Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Thursday, July 11, 1912, and on Friday, July 12, 1912. 22 hurdlers from 10 nations competed.[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2] The event was won by Fred Kelly of the United States, the fifth of five consecutive victories for the nation in the first five Olympic Games. It was also the fourth of four consecutive podium sweeps for the Americans in the event.

Men's 110 metres hurdles at the Games of the V Olympiad
The winner, Fred Kelly.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 11 (heats, semifinals) July 12 (final)
Competitors	22 from 10 nations
Winning time	15.1
Medalists
Fred Kelly  United States James Wendell  United States Martin Hawkins  United States

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1908 returned. The American hurdles were favored, with Fred Kelly, John Case, and Vaughn Blanchard the Olympic trial winners.[3]

Chile, Finland, and Italy each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

As in 1908, there were three rounds. The first round consisted of 11 heats, many of which had only one or two hurdlers and none of which had more than three. The top two hurdlers in each heat advanced to the semifinals, resulting in only two men being eliminated in the first round. The 22 semifinalists were divided into six semifinals of 3 or 4 runners each; only the top hurdler in each advanced to the 6-man final.[3][4]

Records

The records for the 110 metre hurdles coming into 1912 were 15.0 seconds, which were not matched during the 1912 Games.

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

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 11 July 1912	9:30 16:15	Round 1 Semifinals
Friday, 12 July 1912	15:00	Final

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Thursday, July 11, 1912.

Only two hurdlers were eliminated after the heats.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Chisholm	United States	15.4	Q
2	Károly Solymár	Hungary	15.8	Q

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Eller	United States	16.0	Q
2	Gerard Anderson	Great Britain	18.6	Q

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Martin Hawkins	United States	16.1	Q
2	Géo André	France	16.8	Q

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ferdinand Bie	Norway	16.2	Q
2	Valdemar Wickholm	Finland	16.6	Q

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Pablo Eitel	Chile	17.2	Q

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Marius Delaby	France	16.0	Q
2	Vaughn Blanchard	United States	16.0	Q
3	Alfredo Pagani	Italy	Unknown

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Edwin Pritchard	United States	16.4	Q
2	Henry Blakeney	Great Britain	17.4	Q

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Nicholson	United States	15.5	Q
2	Daciano Colbacchini	Italy	16.1	Q

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Fred Kelly	United States	16.4	Q

Heat 10

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Case	United States	16.3	Q
2	Hermann von Bönninghausen	Germany	17.0	Q

Heat 11

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.6	Q
2	James Wendell	United States	15.7	Q
3	Frank Lukeman	Canada	Unknown

Semifinals

All semifinals were held on Thursday, July 11, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.6	Q
2	John Eller	United States	15.7
3	Ferdinand Bie	Norway	15.8
4	Pablo Eitel	Chile	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Martin Hawkins	United States	15.7	Q
2	Daciano Colbacchini	Italy	16.0
3	Marius Delaby	France	16.2
—	Károly Solymár	Hungary	DNF

Semifinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Nicholson	United States	15.4	Q
2	Vaughn Blanchard	United States	15.7
3	Hermann von Bönninghausen	Germany	16.0

Semifinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	James Wendell	United States	15.5	Q
2	George Chisholm	United States	15.7
—	Gerard Anderson	Great Britain	DNF

Semifinal 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Fred Kelly	United States	15.6	Q
2	Valdemar Wickholm	Finland	16.6
3	Henry Blakeney	Great Britain	Unknown

Semifinal 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Case	United States	15.6	Q
2	Edwin Pritchard	United States	15.6
3	Géo André	France	Unknown

Final

The final where John Nicholson fell and did not finish the race.

The final was held on Friday, July 12, 1912. Nicholson fell at the eighth hurdle, leaving Kelly to hold on and win by a narrow margin over Wendell.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
1	Fred Kelly	United States	15.1
2	James Wendell	United States	15.2
3	Martin Hawkins	United States	15.3
4	John Case	United States	15.3
5	Kenneth Powell	Great Britain	15.5
—	John Nicholson	United States	DNF

References

1. "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
2. Official report, p. 61.
3. "110 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
4. Official Report, pp. 371–73.

Notes

• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 1 January 2007.