AlphaPeak

100m Hurdles Pace Lab

Touchdown splits from the approach through all 10 hurdles to the finish. Women's high hurdles, hurdle by hurdle.

25 Women · 1988–2024

100m Hurdles Pacing

How the world's best athletes pace the 100m Hurdles.

The Approach

The 100mH approach is 13.00m — slightly shorter than the men's 13.72m. Elite women use an 8-step approach and reach H1 in roughly 2.30–2.50s. The 8.50m inter-hurdle spacing (vs 9.14m for men) requires shorter, faster strides in the three-step pattern between barriers.

Tobi Amusan's 12.12 WR at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene came from an exceptionally fast approach and sub-1.00s hurdle units through the first half.

Clearance

Over the 0.838m (33-inch) barriers, elite air time is under 0.310 seconds per hurdle. Takeoff is roughly 2.0m out, landing about 1.0m past. That adds up to ~30m of the 100m race spent in the air. Even small reductions in clearance height translate directly to faster hurdle units.

The Run-In

Women have only 10.50m from H10 to the line, compared to 14.02m in the men's race. That makes the last hurdle clearance more important — a choppy H10 costs time with almost no room to recover. The best 100mH runners attack H10 and sprint straight through the finish.

Split Distribution by Performance Tier
How each segment's share of total time changes across performance levels.
Velocity Profile
Speed (m/s) per segment for the top performances. Your target is overlaid when using the calculator.
Differential Analysis
Finish time vs. half-race differential, with a least-squares trend line. Lower differential = more even pacing between halves.
Pacing Trends
How first and last segment percentages have evolved over time.

Pace Calculator

Enter a target 100m Hurdles time and gender to get recommended split targets based on elite pacing data.

Men's 100m Hurdles Split Database

Elite race split data sourced from official timing systems and biomechanical analyses.

Women's 100m Hurdles Split Database

Elite race split data from the world's top performers.

Pacing Models by Performance Tier

Average split distribution percentages derived from the database, organized by performance level.

Men's Models

Women's Models

About & Sources

This database compiles 100m Hurdles race split times from major international competitions. All data comes from official timing systems and published biomechanical analyses.

The pacing calculator uses split distribution percentages derived from this database, adjusted for gender and performance level. The model interpolates between performance tiers to generate smooth, realistic pacing recommendations.

Key features: Confidence bands show the typical range of split variation among athletes at similar performance levels. The database ranking shows where your target time falls among recorded elite performances.

Primary Sources