400 metres hurdles to 400 metres, or one lap of the stadium, and the number of hurdles was reduced to ten. The official height of the hurdles was set to 91.4 cm (3 feet) for men and 76.20 cm (2 ft, 6 inches) for women. The hurdles were now placed on the course with a run-up to the first hurdle of 45 metres, a distance between the hurdles of 35 metres each, and a home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line of 40 metres. The first documented 400 m hurdles race for women took place in 1971. The International Association
Low hurdles version of the international 400 metres hurdles. Because the race occurred in a male dominated era, there was no common female equivalent of the race. At the time the race lost its world record position, women were only occasionally running hurdles and when they did it was the 80 meter hurdles, over barriers the same height as the men's low hurdles. The height of the low hurdles was 30 inches, otherwise referred to as 2 feet 6 inches or 76.2 centimetres. It is the same height women now run for their long hurdles, generally the 400 metres hurdles. The races