Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Four finalists from 1984 returned: gold medalist Roger Kingdom of the United States, fourth-place finisher Mark McKoy of Canada, sixth-place finisher Stéphane Caristan of France, and seventh-place finisher Carlos Sala of Spain. Kingdom was a favorite to repeat, having recovered from two hamstring injuries that had plagued him between Games. His biggest competitor was countryman Greg Foster, who had won the 1987 World Championship, but Foster was forced to withdraw after he broke his arm in a race fall before the U.S. Olympic trials. The next two placers at worlds were the Brits Colin Jackson and Jon Ridgeon, who were expected to challenge Kingdom.{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/63375 |work=Olympedia |title=110 metres Hurdles, Men |access-date=20 August 2020}}

Benin, Fiji, Guyana, South Korea, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation (having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games).

The competition expanded to a four-round format (previously used once in 1960), still using the eight-man semifinals and finals used since 1964. The "fastest loser" system, also introduced in 1964, was used in the first round.

The first round consisted of six heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top five hurdlers in each heat, along with the two next fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 32 quarterfinalists were divided into four heats of 8 hurdlers each, with the top four in each heat advancing. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; again, the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 232–33.

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

{{World Olympic Record

| world_athlete = {{flagathlete|Renaldo Nehemiah|USA}}

| world_mark = 12.93

| world_place = Zürich, Switzerland

| world_date = 19 August 1981

| olympic_athlete = {{flagathlete|Roger Kingdom|USA|1984 Summer}}

| olympic_mark = 13.20

| olympic_place = Los Angeles, United States

| olympic_date = 6 August 1984

}}

Kingdom broke his own Olympic record in the quarterfinals, with 13.17 seconds, then again in the final with 12.98 seconds.

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

The quarterfinals were held on Sunday 1988-09-25.

The semifinals were held on Monday 1988-09-26.

• 1987 Men's World Championships 110m Hurdles (Rome)
• 1990 Men's European Championships 110m Hurdles (Split)
• 1991 Men's World Championships 110m Hurdles (Tokyo)
• 1992 Men's Olympic 110m Hurdles (Barcelona)

{{reflist}}

• {{in lang|en}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155747/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1988/1988v2.pdf Official Report]

{{OlympicsSprintHurdles}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 110 m hurdles Men}}

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Category:Sprint hurdles at the Olympics

Category:Men's events at the 1988 Summer Olympics