# Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Thursday, July 11, 1912, and on Friday, July 12, 1912. 22 hurdlers from 10 nations competed. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes. The event was won by Fred Kelly of the United States, the fifth of five consecutive victories for the nation in the first five Olympic Games. It was also the fourth of four consecutive podium sweeps for the Americans in the event.

## Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1908 returned. The American hurdles were favored, with Fred Kelly, John Case, and Vaughn Blanchard the Olympic trial winners.
Chile, Finland, and Italy each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

## Competition format

As in 1908, there were three rounds. The first round consisted of 11 heats, many of which had only one or two hurdlers and none of which had more than three. The top two hurdlers in each heat advanced to the semifinals, resulting in only two men being eliminated in the first round. The 22 semifinalists were divided into six semifinals of 3 or 4 runners each; only the top hurdler in each advanced to the 6-man final.

## Records

The records for the 110 metre hurdles coming into 1912 were 15.0 seconds, which were not matched during the 1912 Games.
| World record | Forrest Smithson (USA) | 15.0 | London, United Kingdom | 25 July 1908 |
| Olympic record | Forrest Smithson (USA) | 15.0 | London, United Kingdom | 25 July 1908 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Thursday, 11 July 1912 | 9:30 16:15 | Round 1 Semifinals |
| Friday, 12 July 1912 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

All heats were held on Thursday, July 11, 1912.
Only two hurdlers were eliminated after the heats.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Chisholm | United States | 15.4 | Q |
| 2 | Károly Solymár | Hungary | 15.8 | Q |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Eller | United States | 16.0 | Q |
| 2 | Gerard Anderson | Great Britain | 18.6 | Q |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Martin Hawkins | United States | 16.1 | Q |
| 2 | Géo André | France | 16.8 | Q |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ferdinand Bie | Norway | 16.2 | Q |
| 2 | Valdemar Wickholm | Finland | 16.6 | Q |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pablo Eitel | Chile | 17.2 | Q |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marius Delaby | France | 16.0 | Q |
| 2 | Vaughn Blanchard | United States | 16.0 | Q |
| 3 | Alfredo Pagani | Italy | Unknown | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Edwin Pritchard | United States | 16.4 | Q |
| 2 | Henry Blakeney | Great Britain | 17.4 | Q |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Nicholson | United States | 15.5 | Q |
| 2 | Daciano Colbacchini | Italy | 16.1 | Q |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fred Kelly | United States | 16.4 | Q |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Case | United States | 16.3 | Q |
| 2 | Hermann von Bönninghausen | Germany | 17.0 | Q |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kenneth Powell | Great Britain | 15.6 | Q |
| 2 | James Wendell | United States | 15.7 | Q |
| 3 | Frank Lukeman | Canada | Unknown | |

### Semifinals

All semifinals were held on Thursday, July 11, 1912.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kenneth Powell | Great Britain | 15.6 | Q |
| 2 | John Eller | United States | 15.7 | |
| 3 | Ferdinand Bie | Norway | 15.8 | |
| 4 | Pablo Eitel | Chile | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Martin Hawkins | United States | 15.7 | Q |
| 2 | Daciano Colbacchini | Italy | 16.0 | |
| 3 | Marius Delaby | France | 16.2 | |
| — | Károly Solymár | Hungary | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Nicholson | United States | 15.4 | Q |
| 2 | Vaughn Blanchard | United States | 15.7 | |
| 3 | Hermann von Bönninghausen | Germany | 16.0 | |

#### Semifinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | James Wendell | United States | 15.5 | Q |
| 2 | George Chisholm | United States | 15.7 | |
| — | Gerard Anderson | Great Britain | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fred Kelly | United States | 15.6 | Q |
| 2 | Valdemar Wickholm | Finland | 16.6 | |
| 3 | Henry Blakeney | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Case | United States | 15.6 | Q |
| 2 | Edwin Pritchard | United States | 15.6 | |
| 3 | Géo André | France | Unknown | |

### Final

The final was held on Friday, July 12, 1912. Nicholson fell at the eighth hurdle, leaving Kelly to hold on and win by a narrow margin over Wendell.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| 1 | Fred Kelly | United States | 15.1 |
| 2 | James Wendell | United States | 15.2 |
| 3 | Martin Hawkins | United States | 15.3 |
| 4 | John Case | United States | 15.3 |
| 5 | Kenneth Powell | Great Britain | 15.5 |
| — | John Nicholson | United States | DNF |