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.
Talked about casually, the women's 100m hurdles and the men's 110m hurdles sound like the same race with a different label on the height. The numbers say otherwise, and the gap between them is bigger than most coaches who have only ever run one of the two races assume.
The actual numbers
- 100m hurdles: a height of 0.838 metres (33 inches), 13.00 metres to the first hurdle, 8.50 metres between each hurdle after that, and 10.50 metres from the last hurdle to the finish.
- 110m hurdles: a height of 1.067 metres (42 inches), 13.72 metres to the first hurdle, 9.14 metres between each hurdle, and 14.02 metres from the last hurdle to the finish.
Why the spacing matters more than it sounds
The height changes by about nine inches. The hurdle-to-hurdle spacing changes by less than a metre in absolute terms, but a stride pattern that counts cleanly to eight or nine steps at one spacing does not automatically count the same way at the other, because the margin for error on the touchdown point shifts with it. An athlete moved from one race to the other, whether that is an age-group hurdler moving up, or a program that runs mixed heights at the same meet, needs their stride pattern rebuilt from the first hurdle, not just a faster version of what already worked.
Where this trips coaches up
Because the two races get talked about as one event with a gender label attached, it is easy to assume the only real difference is the bar going up or down. The run-in after the last hurdle actually changes by more than three metres between the two races, which changes how an athlete should be taught to finish, not just how they clear the last barrier.
What the Film Room measures either way
The hurdles setting reports trunk dip over the barrier, lead-leg extension, hip rise at the hurdle, and overstride between barriers, and those four numbers come out the same regardless of which race the clip is from. What the app does not know on its own is which spacing the clip was filmed at, so a hurdle set up at the wrong distance for the athlete's race will produce numbers that read like a technique fault when the actual problem is the tape measure.
A single 2D camera reads the stride pattern it is shown. It has no idea whether that pattern was filmed at 8.50 metre spacing or 9.14 metre spacing unless a coach tells it, which is a reason to write the event and the spacing on the clip, not just the athlete's name.
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Related
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 →Why does my hurdler's stride pattern fall apart on a windy day?
The steps between hurdles are built for still air, and wind changes the one variable a hurdler cannot adjust for mid-race: how far each stride actually carries.
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 →Try it: Hurdle technique analysis from video: trunk dip, lead leg, hip rise