# Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres hurdles

The women's 100 metres hurdles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–7 August.
The semi-finals showed all the top athletes were at their best, with the first 5 finalists achieving their personal best, except Sally Pearson who improved the 2012 world leading time, and Nevin Yanıt's new national record for Turkey.
In the final under London rains, Pearson led from the start but after ticking a hurdle, defending champion Dawn Harper closed fast to make it close. Kellie Wells was solidly in third while Lolo Jones edged Yanit for fourth place. It was an Olympic record for Pearson, a new personal best for Harper and Wells, equal national record for Yanit in 5th, equal personal best for 6th place Phylicia George and a season best for Jones after a difficult journey from the next to last hurdle four years earlier.

## Competition format

The women's 100m Hurdles competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Semifinals and a Final. The fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the Semifinals along with the fastest overall competitors not already qualified that were required to fill the available spaces in the Semifinals. A total of eight competitors qualified for the Final from the Semifinals.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Yordanka Donkova (BUL) | 12.21 | Stara Zagora, Bulgaria | 20 August 1988 |
| Olympic record | Joanna Hayes (USA) | 12.37 | Athens, Greece | 24 August 2004 |
| 2012 World leading | Sally Pearson (AUS) | 12.40 | Paris, France | 6 July 2012 |
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
| Date | Event | Athlete | Time | Notes |
| 7 August | Final | Sally Pearson (AUS) | 12.35 | OR |

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 6 August 2012 | 10:05 | Round 1 |
| Tuesday, 7 August 2012 | 19:15 21:15 | Semifinals Finals |

## Results
### Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alina Talay | Belarus | 12.71 | Q, PB |
| 2 | Jessica Zelinka | Canada | 12.75 | Q |
| 3 | Tiffany Porter | Great Britain | 12.79 | Q |
| 4 | Anne Zagré | Belgium | 13.04 | q |
| 5 | Marina Tomić | Slovenia | 13.10 | |
| 6 | Rosvitha Okou | Ivory Coast | 13.62 | SB |
| 7 | Ayako Kimura | Japan | 13.75 | |
| — | Rahamatou Drame | Mali | — | DQ |
* Rahamatou Drame was disqualified for false starting.

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Beate Schrott | Austria | 13.09 | Q |
| 2 | Eline Berings | Belgium | 13.46 | Q |
| 3 | Ivanique Kemp | Bahamas | 13.51 | Q |
| 4 | Seun Adigun | Nigeria | 13.56 | |
| 5 | Anastassiya Pilipenko | Kazakhstan | 13.77 | |
| 6 | Lecabela Quaresma | São Tomé and Príncipe | 14.56 | SB |
| — | Jessica Ennis | Great Britain | — | DNS |
| — | Latoya Greaves | Jamaica | — | DNS |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kellie Wells | United States | 12.69 | Q |
| 2 | Tatyana Dektyareva | Russia | 12.87 | Q |
| 3 | Lucie Škrobáková | Czech Republic | 13.01 | Q, SB |
| 4 | Cindy Roleder | Germany | 13.06 | q |
| 5 | Shermaine Williams | Jamaica | 13.07 | q |
| 6 | Lina Florez | Colombia | 13.17 | |
| 7 | Natalya Ivoninskaya | Kazakhstan | 13.48 | |
| 8 | Marthe Koala | Burkina Faso | 13.91 | PB |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| DSQ | Nevin Yanıt | Turkey | 12.70 | Q, Doping |
| 1 | Dawn Harper | United States | 12.75 | Q |
| DSQ | Yekaterina Galitskaya | Russia | 12.89 | Q, Doping |
| 3 | Derval O'Rourke | Ireland | 12.91 | q, SB |
| 4 | Nikkita Holder | Canada | 12.93 | q |
| 5 | Brigitte Merlano | Colombia | 13.21 | SB |
| 6 | Jung Hye-Lim | South Korea | 13.48 | |
| 7 | Jeimy Bernárdez | Honduras | 14.36 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sally Pearson | Australia | 12.57 | Q |
| 2 | Reïna-Flor Okori | France | 13.01 | Q |
| 3 | Carolin Nytra | Germany | 13.30 | Q |
| 4 | Anastasiya Soprunova | Kazakhstan | 13.40 | |
| 5 | Sonata Tamošaitytė | Lithuania | 13.59 | |
| 6 | LaVonne Idlette | Dominican Republic | 13.60 | |
| 7 | Dipna Lim Prasad | Singapore | 14.68 | SB |
| 8 | Silvia Panguana | Mozambique | 14.68 | PB |
| — | Ekaterina Poplavskaya | Belarus | — | DQ |
* Ekaterina Poplavskaya ran off the track after failing to clear her fourth hurdle, and was therefore disqualified.

