Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles explained

Event:Men's 110 metres hurdles
Games:2020 Summer
Venue:Olympic Stadium
Dates:3 August 2021
(round 1)
4 August 2021
(semifinals)
5 August 2021
(final)
Competitors:40
Nations:29
Win Value:13.04
Gold:Hansle Parchment
Goldnoc:JAM
Silver:Grant Holloway
Silvernoc:USA
Bronze:Ronald Levy
Bronzenoc:JAM
Prev:2016
Next:2024

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 3 and 5 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium.[1] Approximately forty athletes were expected to compete; the exact number was dependent on how many nations used universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 40 qualifying through time or ranking (1 universality place was used in 2016).[2] 40 athletes from 29 nations competed. Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won the gold medal, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event. His countryman Ronald Levy took bronze. American Grant Holloway earned silver, placing the United States back on the podium in the event after the nation missed the medals for the first time in Rio 2016 (excluding the boycotted 1980 Games).

Summary

Coming in to the Olympics, Grant Holloway was the clear favorite. He was undefeated and tickled the world record with a 12.81 to win the US Trials, the #2 time in history. He was the only athlete under 13 seconds all year. His closest competitor on the yearly list was defending champion Omar McLeod from the heats of the Jamaican Olympic Trials. But McLeod failed to qualify for the Olympics from the strong field in those trials. McLeod tried to appeal to change the team makeup, but which deserving athlete would be left home to make room for him? His appeal failed. As expected, Holloway had the fastest times in the heats and the semis. 2012 bronze medalist Hansle Parchment was also in contention.

In the final, the script looked the same. Holloway was first out of the blocks, first over the first hurdle and had a clear lead over the closely matched wall of athletes behind him. By the fourth hurdle, Holloway had close to a metre lead, Ronald Levy then Andrew Pozzi emerged in second and third. Devon Allen and Hansle Parchment were close behind. Over the next three hurdles, Parchment made a big move to separate from the others, still a metre down on Holloway. Over the final three hurdles, Holloway lost his momentum. Parchment and the wall gained steadily. Holloway was still first over the last hurdle, but the thundering herd was approaching. Parchment went by with 10 metres to go. The next was Levy but Holloway executed a better lean at the finish, officially credited with .01 advantage over Levy to take silver. Two of the three people who beat McLeod at the Jamaican trials ended up on the podium.[3]

Background

This was the 29th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics.

Comoros and Hong Kong competed in the men's 110 metres hurdles for the first time. The United States made its 28th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

Qualification

See main article: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 110 metres hurdles event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 13.32 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 40 is reached.[2] [4]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2] [5]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 110 metres hurdles.[2]

Entry number: 40.

Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOCNominated athletes
Entry standard – 13.323Wilhem Belocian
Aurel Manga
Pascal Martinot-Lagarde
3Ronald Levy
Hansle Parchment
Damion Thomas
3Shunsuke Izumiya
Taio Kanai
Shunya Takayama
3Devon Allen
Grant Holloway
Daniel Roberts
2Gabriel Constantino
Eduardo de Deus
2Asier Martínez
Orlando Ortega
1Sergey Shubenkov
1Shane Brathwaite
1Vitali Parakhonka
1Michael Obasuyi
1Xie Wenjun
1Milan Trajkovic
1Elmo Lakka
1Andrew Pozzi
1Paolo Dal Molin
1Antonio Alkana
World ranking1Nicholas Hough
1Rafael Henrique Pereira
1Chen Kuei-ru
1Gregor Traber
1David King
1Konstantinos Douvalidis
1Valdó Szűcs
1Hassane Fofana
1Yaqoub Al-Youha
1Damian Czykier
1Jason Joseph
Universality places1Fadane Hamadi
1Chan Chung Wang
1Jérémie Lararaudeuse
Total40

Competition format

The event continued to use the three-round format used previously in 1908–1956, 1964–1984, and since 2012.[6]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows.

