds. Lauer was the only serious threat to the American team sweeping the medals again.[2]

Afghanistan, the British West Indies, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

For the first time, the competition expanded to four rounds. The first round consisted of four heats, with 6 or 7 hurdlers each (before a withdrawal left one heat with only 5). The top four hurdlers in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were four quarterfinals of 6 hurdles each; the top three hurdlers in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 6 hurdlers each; the top three hurdlers in each advanced to the 6-man final.[2][3]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1960 Summer Olympics.

World record	Martin Lauer (FRG)	13.2	Zurich, Switzerland	7 July 1959
Olympic record	Lee Calhoun (USA)	13.5	Melbourne, Australia	28 November 1956

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. The following national records were established during the competition:

Nation	Athlete	Round	Time
Uganda	Jean Baptiste Okello	Quarterfinal 1	14.3

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)