50 free Hurdles trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Hurdling is sprinting with ten obstacles in the way, and this quiz covers the whole event: how high the barriers are and how far apart, why they are weighted, the three-step rhythm of the sprint hurdles and the 13-stride pattern of the 400 m, the Olympic history back to 1896, and the champions who defined it, from Harrison Dillard and Fanny Blankers-Koen to Edwin Moses, Colin Jackson, Sally Gunnell, Liu Xiang, Karsten Warholm and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Easy questions ask how many hurdles are in a race and who holds the women's 400 m record; harder ones dig into the L-shaped hurdle of 1935, the 80 m event women ran until 1968, the 200 m low hurdles of 1900, the man who ran under 13 seconds first and then played for the 49ers, and the physics major who won 122 races in a row. It suits athletics fans, coaches, school sports days and any Olympic-year quiz. For the wider sport, BrainPickle's track and field quiz picks up where this one leaves off. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on hurdling, the three Olympic hurdle events and the athletes named, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many hurdles are there in a standard 110 m, 100 m or 400 m hurdles race?
Ten
Indoor 60 m races use five, and the youth 300 m hurdles uses eight.
Q 02What is the standard sprint hurdles distance for men?
110 metres
Women run 100 metres; the men's distance dates from the 120-yard race standardised at Oxford and Cambridge in 1864.
Q 03What happens to a hurdler who accidentally knocks over a hurdle?
Nothing, though the weighted barrier slows them
Deliberately knocking one over or passing underneath still means disqualification.
Q 04Until 1935, how many hurdles could a runner knock down before being disqualified?
Three
Records were only recognised if every hurdle was left standing, which is why the L-shaped hurdle changed the sport.
Q 05What design innovation of 1935 made hurdles safer?
An L-shaped hurdle that tips forward when hit
The old T-shaped hurdles of 1895 replaced massive fixed barriers; some 1923 wooden hurdles weighed 16 pounds each.
Q 06How high are the hurdles in the men's 110 m?
42 inches
Women's sprint hurdles stand at 33 inches, the men's 400 m at 36 and the women's 400 m at 30.
Q 07How high are the hurdles in the women's 100 m, the so-called "women's high" setting?
33 inches
Standard hurdles have five height settings, from 42 inches down to the 30-inch "low hurdle".
Q 08In the men's sprint hurdles, how far apart are the hurdles?
9.14 m
The first hurdle is 13.72 m from the line, and the run-in from the last hurdle is 14.02 m.
Q 09In the 400 m hurdles, how far apart are the barriers?
35 metres
The first hurdle stands 45 metres from the start for both men and women.
Q 10How many strides do sprint hurdlers take between each hurdle?
Three
The rhythm is the same indoors and out, so hurdlers never change stride pattern between seasons.
Q 11Which 1900 Olympic champion pioneered the three-step technique between hurdles?
Alvin Kraenzlein
He took the first hurdle on the run with his upper body lowered instead of jumping it.
Q 12Which Cuban set a 12.87 world record in 2008 using a seven-step approach to the first hurdle?
Dayron Robles
Top hurdlers had traditionally taken eight strides to the first barrier; by 2012 seven of the ten fastest men used seven.
Q 13The 110 m hurdles has been on the Olympic programme since which Games?
1896 Athens
In the early 20th century it was often run as the 120-yard hurdles.
Q 21Who won the 2024 Paris Olympic 110 m hurdles and set a 7.27 indoor 60 m hurdles record?
Grant Holloway
As of late 2025 he had not lost an indoor sprint hurdles race since March 2014, when he was 16.
Q 22Who is the only man to win Olympic gold in both the 100 m sprint and the 110 m hurdles?
Harrison Dillard
"Bones" Dillard failed to make the 1948 hurdles team, won the 100 m instead, then took the hurdles title in 1952.
Q 23Who holds the women's 100 m hurdles world record of 12.12 seconds?
Tobi Amusan
The Nigerian set it in a 2022 World Championships semi-final in Eugene, then ran a wind-aided 12.06 in the final.
Q 14Over what distance did women run the Olympic sprint hurdles from 1932 to 1968?
80 metres
The 100 m replaced it from the 1972 Munich Games; Babe Didrikson was the first woman under 12 seconds for 80 m.
Q 15Which now-defunct men's event appeared at the 1900 and 1904 Olympics?
200 m low hurdles
The IAAF recognised records for it until 1960, and Don Styron's mark stood for over 50 years.
Q 16Who was the first man to run the 110 m hurdles in under 13 seconds?
Renaldo Nehemiah
He did it in Zürich in 1981 and then spent four seasons as a wide receiver with the San Francisco 49ers.
Q 17Which NFL team did the first sub-13-second hurdler play for as a wide receiver from 1982 to 1985?
San Francisco 49ers
He returned to the track from 1986 to 1991 after his football career.
Q 18Which Welsh hurdler's 12.91 world record of 1993 stood for nearly 13 years?
Colin Jackson
His 60 m hurdles indoor record lasted almost 27 years, and he was unbeaten at the European Championships for 12 years.
Q 19Which Chinese hurdler won the 2004 Olympic 110 m title and broke the world record in 2006?
Liu Xiang
He switched from an eight-step to a seven-step approach for the 2011 season.
Q 20Who set a 110 m hurdles world record of 12.80 in Brussels in 2012, a mark that stood until 2026?
Aries Merritt
Days later he was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease; he later received a transplant and returned to compete.
Q 24Whose 1988 world record of 12.21 stood for almost 28 years until Kendra Harrison broke it?
Yordanka Donkova
The Bulgarian set four world records in 1986 alone.
Q 25What was bittersweet about Kendra Harrison's 12.20 world record in London in July 2016?
She had just missed the US Olympic team
She tripped at the Olympic Trials and finished sixth, then broke the 28-year-old record at the Anniversary Games.
Q 26Which country swept the women's 100 m hurdles medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics?
United States
Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin gave American women their first sweep in any Olympic event.
Q 27Which "Flying Housewife" won four golds at the 1948 Olympics, including the 80 m hurdles?
Fanny Blankers-Koen
The 30-year-old Dutch mother of two had first improved the 80 m hurdles world mark in 1942.
Q 28Which Australian hurdler won more Olympic medals than any of her country's other runners?
Shirley Strickland
She grew up on a farm in the Western Australian wheatbelt and won 80 m hurdles gold in 1952 and 1956.
Q 29In which year did the women's 400 m hurdles first appear at the Olympics?
1984
The men's event had been contested since 1900, and the first women's world champion was crowned in 1983.
Q 30Edwin Moses won how many consecutive 400 m hurdles races between 1977 and 1987?
122
That is 107 straight finals, plus Olympic golds in 1976 and 1984 and four world records.