AthleticsAthletics world record
110 m hurdles, men
12.75 s
- Holder
- Ja'Kobe Tharp
- Date
- Place
- Eugene
- Standing since
- 2026
✓ Value cross-checked in a second source
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How the record evolved
The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).
| Year | Record | Holder |
|---|---|---|
| 12.75 s | Ja'Kobe Tharp | |
| 12.80 s | Aries Merritt | |
| 12.87 s | Dayron Robles | |
| 12.91 s | Colin Jackson | |
| 12.92 s | Roger Kingdom | |
| 13.00 s | Renaldo Nehemiah | |
| 13.1 s | Guy Drut | |
| 13.2 s | Martin Lauer | |
| 13.7 s | Forrest Towns | |
| 14.4 s | Eric Wennström | |
| 15.0 s | Forrest Smithson |
Put them in order
Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.
- 12.75 sJa'Kobe Tharp
- 15.0 sForrest Smithson
- 13.2 sMartin Lauer
- 12.91 sColin Jackson
What to remember
Ten hurdles 106.7 centimetres high, 9.14 m apart, the first one placed 13.72 metres from the start: the 110 m hurdles is run on a straight. The hurdles tip over when bumped, and a knocked-over hurdle carries no fixed time penalty, but its weight slows the runner down. On June 10, 2026, at the NCAA championships in Eugene, American Ja'Kobe Tharp ran the event in 12.75 s, with a 1.0 m/s tailwind.
The discipline was born in the mid-nineteenth century at British universities, as a 140-yard race, and has been on the Olympic programme since 1896. In 1908 the record stood at 15.0 s, by Forrest Smithson. Guy Drut ran 13.1 s in 1975, Renaldo Nehemiah 13.00 s in 1979, Colin Jackson 12.91 s in 1993 and Aries Merritt 12.80 s in 2012. Over 118 years the time came down by 15%.
Before this record, Tharp had won the world U20 title in 2024, then the American and NCAA titles in 2025, a year in which he also reached the World Championships final. Indoors, he ran the 60 m hurdles in 7.32 s at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships.
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Sources and licences
- Value, holder and date: Wikipedia article “List of world records in athletics” (revision used 1378411308). Data from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo: filip bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium, Photo licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons). Remove this photo.
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