| | Event type
110 metres Hurdles, Men
| Date | 5 – 6 August 1936 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Olympiastadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin |
| Participants | 31 from 20 countries |
The favorites were Forrest “Spec” Towns and Frederick )Fritz) Pollard, both of the USA. Towns had run 14.1 four times earlier in 1936, winning the NCAAs with that time. In the final, Pollard had the fastest start but was caught by Towns at the third hurdle who won quite easily. The 1932 bronze medalist, Don Finlay, closed fast to nip Pollard for the silver medal. A few weeks later, as a meet in the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Towns shattered the world record with 13.7.
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | R1 | SF | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 762 | Forrest Towns |  USA | 14.5 (1 h5) | 14.1 (1 h1) | 14.2 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | 270 | Don Finlay |  GBR | 14.7 (1 h3) | 14.5 (1 h2) | 14.4 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | 760 | Fritz Pollard | USA | 14.7 (1 h2) | 14.6 (2 h2) | 14.4 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 586 | Håkan Lidman |  SWE | 14.9 (1 h6) | 14.5 (2 h1) | 14.4 (4) | |||
| 5 | 272 | John Thornton | GBR | 15.0 (2 h2) | 14.7 (3 h1) | 14.7 (5) | |||
| 6 | 82 | Larry O'Connor |  CAN | 15.1 (2 h1) | 15.0 (3 h2) | 14.8 (6) | |||
| 4 h1 r2/3 | 761 | Roy Staley | USA | 15.0 (1 h4) | 14.8 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h2 r2/3 | 424 | Vane Ivanović |  YUG | 15.1 (2 h6) | 15.2 (4 h2) | – | |||
| 5 h1 r2/3 | 385 | Tadashi Murakami |  JPN | 15.3 (2 h3) | 15.1 (5 h1) | – | |||
| 5 h2 r2/3 | 844 | Erwin Wegner |  GER | 15.1 (2 h5) | 15.3 (5 h2) | – | |||
| 6 h1 r2/3 | 34 | Juan Lavenás |  ARG | 15.1 (2 h4) | 15.6 (6 h1) | – | |||
| 6 h2 r2/3 | 657 | Tom Lavery |  RSA | 15.0 (1 h1) | 15.6 (6 h2) | – | |||
| 3 h1 r1/3 | 8 | Christos Mantikas |  GRE | 15.2 (3 h1) | – | – | |||
| 3 h2 r1/3 | 500 | Johann Langmayr |  AUT | 15.1 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 3 h3 r1/3 | 83 | Jim Worrall | CAN | 15.6 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 3 h4 r1/3 | 271 | Ashleigh Pilbrow | GBR | 15.5 (3 h4) | – | – | |||
| 3 h5 r1/3 | 501 | Ernst Leitner | AUT | 15.3 (3 h5) | – | – | |||
| 3 h6 r1/3 | 327 | Gianni Caldana |  ITA | 15.1 (3 h6) | – | – | |||
| 4 h1 r1/3 | 139 | Svend Aage Thomsen |  DEN | 15.3 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 4 h2 r1/3 | 845 | Willi Welscher | GER | 15.2 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 4 h3 r1/3 | – | Darcy Guimarães |  BRA | – (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 4 h4 r1/3 | 9 | Ioannis Skiadas | GRE | – (4 h4) | – | – | |||
| 4 h5 r1/3 | 622 | René Kunz |  SUI | – (4 h5) | – | – | |||
| 4 h6 r1/3 | 36 | Alf Watson |  AUS | 15.1 (4 h6) | – | – | |||
| 5 h1 r1/3 | 50 | Juul Bosmans |  BEL | – (5 h1) | – | – | |||
| 5 h2 r1/3 | 110 | Huang Yingjie |  CHN | – (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 5 h3 r1/3 | 672 | Ludvík Kománek |  TCH | – (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 5 h4 r1/3 | 109 | Lin Shaozhou | CHN | – (5 h4) | – | – | |||
| 5 h5 r1/3 | 386 | Kotaro Shimizu | JPN | – (5 h5) | – | – | |||
| 5 h6 r1/3 | 537 | Miguel White |  PHI | – (5 h6) | – | – | |||
