Olympic Summer Games 1896 / Athletics - 110 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	110 meter hurdles
gender	Men
place	Panathinaic Stadium
Attendees	8 athletes from 6 countries
Competition phase	7/10 April 1896
Medalist
Winner: silver	Thomas Curtis ( USA )
Pl. 2: bronze	Grantley Goulding ( GBR )

Time schedule
date	Time	round
Tuesday April 7th	2:30 p.m.	Prelims
Friday April 10th	3:30 p.m.	final

The men's 110-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games in 1896 was held on April 7th and 10th, 1896 in the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens .

Some sources, including the Official Report, give the route length as 100 meters, other sources consider this to be a mistake. However, given the time elapsed, the longer route is likely. Sports-Reference states "... there is little doubt that the race was contested over the standard distance of 110 meters."

Eight hurdles, each 1.00 meters high, had to be crossed. At that time, the participants did not have a sophisticated hurdle technique. The hurdles were jumped over rather than overrun.

In addition to world record holder Stephen Chase (USA), the British co-favorite Godfrey Shaw was also missing .

Records

The unofficial world record was held by Stephen Chase and set in a race over 120 yards .

World record	15 s	United States	Stephen Chase	1895

Results

Prelims

April 7, 1896, 2:30 p.m.

There were two preliminary runs, from which two runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final.

Forward 1

space	Surname	country	time
1	Grantley Goulding	GBR	18.4 s	OR
2	Frantz Reichel	FRA	unknown
3	Alajos Szokolyi	HUN	unknown
4th	Anastasios Andreou	GRE	unknown

In the presentation by Ekkehard zur Megede, in contrast to the result listed here, Alajos Szokolyi is second, Frantz Reichel is third. Szokolyi is also named there as one of the two runners who waive their right to start in the final. However, the author does not give any reason for the waiver, so the version for Reichel on rank 2 is more likely.

Forward 2

space	Surname	country	time
1	Thomas Curtis	United States	18.0 s	OR
2	William Hoyt	United States	unknown
3	Kurt Doerry	GER	unknown
4th	Athanasios Skaltsogiannis	GRE	unknown

Deviating from this result, Volker Kluge and Ekkehard lead Fritz Hofmann to the Megede in 3rd place in the second run . Other sources mention Carl Galle .

final

The Hungarian Alajos Szokolyi occupied in the final as well as in the triple jump in fourth

April 10, 1896, 3:30 p.m.

Only Curtis and Goulding competed in the final. The runners-up in the preliminary runs did not exercise their right to start due to overlapping dates. Hoyt started in the pole vault, which was held at the same time, where he won the gold medal. Reichel looked after his compatriot Albin Lermusiaux in the marathon, which was also held on the same day.

In the finals, Goulding, who was considered to be a technically better hurdler, led to the last hurdle before Curtis overtook him thanks to his higher final pace. For example, Curtis won the gold medal he was aiming for after giving up the 100 meters .

There is conflicting information about the distance between the two runners. Sports-Reference speaks of five centimeters, while Kluge and zur Megede indicate a time of 18.0 s for Goulding, which implies a significantly larger lag.

space	Surname	country	time
1	Thomas Curtis	United States	17.6 s	OR
2	Grantley Goulding	GBR	18.0 s (?)

Web links

• SportsReference Men's 110 meters Hurdles , accessed July 12, 2018
• 110m hurdles men from olympic.org, accessed July 12, 2018

literature

• Volker Kluge , Olympic Summer Games - The Chronicle I, Berlin 1997 ( ISBN 3-328-00715-6 )
• Ekkehard zur Megede , The history of Olympic athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SportsReference Men's 110 meters Hurdles , accessed July 12, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 21