110 metres Hurdles, Men

The 110 metres hurdles were the first track & field final contested at the 1900 Olympics. Unlike the 1896 Olympics, it could be said that all the top hurdlers were present, mainly because Al Kraenzlein was so dominant that he had no real peer.

The heats bore no surprises, as the favored Kraenzlein qualified easily. In the final, the first real problem with the inexperienced French starter Meier, occurred. John McLean caught a flyer, and according to reports, was ahead of Kraenzlein by five yards off the blocks. But Kraenzlein was so superior that he caught McLean at the eighth hurdle and ran away to win by three yards. McLean did hold onto second place, however, just edging out Fred Moloney, who had beaten McLean easily in a first-round heat.

Kraenzlein’s win in the 110 metres hurdles was the first of his four individual gold medals, a record which has still never been equalled in track & field athletics. The distance of 110 metres was rarely run in either Britain or the United States, as they used the slightly shorter Imperial equivalent of 120 yards. Thus, Kraenzlein’s mark of 15.6 and his final mark of 15.4 were world records for the metric distance, although both were intrinsically inferior to his record of 15.2 for 120 yards hurdles.