How far apart are the hurdles, and does that change with age?
The spacing between hurdles is fixed by rule for each race, not chosen by feel, and age group is what actually moves the numbers.
Ask a hurdler how far apart the barriers are and most will answer in steps, not metres. The spacing is not a feel, it is fixed by the rules for each race, and it is worth knowing the actual numbers before adjusting someone's stride pattern to fit them.
The adult standard
Men's 110m hurdles: 10 hurdles, 1.067m high, 13.72m to the first hurdle, 9.14m between each one, 14.02m from the last hurdle to the finish.
Women's 100m hurdles: 10 hurdles, 0.838m high, 13m to the first hurdle, 8.5m between each one, 10.5m to the finish.
400m hurdles use a longer, flatter spacing for both sexes: 45m to the first hurdle, 35m between each one, 40m to the finish. Only the height changes: 0.914m for men, 0.762m for women.
What actually changes with age
Age group and governing league move those numbers, not a sliding scale a coach can estimate. Youth and scholastic hurdles are commonly lower, and often spaced closer together, than the adult race, and the exact figures differ by country, federation and age bracket. The number that matters is the one printed in your meet's own rulebook, not the one from a race one level up or down.
- A lower hurdle height almost always comes with a shorter spacing too, since the rule assumes a shorter stride to match.
- The move from one age group's hurdles to the next is usually the real reason a stride pattern that worked perfectly last season suddenly needs rebuilding.
- Checking the rulebook height and spacing before a season starts beats building a whole approach around a number carried over from last year.
Where the Film Room fits
The hurdles setting reads trunk dip over the barrier, lead-leg extension, how far the hips rise at the hurdle and overstride between barriers. Those are angles and proportions read off the body, so they hold up whatever the actual spacing is in front of the camera. What the camera cannot do is confirm the hurdles were legally spaced in the first place.
A single 2D camera reports what the body does between two barriers. It has no way to measure the barriers themselves, so a stride pattern that looks wrong on film is worth checking against a tape measure before it gets coached as a fault.
Time your next meet with the phones you already have
Timing, the Film Room and the speed gates are free forever, with no account. A Club plan, $71 a month, puts your meets on your own results page, and one plan covers every phone.
Related
What's actually different between the 100m hurdles and the 110m hurdles?
The height is the change everyone names, but the spacing moves by more, proportionally, and a stride pattern built for one race does not transfer to the other.
Read →How do you know when a hurdler is ready to go from eight steps to seven between hurdles?
The step count between hurdles is decided by speed and stride length, not by age or grade, and film is a better test of readiness than a coach's gut feel on race day.
Read →Why does your hurdler take a different number of strides between each hurdle?
The step count between hurdles is a symptom, not the problem, and Film Room's overstride number usually moves before the pattern actually breaks.
Read →Try it: Hurdle technique analysis from video: trunk dip, lead leg, hip rise