| 6 h1 r1/3 | 384 | Yasuharu Furuta | JPN | – (6 h1) | – | – | |||
| 643 | Ignacio Sánchez |  ESP | – | – | – | ||||
| 216 | Pierre Bernard |  FRA | – | – | – | ||||
| 536 | Niño Ramírez | PHI | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| 656 | James Gemmill | RSA | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| 423 | Ivo Buratović | YUG | – | – | – |
Round One (5 August 1936 — 16:30)
Top two in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 657 | Tom Lavery | RSA | 15.0 | |||
| 2 | 82 | Larry O'Connor | CAN | 15.1 | |||
| 3 | 8 | Christos Mantikas | GRE | 15.2 | |||
| 4 | 139 | Svend Aage Thomsen | DEN | 15.3 | |||
| 5 | 50 | Juul Bosmans | BEL | – | |||
| 6 | 384 | Yasuharu Furuta | JPN | – |
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 760 | Fritz Pollard | USA | 14.7 | |||
| 2 | 272 | John Thornton | GBR | 15.0 | |||
| 3 | 500 | Johann Langmayr | AUT | 15.1 | |||
| 4 | 845 | Willi Welscher | GER | 15.2 | |||
| 5 | 110 | Huang Yingjie | CHN | – |
Heat Three
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 270 | Don Finlay | GBR | 14.7 | |||
| 2 | 385 | Tadashi Murakami | JPN | 15.3 | |||
| 3 | 83 | Jim Worrall | CAN | 15.6 | |||
| 4 | – | Darcy Guimarães | BRA | – | |||
| 5 | 672 | Ludvík Kománek | TCH | – | |||
| 536 | Niño Ramírez | PHI | – | ||||
| 656 | James Gemmill | RSA | – |
Heat Four
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 761 | Roy Staley | USA | 15.0 | |||
| 2 | 34 | Juan Lavenás | ARG | 15.1 | |||
| 3 | 271 | Ashleigh Pilbrow | GBR | 15.5 | |||
| 4 | 9 | Ioannis Skiadas | GRE | – | |||
| 5 | 109 | Lin Shaozhou | CHN | – |
Heat Five
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 762 | Forrest Towns | USA | 14.5 | |||
| 2 | 844 | Erwin Wegner | GER | 15.1 | |||
| 3 | 501 | Ernst Leitner | AUT | 15.3 | |||
| 4 | 622 | René Kunz | SUI | – | |||
| 5 | 386 | Kotaro Shimizu | JPN | – |
Heat Six
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 586 | Håkan Lidman | SWE | 14.9 | |||
| 2 | 424 | Vane Ivanović | YUG | 15.1 | |||
| 3 | 327 | Gianni Caldana | ITA | 15.1 | |||
| 4 | 36 | Alf Watson | AUS | 15.1 | |||
| 5 | 537 | Miguel White | PHI | – |
Semi-Finals (6 August 1936 — 15:00)
Top three in each heat advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 762 | Forrest Towns | USA | 14.1 | |||
| 2 | 586 | Håkan Lidman | SWE | 14.5 | |||
| 3 | 272 | John Thornton | GBR | 14.7 | |||
| 4 | 761 | Roy Staley | USA | 14.8 | |||
| 5 | 385 | Tadashi Murakami | JPN | 15.1 | |||
| 6 | 34 | Juan Lavenás | ARG | 15.6 |
Heat Two
| Pos | Nr | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 270 | Don Finlay | GBR | 14.5 | |||
| 2 | 760 | Fritz Pollard | USA | 14.6 | |||
| 3 | 82 | Larry O'Connor | CAN | 15.0 | |||
| 4 | 424 | Vane Ivanović | YUG | 15.2 | |||
| 5 | 844 | Erwin Wegner | GER | 15.3 | |||
| 6 | 657 | Tom Lavery | RSA | 15.6 |
Final (6 August 1936 — 17:45)
| Wind | <2.0 m/s |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Athlete | NOC | Time (H) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Forrest Towns | USA | 14.2 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Don Finlay | GBR | 14.4 | |||
| 3 | 6 | Fritz Pollard | USA | 14.4 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Håkan Lidman | SWE | 14.4 | |||
| 5 | 4 | John Thornton | GBR | 14.7 | |||
| 6 | 5 | Larry O'Connor | CAN | 14.8 |