AreaTime (s)WindAthleteNation
13.11 +1.8
12.88 +1.1
12.91 +0.5
12.80 +0.3
13.29 +0.6
13.18 +0.8

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's 110 metres hurdles took place over three consecutive days.[1]

DateTimeRound
Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:00 Round 1
Wednesday, 4 August 2021 9:00 Semifinals
Thursday, 5 August 2021 9:00Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification Rules: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Heat 1

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
14Ronald Levy13.17
26Jason Joseph13.31 ,
39Valdó Szűcs13.50 (13.496)
42Andrew Pozzi13.50 (13.500)
55Gabriel Constantino13.55
68Michael Obasuyi13.65
77Louis François Mendy13.84
data-sort-value=83Wilhem Belociandata-sort-value=99.99

Heat 2

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
17Asier Martínez13.32
25Daniel Roberts13.41
38Damion Thomas13.54
42Milan Trajkovic13.59,
59Vitali Parakhonka13.61
64Shane Brathwaite13.64
73Yaqoub Al-Youha13.69
86Hassane Fofana13.70

Heat 3

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
19Grant Holloway13.02
27Hansle Parchment13.23
33Nicholas Hough13.57
45Damian Czykier13.61
54Gregor Traber13.65
62Shunya Takayama13.98
71Jérémie Lararaudeuse14.03
88Fadane Hamadi14.99
data-sort-value=96Sergey Shubenkovdata-sort-value=99.99

Heat 4

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
18Aurel Manga13.24, =
26Shunsuke Izumiya13.28
34Rafael Henrique Pereira13.46
42Xie Wenjun13.51
53Chen Kuei-ru13.53,
61David King13.55
79Eddie Lovett14.17
87Chan Chung Wang14.23
data-sort-value=95Orlando Ortegadata-sort-value=99.99

Heat 5

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
15Devon Allen13.21
23Pascal Martinot-Lagarde13.37,
37Taio Kanai13.41
48Paolo Dal Molin13.44
56Elmo Lakka13.48
64Antonio Alkana13.55
72Konstantinos Douvalidis13.63
89Eduardo de Deus13.78

Semifinals

Qualification Rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) advance to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
1 7 0.154 13.23
2 4 0.155 13.25 ,
3 6 0.150 13.27 ,
4 8 0.148 13.32
5 5 0.195 13.33
6 2 0.152 13.63
7 9 0.163 13.88
8 3 0.159 13.89

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
1 5 0.121 13.18
2 6 0.151 13.24 , =
3 8 0.135 13.39
4 9 0.133 13.40
5 4 0.135 13.46
6 2 0.146 13.57
7 3 0.139 13.67
8 7 0.127 26.11

Semifinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
1 4 0.130 13.13
2 6 0.145 13.23
3 7 0.141 13.35
4 9 0.140 13.40
5 8 0.154 13.58
6 5 0.154 13.62
7 2 0.141 13.67
8 3 0.147 14.01

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
7 0.130 13.04
4 0.136 13.09
5 0.146 13.10
4 6 0.133 13.14
5 8 0.120 13.16
6 2 0.155 13.22
7 3 0.140 13.30
8 9 0.151 13.38
Wind: -0.5 m/s

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Athletics Competition Schedule . Tokyo 2020 . 17 August 2020 . 5 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200805161708/https://tokyo2020.org/en/schedule/athletics-schedule . live .
  2. News: Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics. IAAF. PDF. 31 March 2019. 31 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190331115642/https://www.atleticalive.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Olympic-Games-Tokyo-2020-qualification-system.pdf. live.
  3. Web site: Parchment outguns Holloway to win men's Olympic 110m hurdles gold. 5 August 2021. France 24. 6 October 2021. 7 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210807004523/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210805-parchment-outguns-holloway-to-win-men-s-olympic-110m-hurdles-gold. live.
  4. News: IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes. BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. 2 August 2018. 15 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180315005932/http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/43259616. live.
  5. News: Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020. World Athletics. 6 April 2020. 9 April 2020. 9 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200409184416/https://www.worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/olympic-qualification-suspended-2020. live.
  6. News: Athletics Explanatory Guide . Tokyo 2020 . August 2019.