# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held from 3–7 September. Thirty-nine athletes from 27 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Rod Milburn of the United States, the nation's ninth of nine consecutive victories and the 15th overall gold medal in the event for the Americans. Guy Drut's silver was France's first medal in the event and the best result by a non-American since 1936.

## Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Two finalists from 1968 returned: gold medalist Willie Davenport of the United States and sixth-place finisher Bo Forssander of Sweden. Davenport's countryman Rod Milburn was the "heavy favorite" entering the season, however. He had won 27 consecutive finals and set the world record in the 120 yards version of the race going into the U.S. Olympic trials, where he hit two early hurdles and nearly missed the team, coming in third to Tom Hill and Davenport.
The Bahamas and Senegal each made their first appearance in the event; East Germany made its first appearance as a separate nation. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

## Competition format

The competition continued to use the three-round format used since 1908 (except 1960, which had four rounds) and eight-man semifinals and finals, as well as the "fastest loser" system, used since 1964. The first round consisted of five heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top three hurdlers in each heat, along with the next fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Martin Lauer (FRG) | 13.2 | Zürich, Switzerland | 7 July 1959 |
| Olympic record | Ervin Hall (USA) | 13.3 | Mexico City, Mexico | 17 October 1968 |
In the final, Rod Milburn ran the hurdles in 13.24 seconds. This was recognized as equivalent to the standing hand-timed world record of 13.2 seconds, and was a new Olympic record. When the IAAF moved to keeping records based on auto-timed results in 1977, Milburn's performance was the best to that date and was recognized as the world record.

## Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
All three rounds were on separate days for the first time.
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 3 September 1972 | 10:00 | Round 1 |
| Monday, 4 September 1972 | 15:00 | Semifinals |
| Thursday, 7 September 1972 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

The top three runners in each of the five heats, and the next fastest, advanced to the semifinal round.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Frank Siebeck | East Germany | 13.83 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Willie Davenport | United States | 13.97 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Leszek Wodzyński | Poland | 14.03 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Eckart Berkes | West Germany | 14.14 | |
| 5 | 8 | Adeola Aboyade-Cole | Nigeria | 14.16 | |
| 6 | 1 | Arnaldo Bristol | Puerto Rico | 14.61 | |
| 7 | 6 | Ahmed Ishtiaq Mubarak | Malaysia | 14.78 | |
| 8 | 2 | Muhammad Ahmed Bashir | Pakistan | 15.38 | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.2 m/s | Wind: +0.2 m/s |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Tom Hill | United States | 13.62 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Berwyn Price | Great Britain | 13.94 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Günther Nickel | West Germany | 13.95 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Mirosław Wodzyński | Poland | 14.02 | q |
| 5 | 7 | Viktor Myasnikov | Soviet Union | 14.13 | |
| 6 | 8 | Bo Forssander | Sweden | 14.56 | |
| 7 | 3 | Alberto Matos | Portugal | 14.74 | |
| 8 | 6 | Lee Chung-Ping | Republic of China | 14.98 | |
| | | | | Wind: -1.6 m/s | Wind: -1.6 m/s |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Rod Milburn | United States | 13.57 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Lubomír Nádeníček | Czechoslovakia | 13.93 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | Rich McDonald | Canada | 14.36 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Danny Smith | Bahamas | 14.46 | |
| 5 | 1 | Jesper Tørring | Denmark | 14.50 | |
| 6 | 5 | Mal Baird | Australia | 14.55 | |
| 7 | 2 | Simbara Maki | Ivory Coast | 14.59 | |
| — | 6 | Giuseppe Buttari | Italy | DSQ | |
| | | | | Wind: -0.7 m/s | Wind: -0.7 m/s |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Marco Acerbi | Italy | 13.99 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Marek Jóźwik | Poland | 14.06 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Alan Pascoe | Great Britain | 14.08 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Abdoulaye Sarr | Senegal | 14.12 | |
| 5 | 4 | Manfred Schumann | West Germany | 14.13 | |
| 6 | 8 | Beat Pfister | Switzerland | 14.33 | |
| 7 | 7 | Moreldin Mohamed Hamdi | Sudan | 15.80 | |
| — | 2 | Alejandro Casañas | Cuba | DNF | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.4 m/s | Wind: +0.4 m/s |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Guy Drut | France | 13.78 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Sergio Liani | Italy | 13.95 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Petr Čech | Czechoslovakia | 14.04 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Godfrey Murray | Jamaica | 14.16 | |
| 5 | 6 | Loránd Milassin | Hungary | 14.21 | |
| 6 | 1 | David Wilson | Great Britain | 14.31 | |
| 7 | 3 | Tony Nelson | Canada | 14.73 | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.7 m/s | Wind: +0.7 m/s |

### Semifinals

The top four in each of the two heats advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Tom Hill | United States | 13.47 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Guy Drut | France | 13.49 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Leszek Wodzyński | Poland | 13.81 | Q |
| 4 | 8 | Petr Čech | Czechoslovakia | 13.82 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Sergio Liani | Italy | 13.90 | |
| 6 | 3 | Rich McDonald | Canada | 14.22 | |
| 7 | 2 | Berwyn Price | Great Britain | 14.37 | |
| 8 | 1 | Mirosław Wodzyński | Poland | 14.63 | |
| | | | | Wind: +1.2 m/s | Wind: +1.2 m/s |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Rod Milburn | United States | 13.44 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Frank Siebeck | East Germany | 13.58 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Willie Davenport | United States | 13.73 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Lubomír Nádeníček | Czechoslovakia | 13.89 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Marek Jóźwik | Poland | 14.06 | |
| 6 | 3 | Günther Nickel | West Germany | 14.23 | |
| 7 | 2 | Alan Pascoe | Great Britain | 14.24 | |
| 8 | 4 | Marco Acerbi | Italy | 14.45 | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.0 m/s | Wind: +0.0 m/s |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Rod Milburn | United States | 13.24 | WR, OR |
| | 8 | Guy Drut | France | 13.34 | |
| | 7 | Tom Hill | United States | 13.48 | |
| 4 | 1 | Willie Davenport | United States | 13.50 | |
| 5 | 6 | Frank Siebeck | East Germany | 13.71 | |
| 6 | 3 | Leszek Wodzyński | Poland | 13.72 | |
| 7 | 2 | Lubomír Nádeníček | Czechoslovakia | 13.76 | |
| 8 | 4 | Petr Čech | Czechoslovakia | 13.86 | |
| | | | | Wind: +0.3 m/s | Wind: +0.3 m/s |