Omar McLeod

Omar McLeod
McLeod (center) at the IAAF World Indoor Championships 2016
nation	Jamaica
birthday	25th April 1994 (age 26)
place of birth	Kingston ,  Jamaica
size	180 cm
Weight	73 kg
Career
discipline	Hurdles
Best performance	110 m hurdles: 12.90 s 400 m hurdles: 49.98 s 100 m: 9.99 s
status	active
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 × Indoor world championships 1 × 0 × 0 × World championships 1 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Rio de Janeiro 2016 110 m hurdles  Indoor world championships gold Portland 2016 60 m hurdles  World championships gold London 2017 110 m hurdles
last change: August 9, 2017

Omar McLeod (born April 25, 1994 in Kingston ) is a Jamaican athlete who specializes in hurdles . With his personal bests of 12.90 s in the 110-meter hurdles and 9.99 s in the 100-meter run , he is the first person to run under 13 and 10 seconds in both disciplines.

Athletic career

McLeod qualified for the Jamaican team for the 2011 World Youth Championships in the 110 and 400 meter hurdles . Here he reached the finals twice. He finished the 110-meter run with a personal best of 13.61 s in fourth and the 400 meters in eighth. Last year at Kingston College 2013, McLeod set new national junior records in the 110- (13.24 s) and 400-meter hurdles (49.98 s). He then moved to the University of Arkansas .

McLeod had not started an indoor competition before, but he acclimatized quickly and won the 2014 NCAA indoor championship in the 60-meter hurdles sprint. He was able to defend this title the following year and set a new national record with 7.45 s. He broke Reggie Torian's 17-year-old NCAA record and set an annual world record (shared with Orlando Ortega ). Because of this performance, he was a big favorite at the NCAA Open Air Championships. He won the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 13.01 s, due to the excessive tailwind, the time is not counted in the case of records. After his victory in the 110 meter hurdles, he also took part in the relay race over 4 x 100 meters and 4 x 400 meters for his university team. The 4 x 100 meter relay was won with the 4 x 400 meters it was enough for 6th place.

After the season, McLeod signed a deal with Nike and was a pro from now on. But this also meant that he was no longer eligible to start for his university team, the Arkansas Razorbacks .

At the national championships in 2015 he managed to beat national record holder Hansle Parchment and set a new personal best with 12.97 s. This is the 15th fastest time ever. He was unable to finish the first professional competition at the István Gyulai Memorial in Székesfehérvár due to a cramp.

His 9.99 s, placed in the 100-meter sprint at the start of the 2016 open-air season in Fayetteville, also caused a stir. This makes him the first person to achieve the best running times of less than 13 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles or less than 10 seconds in the 100-meter sprint.

His greatest success was winning the 2016 Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro in the 110-meter hurdles.

In 2017 he ran a new personal best at an athletics meeting in Kingston and at the same time set an annual world record of 12.90 s. This is the fifth fastest time ever. At the following World Championships in London , he was a favorite and was able to confirm this role with gold.

Web links

Commons : Omar McLeod  - Collection of Images

• Omar McLeod in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Omar Mcleod Instagram profile

Individual evidence

1. ^ Graham, Raymond: McLeod to attend University of Arkansas . The Sunday Gleaner . August 4, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
2. ↑ Reid, Paul A .: Omar McLeod to go per later this month . The Jamaica Observer . June 26, 2015. Accessed July 28, 2015.
3. ↑ Ekema-Agbaw, Joy: McLeod to Represent Nike on the Professional Circuit . Arkansas Razorbacks. July 6, 2015. Accessed July 28, 2015.
4. ↑ 110 meters hurdles - men - senior - outdoor - all time best . International Association of Athletics Federations . Retrieved July 28, 2015.
5. ↑ Ramsak, Bob (2016-04-24). Hurdler McLeod makes history as a barrier breaker after 9.99 100m win . IAAF . Retrieved April 24, 2016.
6. ↑ [1] Omar McLeod succeeds Novum over 100 meters and 110 meter hurdles