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

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 31 & August 1. Forty-one athletes from 24 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation was 4. 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.
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.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Earl Thomson (CAN) | 14.8 | Antwerp, Belgium | 18 August 1920 |
| Olympic record | Earl Thomson (CAN) | 14.8 | Antwerp, Belgium | 18 August 1920 |
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 | France | 15.0 | Q |
| 2 | Otakar Jandera | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Armand Lepaffe | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 4 | Lothar Albrich | Romania | Unknown | |
| — | Valerio Vallania | Argentina | DSQ | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carl Ring | United States | 15.0 | Q |
| 2 | Johannes Viljoen | South Africa | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Ludwig Wessely | Austria | Unknown | |
| 4 | Arie Kaan | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 5 | Otto Schöpp | Romania | Unknown | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Weightman-Smith | South Africa | 14.8 | Q |
| 2 | Robert Marchand | France | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Albert Andersson | Sweden | Unknown | |
| 4 | Wilfrid Kalaugher | New Zealand | Unknown | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Anderson | United States | 15.0 | Q |
| 2 | Eric Wennström | Sweden | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Alister Clark | Ireland | Unknown | |
| 4 | Douglas Neame | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leighton Dye | United States | 15.0 | Q |
| 2 | Sid Atkinson | South Africa | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Erik Kjellström | Sweden | Unknown | |
| 4 | Arie van Leeuwen | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bernard Lucas | Great Britain | 15.2 | Q |
| 2 | Hans Steinhardt | Germany | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Alfredo Ugarte | Chile | Unknown | |
| 4 | René Joannes-Powell | Belgium | Unknown | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Collier | United States | 15.0 | Q |
| 2 | Bengt Sjöstedt | Finland | 15.0 | Q |
| 3 | Giacomo Carlini | Italy | 15.9 | |
| 4 | Jan Britstra | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fred Gaby | Great Britain | 15.2 | Q |
| 2 | Sten Pettersson | Sweden | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Alf Watson | Australia | Unknown | |
| 4 | Evangelos Moiropoulos | Greece | 15.6 | |
| 5 | Louis Lundgren | Denmark | 15.7 | |
| 6 | Wojciech Trojanowski | Poland | 16.0 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yoshio Miki | Japan | 15.4 | Q |
| 2 | David, Lord Burghley | Great Britain | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Lau Spel | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 4 | S. Abdul Hamid | India | Unknown | |
| 5 | José Palhares Costa | Portugal | 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 | Q |
| 2 | Fred Gaby | Great Britain | 14.9 | Q |
| 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 | Q |
| 2 | Sid Atkinson | South Africa | 14.9 | Q |
| 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 | Q, WR |
| 2 | John Collier | United States | 14.8 | Q |
| 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 |
| | Sydney Atkinson | South Africa | 14.8 |
| | Steve Anderson | United States | 14.8 |
| | John Collier | United States | 14.9 |
| 4 | Leighton Dye | United States | 14.9 |
| 5 | George Weightman-Smith | South Africa | 15.0 |
| 6 | Fred Gaby | Great Britain | 15.2 |