Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

Men's 110 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Men's 110 metres hurdles; at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
	Willie Davenport, Ervin Hall and Eddy Ottoz
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Date	October 16–17
Competitors	33 from 24 nations
Winning time	13.3
Medalists
	← 1964 1972 →

Official Video Highlights @6:20

The men's 110 metres hurdles competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 16–17.^[1] Thirty-three athletes from 24 nations competed.^[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Willie Davenport of the United States, the nation's eighth of nine consecutive victories and the 14th overall gold medal in the event for the Americans. Eddy Ottoz's bronze was Italy's first medal in the event.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists from 1964 returned: fourth-place finisher Eddy Ottoz of Italy, sixth-place finisher Marcel Duriez of France, and seventh-place finisher Giovanni Cornacchia, also of Italy. The American team, including Willie Davenport (whose injury in Tokyo had ended a streak of four consecutive podium sweeps), Ervin Hall, and Leon Coleman, was again favored.^[2]

The Dominican Republic, Madagascar, and the Virgin Islands each made their first appearance in the event; West Germany made its first appearance as a separate nation. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

The men's 110m hurdles competition consisted of heats (Round 1), semifinals and a final. The three fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the semifinals along with the fastest overall competitor not already qualified. The four fastest runners from each of the two semifinal races advanced to the final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

World record	Martin Lauer (FRG)	13.2	Zürich, Switzerland	7 July 1959
Olympic record	Lee Calhoun (USA)	13.5	Melbourne, Australia	28 November 1956

Eddy Ottoz matched the Olympic record in the third heat. He did it again in the first semifinal, but came in second in that race—Ervin Hall set a new Olympic record at 13.3 seconds. Willie Davenport matched Hall's new record to win the final; all three men came in under the old record in winning their medals. Ottoz's final time was a national record for Italy.

Nation	Athlete	Round	Time
Italy	Eddy Ottoz	Final	13.4

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

Date	Time	Round
Wednesday, 16 October 1968	10:00	Round 1
Thursday, 17 October 1968	15:00 17:00	Semifinals Final

Results

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	6	Ervin Hall	United States	13.7	13.75	Q
2	7	Pierre Schoebel	France	13.8	13.83	Q
3	3	Daniel Riedo	Switzerland	14.0	14.10	Q
4	5	Giovanni Cornacchia	Italy	14.1	14.13
5	2	Franklin Blyden	Virgin Islands	14.7	14.74
6	4	Kimaru Songok	Kenya	14.7	14.76
—	1	Bernard Kender	Chad	DNS
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	7	Willie Davenport	United States	13.6	13.65	Q
2	5	Hinrich John	West Germany	13.8	13.87	Q
3	4	Arnaldo Bristol	Puerto Rico	13.9	13.92	Q
4	1	Oleg Stepanenko	Soviet Union	13.9	13.95	q
5	3	Hernando Arrechea	Colombia	14.0	14.09
6	6	Ahmed Ishtiaq Mubarak	Malaysia	14.3	14.36
7	2	Su Po-tai	Taiwan	15.0	15.11
				Wind: +1.0 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Eddy Ottoz	Italy	13.5	13.61	Q, =OR
2	7	Werner Trzmiel	West Germany	13.8	13.87	Q
3	6	Juan Morales	Cuba	13.9	13.94	Q
4	3	Gary Knoke	Australia	14.1	14.14
5	5	Stuart Storey	Great Britain	14.1	14.20
6	2	Simbara Maki	Ivory Coast	14.3	14.32
7	1	Fernand Tovondray	Madagascar	14.9	15.00
				Wind: +1.7 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	7	Leon Coleman	United States	13.7	13.77	Q
2	6	Bo Forssander	Sweden	13.9	14.00	Q
3	2	Kjellfred Weum	Norway	14.0	14.08	Q
4	5	Mike Parker	Great Britain	14.1	14.16
5	3	Patricio Saavedra	Chile	14.4	14.47
6	1	Rogelio Onofre	Philippines	15.0	15.01
—	4	Werner Kuhn	Switzerland	DNS
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	2	Viktor Balikhin	Soviet Union	13.8	13.82	Q
2	6	Marcel Duriez	France	13.9	14.00	Q
3	5	Sergio Liani	Italy	13.9	14.01	Q
4	4	Alan Pascoe	Great Britain	13.9	14.01
5	1	Lubomír Nádeníček	Czechoslovakia	14.1	14.18
6	7	Alfredo Deza	Peru	14.3	14.38
7	3	Radhamés Mora	Dominican Republic	16.8	16.85
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	4	Ervin Hall	United States	13.3	13.38	Q, OR
2	8	Eddy Ottoz	Italy	13.5	13.53	Q
3	2	Bo Forssander	Sweden	13.7	13.75	Q
4	6	Pierre Schoebel	France	13.7	13.78	Q
5	1	Hinrich John	West Germany	13.8	13.87
6	3	Daniel Riedo	Switzerland	14.0	14.07
7	5	Juan Morales	Cuba	14.0	14.08
8	7	Viktor Balikhin	Soviet Union	14.1	14.13
				Wind: +1.8 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
1	5	Willie Davenport	United States	13.5	13.53	Q
2	6	Leon Coleman	United States	13.5	13.54	Q
3	1	Werner Trzmiel	West Germany	13.5	13.60	Q
4	4	Marcel Duriez	France	13.7	13.73	Q
5	8	Oleg Stepanenko	Soviet Union	13.8	13.83
6	3	Kjellfred Weum	Norway	14.0	14.04
7	2	Sergio Liani	Italy	14.0	14.09
8	7	Arnaldo Bristol	Puerto Rico	14.1	14.13
				Wind: +0.0 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time (hand)	Time (auto)	Notes
	4	Willie Davenport	United States	13.3	13.33	=OR
	6	Ervin Hall	United States	13.4	13.42
	3	Eddy Ottoz	Italy	13.4	13.46	NR
4	7	Leon Coleman	United States	13.6	13.67
5	1	Werner Trzmiel	West Germany	13.6	13.68
6	2	Bo Forssander	Sweden	13.7	13.73
7	8	Marcel Duriez	France	13.7	13.77
8	5	Pierre Schoebel	France	14.0	14.02
				Wind: +0.0 m/s