The men's 110 metres hurdles competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 16–17. Thirty-three athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Willie Davenport of the United States, the nation's eighth of nine consecutive victories and the 14th overall gold medal in the event for the Americans. Eddy Ottoz's bronze was Italy's first medal in the event.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1964 returned: fourth-place finisher Eddy Ottoz of Italy, sixth-place finisher Marcel Duriez of France, and seventh-place finisher Giovanni Cornacchia, also of Italy. The American team, including Willie Davenport (whose injury in Tokyo had ended a streak of four consecutive podium sweeps), Ervin Hall, and Leon Coleman, was again favored.

The Dominican Republic, Madagascar, and the Virgin Islands each made their first appearance in the event; West Germany made its first appearance as a separate nation. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

The men's 110m hurdles competition consisted of heats (Round 1), semifinals and a final. The three fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the semifinals along with the fastest overall competitor not already qualified. The four fastest runners from each of the two semifinal races advanced to the final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Eddy Ottoz matched the Olympic record in the third heat. He did it again in the first semifinal, but came in second in that race—Ervin Hall set a new Olympic record at 13.3 seconds. Willie Davenport matched Hall's new record to win the final; all three men came in under the old record in winning their medals. Ottoz's final time was a national record for Italy.

Nation Athlete Round Time Eddy Ottoz Final 13.4

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

Date Time Round Wednesday, 16 October 1968 10:00 Round 1 Thursday, 17 October 1968 15:0017:00 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 6 Ervin Hall 13.7 13.75 2 7 Pierre Schoebel 13.8 13.83 3 3 Daniel Riedo 14.0 14.10 4 5 Giovanni Cornacchia 14.1 14.13 5 2 Franklin Blyden 14.7 14.74 6 4 Kimaru Songok 14.7 14.76 — 1 Bernard Kender Wind: 0.0 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 7 Willie Davenport13.6 13.65 2 5 Hinrich John 13.8 13.87 3 4 Arnaldo Bristol 13.9 13.92 4 1 Oleg Stepanenko 13.9 13.95 5 3 Hernando Arrechea 14.0 14.09 6 6 Ahmed Ishtiaq Mubarak 14.3 14.36 7 2 Su Po-tai 15.0 15.11 Wind: +1.0 m/s

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 4 Eddy Ottoz 13.5 13.61 , 2 7 Werner Trzmiel 13.8 13.87 3 6 Juan Morales 13.9 13.94 4 3 Gary Knoke 14.1 14.14 5 5 Stuart Storey 14.1 14.20 6 2 Simbara Maki 14.3 14.32 7 1 Fernand Tovondray 14.9 15.00 Wind: +1.7 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 7 Leon Coleman 13.7 13.77 2 6 Bo Forssander 13.9 14.00 3 2 Kjellfred Weum 14.0 14.08 4 5 Mike Parker 14.1 14.16 5 3 Patricio Saavedra 14.4 14.47 6 1 Rogelio Onofre 15.0 15.01 — 4 Werner Kuhn Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 2 Viktor Balikhin 13.8 13.82 2 6 Marcel Duriez 13.9 14.00 3 5 Sergio Liani 13.9 14.01 4 4 Alan Pascoe 13.9 14.01 5 1 Lubomír Nádeníček 14.1 14.18 6 7 Alfredo Deza 14.3 14.38 7 3 Radhamés Mora 16.8 16.85 Wind: 0.0 m/s

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 4 Ervin Hall 13.3 13.38 , 2 8 Eddy Ottoz 13.5 13.53 3 2 Bo Forssander 13.7 13.75 4 6 Pierre Schoebel 13.7 13.78 5 1 Hinrich John 13.8 13.87 6 3 Daniel Riedo 14.0 14.07 7 5 Juan Morales 14.0 14.08 8 7 Viktor Balikhin 14.1 14.13 Wind: +1.8 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 1 5 Willie Davenport 13.5 13.53 2 6 Leon Coleman 13.5 13.54 3 1 Werner Trzmiel 13.5 13.60 4 4 Marcel Duriez 13.7 13.73 5 8 Oleg Stepanenko 13.8 13.83 6 3 Kjellfred Weum 14.0 14.04 7 2 Sergio Liani 14.0 14.09 8 7 Arnaldo Bristol 14.1 14.13 Wind: 0.0 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (auto) Notes 4 Willie Davenport 13.3 13.33 6 Ervin Hall 13.4 13.42 3 Eddy Ottoz 13.4 13.46 4 7 Leon Coleman 13.6 13.67 5 1 Werner Trzmiel 13.6 13.68 6 2 Bo Forssander 13.7 13.73 7 8 Marcel Duriez 13.7 13.77 8 5 Pierre Schoebel 14.0 14.02 Wind: 0.0 m/s

References

External links Official Olympic Report, la84foundation.org. Retrieved August 13, 2012.