hurdling, sport in athletics (track and field) in which a runner races over a series of obstacles called hurdles, which are set a fixed distance apart. Runners must remain in assigned lanes throughout a race, and, although they may knock hurdles down while running over them, a runner who trails a foot or leg alongside a hurdle or knocks it down with a hand is disqualified. The first hurdler to complete the course is the winner.
Hurdling probably originated in England in the early 19th century, where such races were held at Eton College about 1837. In those days hurdlers merely ran at and jumped over each hurdle in turn, landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Experimentation with numbers of steps between hurdles led to a conventional step pattern for hurdlers—3 steps between each high hurdle, 7 between each low hurdle, and usually 15 between each intermediate hurdle. Further refinements were made by A.C.M. Croome of Oxford University about 1885, when he went over the hurdle with one leg extended straight ahead at the same time giving a forward lunge of the trunk, the basis of modern hurdling technique.
A major improvement in hurdle design was the invention in 1935 of the L-shaped hurdle, replacing the heavier, inverted-T design. In the L-shaped design and its refinement, the curved-L, or rocker hurdle, the base-leg of the L points toward the approaching hurdler. When upset, the hurdle tips down, out of the athlete’s path, instead of tipping up and over as did the inverted-T design.
Modern hurdlers use a sprinting style between hurdles and a double-arm forward thrust and exaggerated forward lean while clearing the hurdle. They then bring the trailing leg through at nearly a right angle to the body, which enables them to continue forward without breaking stride after clearing the hurdle.
Under rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body of track-and-field athletics, the standard hurdling distances for men are 110, 200, and 400 metres (120, 220, and 440 yards, respectively). Men’s Olympic distances are 110 metres and 400 metres; the 200-metre race was held only at the 1900 and 1904 Games. The 110-metre race includes 10 high hurdles (1.067 metres [42 inches] high), spaced 9.14 metres (10 yards) apart. The 400-metre race is over 10 intermediate hurdles (91.4 cm [36 inches] high) spaced 35 metres (38.3 yards) apart. The 200-metre race, run occasionally, has 10 low hurdles (76.2 cm [30 inches] high) spaced 18.29 metres (20 yards) apart. Distances and specifications vary somewhat for indoor and scholastic events.
The women’s international distance formerly was 80 metres over 8 hurdles 76.2 cm high. In 1966 the IAAF approved two new hurdle races for women: 100 metres over 10 hurdles 84 cm (33.1 inches) high, to replace the 80-metre event in the 1972 Olympics; and 200 metres (supplanted in 1976 by 400 metres) over 10 hurdles 76.2 cm high.