110 metres hurdles 100 yards (91.44 m). The first standards were attempted in 1864 in Oxford and Cambridge: The length of the course was set to 120 yards (109.7 m) and over its course, runners were required to clear ten 3 foot 6 inch (1.07 m) high hurdles. The height and spacing of the hurdles have been related to Imperial units ever since. After the length of the course was rounded up to 110 metres in France in 1888, the standards were pretty much complete (except for Germany where 1 metre high hurdles were used until 1907). The massively constructed hurdles of the
Low hurdles were frequently run on a straightaway, necessitating tracks to be constructed with long "chutes" to accommodate the hurdles, the 200 metres straight and the single turn 400 metres or 440 yards. These tracks have been referred to as "panhandle tracks." In large stadiums, where seating for football games was a primary consideration, these races started deep in a tunnel. With lower hurdles, the race was much faster and less technical than the 110 metres hurdles, a race going over high hurdles, a foot (30 cm) higher. Sprinters were able to change over to the low hurdles with success. Jesse Owens