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lolo Jones | United States | 12.68 | Q, SB |
| 2 | Phylicia George | Canada | 12.83 | Q |
| 3 | Marzia Caravelli | Italy | 13.01 | Q |
| DSQ | Yuliya Kondakova | Russia | 13.10 | q, doping |
| 5 | Sun Yawei | China | 13.26 | |
| 6 | Noemi Zbären | Switzerland | 13.33 | |
| 7 | Brigitte Foster-Hylton | Jamaica | 13.98 | |
| 8 | Odile Ahouanwanou | Benin | 14.76 | NR |
| 9 | Bibiana Olama | Equatorial Guinea | 16.18 | SB |

### Semi-finals

Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dawn Harper | United States | 12.46 | Q, PB |
| 2 | Beate Schrott | Austria | 12.83 | Q |
| 3 | Shermaine Williams | Jamaica | 12.83 | |
| 4 | Alina Talay | Belarus | 12.84 | |
| DSQ | Yekaterina Galitskaya | Russia | 12.90 | |
| 6 | Nikkita Holder | Canada | 12.93 | |
| 7 | Carolin Nytra | Germany | 13.31 | |
| — | Reïna-Flor Okori | France | DQ | |
* Reïna-Flor Okori was disqualified for false starting.

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sally Pearson | Australia | 12.39 | Q, SB |
| 2 | Jessica Zelinka | Canada | 12.66 | Q |
| 3 | Lolo Jones | United States | 12.71 | q |
| 4 | Tiffany Porter | Great Britain | 12.79 | |
| 5 | Derval O'Rourke | Ireland | 12.91 | =SB |
| DSQ | Yuliya Kondakova | Russia | 13.13 | DSQ (doping) |
| 7 | Eline Berings | Belgium | 13.26 | |
| 8 | Ivanique Kemp | Bahamas | 13.56 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kellie Wells | United States | 12.51 | Q, SB |
| DSQ | Nevin Yanıt | Turkey | 12.58 | Q, NR, Doping |
| 2 | Phylicia George | Canada | 12.65 | q, PB |
| 3 | Tatyana Dektyareva | Russia | 12.75 | SB |
| 4 | Lucie Škrobáková | Czech Republic | 12.81 | SB |
| 5 | Anne Zagré | Belgium | 12.94 | |
| 6 | Cindy Roleder | Germany | 13.02 | |
| — | Marzia Caravelli | Italy | DQ | |
* Marzia Caravelli stopped running after failing to clear the fourth hurdle and was disqualified.

### Final

Wind: −0.2 m/s
| Rank | Lanes | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 7 | Sally Pearson | Australia | 12.35 | OR |
| | 4 | Dawn Harper | United States | 12.37 | PB |
| | 5 | Kellie Wells | United States | 12.48 | PB |
| 4 | 2 | Lolo Jones | United States | 12.58 | SB |
| DSQ | 6 | Nevin Yanıt | Turkey | 12.58 | =NR, Doping |
| 5 | 3 | Phylicia George | Canada | 12.65 | =PB |
| 6 | 8 | Jessica Zelinka | Canada | 12.69 | |
| 7 | 9 | Beate Schrott | Austria | 13.07 | |