1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 110 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	110 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	22 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 11, 1912 (preliminary round / semi-finals) July 12, 1912 (final)
Medalist Fred Kelly ( USA )   James Wendell ( USA )   Martin Hawkins ( USA )

The men's 110-meter hurdles at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm was held on July 11th and 12th, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 22 athletes took part.

The American Fred Kelly was Olympic champion ahead of his compatriots James Wendell and Martin Hawkins .

The only German participant was Hermann von Bönninghausen , who was eliminated in the semi-finals. Austrians and Swiss were not at the start.

Existing records

World record	Forrest Smithson ( Great Britain )	15.0 s	Colombes	November 16, 1911
			London	July 25, 1908
Olympic record			London	July 25, 1908

Smithson's setting of his own world record in 1908 was retrospectively recognized after the establishment of the IAAF World Athletics Federation in 1912.

Conducting the competition

On July 11th there were 11 heats. The two best runners in each round reached the semi-finals, which were held on the same day. In these six semi-finals only the respective winner could qualify for the final on July 12th.

What the organizers thought with this form of processing is no longer comprehensible today. The individual preliminary runs were completely different in terms of the number of participants. Two races were held with three athletes, in all remaining runs there were only two athletes at the start, who of course only had to cross the finish line in order to advance. A preliminary run was even carried out with just a single hurdle sprinter. Of the 22 athletes who competed, only two were eliminated, although there would have been room for them in one of the later semi-finals.

Note: The runners who qualify for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Preliminary round

Géo André (FRA)

Ferdinand Bie (NOR)

Kenneth Powell (GBR) was also known as a tennis player.

Date: July 11, 1912

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time
1	George Chisholm	United States	15.4 s
2	Károly Solymár	Hungary	15.8 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John Eller	United States	16.0 s
2	Gerard Anderson	Great Britain	18.6 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Martin Hawkins	United States	16.1 s
2	Géo André	France	18.6 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Ferdinand Bie	Norway	16.2 s
2	Valdemar Wickholm	Grand Duchy of Finland	16.6 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Pablo Eitel	Chile	17.2 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Marius Delaby	France	16.0 s
2	Vaughn Blanchard	United States	16.0 s
3	Alfredo Pagani	Italy	k. A.

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Edwin Pritchard	United States	16.4 s
2	Henry Blakeney	Great Britain	17.4 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John Nicholson	United States	15.5 s
2	Daciano Colbachini	Italy	16.1 s

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Fred Kelly	United States	16.4 s

Forward 10

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John Case	United States	16.3 s
2	Hermann von Boenninghausen	German Empire	17.0 s

Forward 11

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.6 s
2	James Wendell	United States	15.7 s
3	Frank Lukeman	Canada	k. A.

Semifinals

Date: July 11, 1912

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.6 s
2	John Eller	United States	15.7 s
3	Ferdinand Bie	Norway	15.8 s
4th	Pablo Eitel	Chile	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Martin Hawkins	United States	15.7 s
2	Daciano Colbachini	Italy	16.0 s
3	Marius Delaby	France	16.2 s
DNF	Károly Solymár	Hungary

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John Nicholson	United States	15.4 s
2	Vaughn Blanchard	United States	15.7 s
3	Hermann von Boenninghausen	German Empire	16.0 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time
1	James Wendell	United States	15.5 s
2	George Chisholm	United States	15.7 s
DNF	Gerard Anderson	Great Britain

Run 5

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Fred Kelly	United States	15.6 s
2	Valdemar Wickholm	Grand Duchy of Finland	16.6 s
3	Henry Blakeney	Great Britain	k. A.

Run 6

space	Surname	nation	time
1	John Case	United States	15.6 s
2	Edwin Pritchard	United States	15.6 s
3	Géo André	France	k. A.

final

Scene from the finale, in the background you can see Nicholson's fall.

Date: July 12, 1912

The final was contested by five Americans and one British.

John Nicholson and James Wendell led until halfway through the race, when Nicholson fell on the eighth hurdle. Fred Kelly passed Wendell and won the gold medal. As can be seen from the times, the distances between the runners at the finish were small. The level was high overall, Forrest Smithson's world record was only missed by a tenth of a second.

It was the fourth triple success of US athletes in the discipline and the fifth Olympic victory by a US athlete in the fifth Olympic race. Of the 14 medals so far - there were only two starters in 1896 - 13 were won by runners from the USA.

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Fred Kelly	United States	15.1 s
2	James Wendell	United States	15.2 s
3	Martin Hawkins	United States	15.3 s
4th	John Case	United States	15.3 s
5	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.5 s
	John Nicholson	United States	DNF

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 112f

Web links

• SportsReference 110 meter hurdles , accessed August 26, 2017
• Official report , engl. (PDF), accessed on August 26, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 553 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )