| | Event type
110 metres Hurdles, Men
| Date | 27 – 28 November 1956 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Participants | 24 from 15 countries |
At the US Olympic Trials, Lee Calhoun had tied for first with 1952 silver medalist Jack Davis. Davis was likely a slight favorite, as the world record holder, set in winning the 1956 AAU Championship. The final was close throughout. Calhoun got a slight lead at the start and Davis never fully closed, losing out by 3/100ths of a second at the line. In two consecutive Olympics, Davis had lost the gold medals by a combined margin of 0.12 seconds. Duke University’s Joel Shankle won the bronze medal for the USA, the third consecutive Olympics at which US hurdlers had swept the high hurdle medals.
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | R1 | SF | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 250 | Lee Calhoun |  USA | 14.1 (1 h2) | 14.0 (1 h2) | 13.5 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 251 | Jack Davis | USA | 14.0 (1 h1) | 14.0 (1 h1) | 13.5 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 252 | Joel Shankle | USA | 14.0 (1 h3) | 14.0 (2 h2) | 14.1 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 238 | Martin Lauer |  GER | 14.2 (1 h4) | 14.4 (2 h1) | 14.5 (4) | |||
| 5 | 255 | Stanko Lorger |  YUG | 14.6 (2 h2) | 14.6 (3 h1) | 14.5 (5) | |||
| 6 | 254 | Boris Stolyarov |  URS | 14.3 (3 h4) | 14.5 (3 h2) | 14.6 (6) | |||
| 4 h1 r2/3 | 10 | Evaristo Iglesias |  CUB | 14.3 (2 h4) | 14.6 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h2 r2/3 | 239 | Bert Steines | GER | 14.3 (2 h3) | 14.5 (4 h2) | – | |||
| 5 h1 r2/3 | 237 | Edmond Roudnitska |  FRA | 14.3 (2 h1) | 14.9 (5 h1) | – | |||
| 5 h2 r2/3 | 37 | Ghulam Raziq |  PAK | 14.5 (3 h1) | 14.6 (5 h2) | – | |||
| 6 h1 r2/3 | 248 | Danie Burger |  RSA | 14.4 (3 h3) | 15.0 (6 h1) | – | |||
| 6 h2 r2/3 | 664 | Jean-Claude Bernard | FRA | 14.7 (3 h2) | 14.6 (6 h2) | – | |||
| 4 h1 r1/3 | 244 | Eamonn Kinsella |  IRL | 14.6 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 4 h2 r1/3 | 242 | Jack Parker |  GBR | 14.8 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 4 h3 r1/3 | 253 | Anatoly Mikhaylov | URS | 14.5 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 4 h4 r1/3 | 241 | Peter Hildreth | GBR | 14.5 (4 h4) | – | – | |||
| 5 h1 r1/3 | 235 | Ken Doubleday |  AUS | 14.8 (5 h1) | – | – | |||
| 5 h2 r1/3 | 234 | John Chittick | AUS | 14.9 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 5 h3 r1/3 | 23 | Keith Gardner |  JAM | 14.6 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 5 h4 r1/3 | 240 | Ioannis Kampadelis |  GRE | 15.1 (5 h4) | – | – | |||
| 6 h1 r1/3 | 676 | Guillermo Zapata |  COL | 15.3 (6 h1) | – | – | |||
| 6 h2 r1/3 | 246 | Kalim Khawaja Ghani | PAK | 16.1 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 6 h3 r1/3 | 236 | Bob Joyce | AUS | 14.7 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 6 h4 r1/3 | 2423 | Sri Chand Ram |  IND | 15.2 (6 h4) | – | – | |||
| 247 | Amadeo Francis |  PUR | – (DNS h1) | – | – |
Round One (27 November 1956 — 15:20)
Top three in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Wind | 0.0 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Jack Davis | USA | 14.0 | 14.17 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Edmond Roudnitska | FRA | 14.3 | 14.49 | |||
| 3 | 6 | Ghulam Raziq | PAK | 14.5 | 14.65 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Eamonn Kinsella | IRL | 14.6 | 14.66 | |||
| 5 | 1 | Ken Doubleday | AUS | 14.8 | 14.98 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Guillermo Zapata | COL | 15.3 | 15.58 | |||
| 7 | Amadeo Francis | PUR | – | – |
Heat Two
| Wind | -3.0 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Lee Calhoun | USA | 14.1 | 14.36 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Stanko Lorger | YUG | 14.6 | 14.75 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Jean-Claude Bernard | FRA | 14.7 | 14.88 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Jack Parker | GBR | 14.8 | 15.00 | |||
| 5 | 5 | John Chittick | AUS | 14.9 | 15.18 | |||
| 6 | 4 | Kalim Khawaja Ghani | PAK | 16.1 | 16.32 |
Heat Three
| Wind | -0.7 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Joel Shankle | USA | 14.0 | 14.20 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Bert Steines | GER | 14.3 | 14.59 | |||
| 3 | 4 | Danie Burger | RSA | 14.4 | 14.59 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Anatoly Mikhaylov | URS | 14.5 | 14.63 | |||
| 5 | 6 | Keith Gardner | JAM | 14.6 | 14.65 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Bob Joyce | AUS | 14.7 | 15.02 |
Heat Four
| Wind | -0.5 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Martin Lauer | GER | 14.2 | 14.41 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Evaristo Iglesias | CUB | 14.3 | 14.52 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Boris Stolyarov | URS | 14.3 | 14.54 | |||
| 4 | 5 | Peter Hildreth | GBR | 14.5 | 14.68 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Ioannis Kampadelis | GRE | 15.1 | 15.28 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Sri Chand Ram | IND | 15.2 | 15.40 |
Semi-Finals (28 November 1956 — 14:30)
Top three in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Wind | -2.5 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Jack Davis | USA | 14.0 | 14.28 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Martin Lauer | GER | 14.4 | 14.57 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Stanko Lorger | YUG | 14.6 | 14.73 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Evaristo Iglesias | CUB | 14.6 | 14.73 | 2 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Edmond Roudnitska | FRA | 14.9 | 14.87 | |||
| 6 | 4 | Danie Burger | RSA | 15.0 | 14.95 |
Heat Two
| Wind | -1.9 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Lee Calhoun | USA | 14.0 | 14.18 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Joel Shankle | USA | 14.0 | 14.23 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Boris Stolyarov | URS | 14.5 | 14.64 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Bert Steines | GER | 14.5 | 14.70 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Ghulam Raziq | PAK | 14.6 | 14.74 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Jean-Claude Bernard | FRA | 14.6 | 14.78 |
Final (28 November 1956 — 16:05)
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | Time (A) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Lee Calhoun | USA | 13.5 | 13.70 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Jack Davis | USA | 13.5 | 13.73 | |||
| 3 | 1 | Joel Shankle | USA | 14.1 | 14.25 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Martin Lauer | GER | 14.5 | 14.67 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Stanko Lorger | YUG | 14.5 | 14.68 | |||
| 6 | 4 | Boris Stolyarov | URS | 14.6 | 14.71 |