The men's 110 metres hurdles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 7–8 August. Fifty-three athletes from 33 nations competed. The event was won by Aries Merritt of the United States, the nation's first championship in the event since 1996 and 19th overall. Hansle Parchment's bronze was Jamaica's first medal in the men's high hurdles.

Summary

The qualifying round was notable for who was eliminated. In heat 3, Shamar Sands was in the lead until he hit the sixth hurdle, crashing into the next hurdle and somersaulting into a heap, making him one of three athletes in that heat not to make it to the finish line. In the fifth heat, Aries Merritt ran the fastest qualifying time by far with a 13.07. In the final heat, 2004 gold medalist Liu Xiang reminded viewers of his 2008 performance, failing to clear the first hurdle, and injuring his right achilles. After a minute on the track, Liu got up onto his left leg and hopped off the track. Refusing a wheelchair assist and medical attention, he returned to the track and hopped all the way to the final hurdle. Returning to his assigned lane 4, Liu kissed the top of the tenth hurdle, perhaps signifying the end of his Olympic career. He then hopped across the finish line, where he was assisted off the track by heat winner Andy Turner, Balázs Baji and Jackson Quiñónez.

The semifinal round was again dominated by Merritt running a 12.94. World record holder and defending champion Dayron Robles led Hansle Parchment to the Jamaican national record in 13.14. 13.31 qualified on time.

In the final, Robles and Merritt got the fastest starts but Merritt pulled ahead at hurdle 3, by hurdle 5 Robles was wincing in pain, pushing over the sixth hurdle and holding his leg. Merritt continued to a personal best 12.92 and a .12 win over reigning world champion Jason Richardson. Parchment took another .02 off his national record for the bronze, the rest of the field was not even close, more than a quarter of a second behind.

Merritt moves past Renaldo Nehemiah to become the #7 hurdler of all time.

Background

This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five finalists from 2008 returned: gold medalist Dayron Robles of Cuba, fourth-place finisher Ladji Doucouré of France, fifth-place finisher Artur Noga of Poland, seventh-place finisher Richard Phillips of Jamaica, and eighth-place finisher Jackson Quiñónez of Spain. The 2004 gold medalist Liu Xiang of China, who had been unable to run in the first round in 2008 due to injury, also returned. Favorites included Liu (who had taken second at the 2011 world championships), Robles (who still held the world record), Jason Richardson of the United States (who was the 2011 world champion), and Aries Merritt of the United States (who was undefeated in 2012, including the world indoor championships).

Honduras, Iran, and Lebanon each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 110 metres hurdles event if all athletes met the A standard, or 1 athlete if they met the B standard. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the qualifying period that had the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets, not indoor meets, were eligible. The A standard for the 2012 men's 110 metres hurdles was 13.52 seconds; the B standard was 13.60 seconds. The qualifying period for was from 1 May 2011 to 8 July 2012. NOCs could also have an athlete enter the 110 metres hurdles through a universality place. NOCs could enter one male athlete in an athletics event, regardless of time, if they had no male athletes meeting the qualifying A or B standards in any men's athletic event.

Competition format

Despite a larger field than past years, the competition narrowed from four rounds to three. The men's 110 metres hurdles competition consisted of heats (Round 1), semifinals, and a final. The fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the semifinals along with the fastest overall competitors not already qualified that were required to fill the available spaces in the semifinals.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

The following national record was set during this competition.

Jamaica National Record13.12

Schedule

After two Games in which all rounds were on separate days, the 2012 schedule returned to having the semifinals and final on the same day.

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Tuesday, 7 August 2012 10:10 Round 1 Wednesday, 8 August 2012 19:1521:15 SemifinalsFinals

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 9 Sergey Shubenkov 0.157 13.26 2 2 Konstadínos Douvalídis 0.163 13.40 3 8 Adrien Deghelt 0.158 13.52 4 4 Garfield Darien 0.171 13.54 5 3 Paulo Villar 0.169 13.55 , 6 6 Matthias Bühler 0.157 13.68 7 7 Shi Dongpeng 0.150 13.78 8 5 David Ilariani 0.158 13.90 Wind: +0.6 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 Jason Richardson 0.192 13.33 2 6 Lawrence Clarke 0.160 13.42 3 3 Maksim Lynsha 0.168 13.47 , 4 7 Wayne Davis 0.169 13.52 5 9 Andrew Riley 0.174 13.59 6 5 João Carlos Almeida 0.116 13.69 7 8 Rouhollah Asgari 0.182 13.97 8 1 Ronald Forbes 0.161 14.21 — 4 Enrique Llanos Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heat 3

