Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles explained

Event:	Men's 110 metres hurdles
Games:	1928 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Dates:	July 31 (heats & semifinals) August 1 (final)
Competitors:	41
Nations:	24
Win Value:	14.8
Gold:	Sydney Atkinson
Goldnoc:	RSA
Silver:	Steve Anderson
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	John Collier
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1924
Next:	1932

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 31 & August 1.^[1] Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation was 4.^[2] The event was won by Sydney Atkinson of South Africa, the nation's first title in the 110 metres hurdles; Atkinson became the first man to win two medals in the event (he had taken silver in 1924). It was only the second time the United States had not won the event; as in 1920, the Americans took silver and bronze.

Background

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1924 returned: silver medalist Sydney Atkinson of South Africa and bronze medalist Sten Pettersson of Sweden. Atkinson and the American hurdlers were favored.^[3]

Austria, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Portugal, and Romania each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its eighth appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round basic format introduced in 1908. The first round consisted of nine heats, with between 4 and 6 hurdlers each. The top two hurdlers in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The 18 semifinalists were divided into three semifinals of 6 hurdlers each; the top two hurdlers in each advanced to the 6-man final.^{[3] [4]}

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

George Weightman-Smith set a new world record at 14.6 seconds in the semifinals; that time was not beaten in the final.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 31 July 1928	14:00 16:50	Round 1 Semifinals
Wednesday, 1 August 1928	15:00	Final

Results

Round 1

The first two finishers in each heat moved on to the semifinal round.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Gabriel Sempé		15.0
2	Otakar Jandera		Unknown
3	Armand Lepaffe		Unknown
4	Lothar Albrich		Unknown
data-sort-value=5	—	Valerio Vallania

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Carl Ring		15.0
2	Johannes Viljoen		Unknown
3	Ludwig Wessely		Unknown
4	Arie Kaan		Unknown
5	Otto Schöpp		Unknown

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Weightman-Smith		14.8
2	Robert Marchand		Unknown
3	Albert Andersson		Unknown
4	Wilfrid Kalaugher		Unknown

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Steve Anderson		15.0
2	Eric Wennström		Unknown
3	Alister Clark		Unknown
4	Douglas Neame		Unknown

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Leighton Dye		15.0
2	Sid Atkinson		Unknown
3	Erik Kjellström		Unknown
4	Arie van Leeuwen		Unknown

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bernard Lucas		15.2
2	Hans Steinhardt		Unknown
3	Alfredo Ugarte		Unknown
4	René Joannes-Powell		Unknown

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	John Collier		15.0
2	Bengt Sjöstedt		15.0
3	Giacomo Carlini		15.9
4	Jan Britstra		Unknown

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Fred Gaby		15.2
2	Sten Pettersson		Unknown
3	Alf Watson		Unknown
4	Evangelos Moiropoulos		15.6
5	Louis Lundgren		15.7
6	Wojciech Trojanowski		16.0

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Yoshio Miki		15.4
2	David, Lord Burghley		Unknown
3	Lau Spel		Unknown
4	S. Abdul Hamid		Unknown
5	José Palhares Costa		Unknown

Semifinals

The first two finishers in each race moved on to the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Leighton Dye	United States	14.8
2	Fred Gaby	Great Britain	14.9
3	Eric Wennström	Sweden	14.9
4	Hans Steinhardt	Germany	15.3
5	Johannes Viljoen	South Africa	15.4
6	Yoshio Miki	Japan	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Steve Anderson	United States	14.8
2	Sid Atkinson	South Africa	14.9
3	David, Lord Burghley	Great Britain	15.0
4	Bengt Sjöstedt	Finland	15.1
5	Robert Marchand	France	Unknown
6	Otakar Jandera	Czechoslovakia	Unknown

Semifinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Weightman-Smith	South Africa	14.6	,
2	John Collier	United States	14.8
3	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	15.0
4	Carl Ring	United States	Unknown
5	Gabriel Sempé	France	Unknown
6	Bernard Lucas	Great Britain	Unknown

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
			14.8
			14.8
			14.9
4			14.9
5			15.0
6			15.2

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172632/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1928/ATH/mens-110-metres-hurdles.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 12 September 2017 . sports-reference.com.
2. Official Report, p. 374.
3. Web site: 110 metres Hurdles, Men . Olympedia . 18 August 2020.
4. Official Report, pp. 434–36.