Men's 110 metres hurdles world record progression explained

The following table shows the world record progression in the Men's 110 metres hurdles.

The first world record in the 110 metre hurdles for men (athletics) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1912. The IAAF ratified Forrest Smithson's 15.0 mark set at the 1908 London Olympic Games as the inaugural record.

To June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 39 world records in the event.^[1]

Records 1912–1976

Time	Wind	Auto	Athlete	Nationality	Location of race	Date
15.0					London	25 July 1908
15.0					Antwerp	17 August 1920[2]
15.0					Antwerp	17 August 1920[3]
14.8					Antwerp	18 August 1920
14.8					Stockholm	18 September 1927
14.6				South Africa	Amsterdam	31 July 1928
14.4					Stockholm	25 August 1929
14.4					Helsinki	5 September 1931
14.4					Cambridge	23 June 1932
14.4	−0.2	14.53			Palo Alto	17 July 1932
14.4					Los Angeles	2 August 1932
14.4					Budapest	12 August 1933
14.4					Turin	8 September 1933
14.3					Stockholm	26 July 1934
14.2					Oslo	6 August 1934
14.2					Oslo	2 August 1935
14.1w	2.4				Chicago	19 June 1936
14.1	1.3				Berlin	6 August 1936
13.7	0.0				Oslo	27 August 1936
13.7	0.0				Philadelphia	29 June 1941
13.6	0.9				College Park	24 June 1950
13.5					Helsinki	10 July 1950
13.4	0.0				Bakersfield	22 June 1956
13.2	1.9	13.56			Zurich	7 July 1959
13.2	0.0				Bern	21 August 1960
13.2	1.8	13.43			Minneapolis	16 July 1967
13.2	−0.9				Zurich	4 July 1969
13.2	0.0	13.24			Munich	7 September 1972
13.2	1.1	13.41			Zurich	6 July 1973
13.2	1.5				Siena	22 July 1973
13.1	1.2				Saint Maur	23 July 1975
13.0	1.8				West Berlin	22 August 1975

Records 1977–present

From 1975, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting January 1, 1977, the IAAF required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.^[1]

Rod Milburn's 1972 Olympic gold medal victory time of 13.24 was the fastest recorded result to that time.

Time	Wind	Athlete	Nationality	Location of race	Date
13.24	0.0			Munich	7 September 1972
13.21	0.6			Sofia	21 August 1977
13.16	1.7			San Jose	14 April 1979
13.00	0.9			Westwood	6 May 1979
12.93	−0.2			Zürich	19 August 1981
12.92	−0.1			Zürich	16 August 1989
12.91	0.5			Stuttgart	20 August 1993
12.91	0.3			Athens	27 August 2004
12.88	1.1			Lausanne	11 July 2006
12.87	0.9			Ostrava	12 June 2008
12.80	0.3			Brussels	7 September 2012[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009. . IAAF Media & Public Relations Department . Monte Carlo . Pages 546, 553 . pdf . 2009 . August 9, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110629134819/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf . June 29, 2011 .
2. Landon Sets New Olympic Record in High Jumping, New York Times, 18 August 1920. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
3. Landon Sets New Olympic Record in High Jumping, New York Times, 18 August 1920. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
4. Web site: 12.80!! Merritt stuns with World record in 110m Hurdles in Brussels . IAAF . Monte Carlo . 2012 . September 7, 2012 .