Ali Kamé was disqualified for false starting. Andrew Pozzi failed to finish the race. Shamar Sands crashed over the sixth hurdle; he eventually finished but was officially disqualified for not jumping each hurdle. Doucouré was obstructed by Sands and advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Orlando Ortega 0.158 13.26 2 8 Hansle Parchment 0.145 13.32 3 6 Konstantin Shabanov 0.140 13.63 4 2 Ladji Doucouré 0.170 13.67 5 7 Mikel Thomas 0.135 13.74 6 9 Erik Balnuweit 0.152 13.77 — 5 Andrew Pozzi 0.143 3 Shamar Sands 0.160 35.44 1 Ali Kamé Wind: +1.2 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 9 Dayron Robles 0.172 13.33 2 4 Lehann Fourie 0.159 13.49 , 3 2 Jeff Porter 0.148 13.53 4 7 Dimitri Bascou 0.149 13.57 5 1 Greggmar Swift 0.150 13.62 6 6 Alexander John 0.195 13.67 7 5 Fawaz Al-Shammari 0.174 14.00 8 8 Héctor Cotto 0.158 14.08 9 3 Ahmad Hazer 0.195 14.82 Wind: +0.1 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Aries Merritt 0.142 13.07 2 3 Ryan Brathwaite 0.166 13.23 , 3 2 Xie Wenjun 0.143 13.43 4 1 Emanuele Abate 0.146 13.46 5 9 Richard Phillips 0.154 13.47 6 6 Dániel Kiss 0.188 13.62 7 5 Aleksey Dremin 0.151 13.75 8 8 Jeffrey Julmis 0.161 13.87 9 4 Ronald Bennett 0.207 14.45 Wind: +0.7 m/s

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Andy Turner 0.159 13.42 2 9 Selim Nurudeen 0.141 13.51 , 3 8 Gregory Sedoc 0.157 13.52 4 6 Balázs Baji 0.139 13.76 5 3 Jackson Quiñónez 0.154 13.76 — 2 Shane Brathwaite 0.124 4 Liu Xiang 0.123 5 Artur Noga 0.173 1 Moussa Dembélé 0.167 Wind: +0.4 m/s

Semifinals

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Jason Richardson 0.160 13.13 2 6 Orlando Ortega 0.151 13.26 3 4 Lawrence Clarke 0.159 13.31 , 4 8 Adrien Deghelt 0.142 13.42 5 3 Garfield Darien 0.154 13.48 6 2 Wayne Davis 0.165 13.49 7 7 Konstadínos Douvalídis 0.146 13.77 — 9 Gregory Sedoc 0.189 Wind: -0.5 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Aries Merritt 0.147 12.94 2 4 Ryan Brathwaite 0.159 13.23 , 3 9 Xie Wenjun 0.158 13.34 4 6 Andy Turner 0.151 13.42 5 5 Selim Nurudeen 0.153 13.55 6 3 Dimitri Bascou 0.150 13.55 7 2 Paulo Villar 0.177 13.63 8 8 Konstantin Shabanov 0.154 13.65 — 1 Richard Phillips 0.146 Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Dayron Robles 0.162 13.10 , 2 5 Hansle Parchment 0.172 13.14 , NR 3 6 Lehann Fourie 0.139 13.28 , 4 2 Emanuele Abate 0.150 13.35 5 9 Jeff Porter 0.153 13.41 6 4 Sergey Shubenkov 0.156 13.41 7 8 Maksim Lynsha 0.167 13.45 8 3 Ladji Doucouré 0.189 13.74 Wind: +0.1 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 6 Aries Merritt 0.143 12.92 4 Jason Richardson 0.194 13.04 7 Hansle Parchment 0.172 13.12 NR 4 2 Lawrence Clarke 0.169 13.39 5 8 Ryan Brathwaite 0.163 13.40 6 9 Orlando Ortega 0.135 13.43 7 3 Lehann Fourie 0.136 13.53 — 5 Dayron Robles 0.159 Wind: -0.3 m/s

References