1920 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 110 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	110 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	24 athletes from 15 countries
Competition location	Antwerp Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 17, 1920 (preliminary round / semi-finals) August 18, 1920 (final)
Medalist Earl Thomson ( CAN )   Harold Barron ( USA )   Feg Murray ( USA )

The men's 110-meter hurdles at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp was held on August 17 and 18, 1920 in the Antwerp Olympic Stadium. 24 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Canadian Earl Thomson , who won in a new world record time ahead of the two Americans Harold Barron and Feg Murray .

Due to the exclusion of the two countries from participating in these games, German and Austrian athletes did not take part. The Swiss Willi Moser could not finish his lead and was eliminated.

Existing records

World record	Forrest Smithson ( USA )	15.0 s	London	July 25, 1908
Olympic record

Conducting the competition

A total of six preliminary runs were carried out on August 17 at 2:00 p.m. local time. The two best runners in each case qualified for the semi-finals, which took place immediately afterwards at 2.30 p.m. The first three of each of these two races made it into the final on August 18 (start: 2.30 p.m.).

Note: The relays qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: August 17, 2:00 p.m. local time

The times are not completely handed down.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Daciano Colbachini	Italy	15.6 s
2	Harry Wilson	New Zealand	15.8 s
3	Georg Lindström	Sweden	15.9 s
4th	Wilfrid Kent Hughes	Australia	k. A.

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harold Barron	United States	15.2 s
2	Earl Thomson	Canada	15.4 s
3	Gösta Holmér	Sweden	k. A.
4th	František Marek	Czechoslovakia	k. A.

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Sweep Murray	United States	15.8 s
2	George Gray	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Henri Bernard	France	k. A.
4th	René Joannes-Powell	Belgium	k. A.
5	Dimitrios Andromedas	Greece	k. A.

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Henri Thorsen	Denmark	16.8 s
2	William Hunter	Great Britain	k. A.
DNF	Willi Moser	Switzerland

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	William Yount	United States	15.6 s
2	Goran Hultin	Sweden	k. A.
3	Harold Jeppe	South African Union	k. A.
4th	Adolf Reich	Czechoslovakia	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Walker Smith	United States	15.8 s
2	Carl-Axel Christiernsson	Sweden	k. A.
3	Oscar van Rappard	Netherlands	k. A.
4th	Eric Dunbar	Great Britain	k. A.

Semifinals

Date: August 17, 2:30 p.m. local time

The times are not completely handed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harold Barron	United States	15.0 s	WRe / ORe
2	Walker Smith	United States	15.2 s
3	Harry Wilson	New Zealand	15.3 s
4th	Henri Thorsen	Denmark	k. A.
5	William Hunter	Great Britain	k. A.
6th	Goran Hultin	Sweden	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Earl Thomson	Canada	15.0 s	WRe / ORe
2	Sweep Murray	United States	15.2 s
3	Carl-Axel Christiernsson	Sweden	15.2 s
4th	George Gray	Great Britain	k. A.
5	William Yount	United States	k. A.
6th	Daciano Colbachini	Italy	k. A.

The winner: Earl Thomson (CAN)

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Earl Thomson	Canada	14.8 s	WR
2	Harold Barron	United States	15.0 s
3	Sweep Murray	United States	15.2 s
4th	Harry Wilson	New Zealand	15.2 s
5	Walker Smith	United States	15.3 s
6th	Carl-Axel Christiernsson	Sweden	15.5 s

Date: August 18, 2:30 p.m. local time

The Canadian Earl Thomson developed the double-arm style together with his American brother-in-law Robert Simpson and was the clear favorite here. In the Olympic year he had already achieved 14.4 s over 120 yard hurdles , which were qualitatively far better than Forrest Smithson's 110-meter hurdles - a world record of 15.0 s, but were not officially recognized as a 110-meter hurdle world record. Thomson lived up to his role as favorite and improved the world record by two tenths of a second despite the poor track conditions.

There was a glitch at the victory ceremony. The Belgian officials could not find a Canadian flag. Instead, the British flag was raised.

Earl Thomson's victory meant that for the first time no US athlete won in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 141

Web links

• SportsReference 110 meter hurdles , accessed August 31, 2017
• Official report , French (PDF), accessed on August 31, 2017

Video

• Earl Thomson Breaks 110m Hurdles World Record For Gold - Antwerp 1920 Olympics , published October 19, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed August 30, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 553 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Official report ( Memento of October 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) p. 102, French. (PDF)
3. ↑ Description at SportsReference (Engl.)