2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's 100 metres hurdles explained

The women's 100 metres hurdles at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 5 to 6 October 2019.^[1]

Summary

This event lost its defending champion when Sally Pearson retired from the sport two months earlier. The Olympic champion Brianna McNeal disappeared quickly after twitching in her blocks before the gun and being disqualified for a false start in her heat. Even after losing the =

1. 4 and #6 runners in history

, the final still sported the world record holder, Kendra Harrison, the season's world leader Danielle Williams with the #7 time in history set a little over two months earlier and the #16 runner in history Janeek Brown from winning the NCAA Championships 4 months earlier, the last two among three Jamaicans who made it to the final.

At the gun of the final, Harrison and Williams got out together with the lead. In lane 9, Megan Tapper got one of the worst starts imaginable to a world championship final, stuttering to the first hurdle and hitting it. By the second hurdle, Olympic silver medalist Nia Ali joined Harrison and Williams in the lead. Over the next two hurdles, Ali and Williams mirrored each other as Harrison lost a few inches. As they cleared the sixth hurdle, Williams began losing ground, as Ali pressed a definite advantage which she continued to expand over the remaining hurdles. Harrison also went past Williams as Tobi Amusan was gaining from behind. Ali crossed the finish line with more than a metre over Harrison. Harrison held off Amusan to get bronze.

Ali's 12.34 winning time took a tenth of a second off her personal best, moving her from =#26 of all time to =#9 with Sharika Nelvis. In fifth place, Andrea Vargas improved her own Costa Rican national record for the fourth time in the 2019 season.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:^[2]

Record		Athlete		Date	Location
World	12.20	Kendra Harrison	United States	22 Jul 2016	London, Great Britain
Championship	12.28	Sally Pearson	Australia	3 Sep 2011	Daegu, South Korea
World Leading	12.32	Danielle Williams	Jamaica	20 Jul 2019	London, Great Britain
African	12.44	Glory Alozie		8 Aug 1998	Fontvieille, Monaco
				28 Aug 1998	Brussels, Belgium
				28 Aug 1999	Seville, Spain
Asian	12.44	Olga Shishigina	Kazakhstan	27 Jun 1995	Luzern, Switzerland
NACAC	12.20	Kendra Harrison	United States	22 Jul 2016	London, Great Britain
South American	12.71	Maurren Maggi	Brazil		Manaus, Brazil
European	12.21	Yordanka Donkova		20 Aug 1988	Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Oceanian	12.28	Sally Pearson	Australia	3 Sep 2011	Daegu, South Korea

The following records were set at the competition:

Record		Athlete		Date
Costa Rican	12.68	Andrea Vargas		5 Oct 2019
Dutch	12.62	Nadine Visser		6 Oct 2019
Costa Rican	12.65	Andrea Vargas
	12.64

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:^[3]

Date	Time	Round
5 October	17:15	Heats
6 October	19:02	Semi-finals
6 October	20:50	Final

Results

Heats

The first four in each heat (Q) and the next four fastest (q) qualified for the semi-final.^[4]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	9			12.48	Q,
2	3	5			12.51	Q
3	4	4			12.55	Q
4	1	7			12.59	Q
5	5	4			12.61	Q
6	3	8			12.68	Q,
7	5	5			12.75	Q
8	4	8			12.76	Q,
9	5	7			12.78	Q
10	1	4			12.78	Q
11	2	8			12.80	Q
12	4	3			12.84	Q
13	2	7			12.85	Q
14	2	4			12.91	Q,
15	5	3			12.92	q
16	4	2			12.96	Q
17	5	6			12.97	q,
18	3	3			12.97	Q
19	1	2			12.97	Q
20	5	2			12.98	q,
21	3	6			13.00	Q
22	3	7			13.08	q
23	2	5			13.11	Q
24	4	5			13.11
25	3	4			13.14
26	1	9			13.14	Q
27	4	7			13.15
28	2	6			13.19
29	1	5			13.20
30	4	6			13.30
31	1	8			13.44
32	5	8			13.47
33	3	2			13.49
34	2	2			13.51
35	1	6			14.00
36	4	9			14.79
	1	3
	2	3

Semi-finals

The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.^[5]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	6			12.41	Q
2	1	7			12.44	Q,
3	3	5			12.48	Q,
4	2	5			12.58	Q
5	2	4			12.61	Q,
6	1	5			12.62	q,
7	3	7			12.62	Q
8	3	4			12.65	q,
9	3	6			12.78
10	2	6			12.80
11	1	4			12.86
12	2	8			12.86
13	1	8			12.87
14	2	2			12.89
15	2	9			12.95
16	2	3			12.96
17	1	9			12.97
18	2	7			13.06
19	1	2			13.09
20	1	3			13.18
21	3	8			13.24
22	3	3			13.25
23	3	2			13.38
	3	9

Final

The final was started on 6 October at 20:51.^[6]

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4			12.34
	6			12.46
	5			12.47
4	7			12.49
5	3			12.64
6	2			12.66
7	8			12.88
	9

Notes and References

1. Web site: 100 Metres Hurdles Women − Round 1− Start List. IAAF. 4 October 2019. 4 October 2019.
2. Web site: 100 Metres Hurdles Women − Records. iaaf.org . 30 September 2019.
3. Web site: Women's 100 Metres Hurdles − Timetable. iaaf.org . 30 September 2019.
4. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/6033/AT-100H-W-h----.RS4.pdf Heats results
5. Web site: Semi-finals results.
6. Web site: Final results.