Rai Benjamin in the 400m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2024 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the hurdles and steeplechase. It will be followed over the coming days by reviews of all the other event groups.
Men’s 110m hurdles
Season top list
| 12.86 | Grant Holloway (USA) | Eugene | 28 June |
| 12.93 | Freddie Crittenden (USA) | Eugene | 28 June |
| 12.96 | Daniel Roberts (USA) | Eugene | 28 June |
| 13.03 | Cordell Tinch (USA) | Eugene | 28 June |
| 13.05 | Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli (ITA) | Rome | 8 June |
| 13.05 | Rasheed Broadbell (JAM) | Chorzow | 25 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Grant Holloway (USA) | 1504 |
| 2 | Daniel Roberts (USA) | 1441 |
| 3 | Rasheed Broadbell (JAM) | 1403 |
| 4 | Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli (ITA) | 1401 |
| 5 | Sasha Zhoya (FRA) | 1399 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Grant Holloway (USA) | 12.99 |
| 🥈 | Daniel Roberts (USA) | 13.09 |
| 🥉 | Rasheed Broadbell (JAM) | 13.09 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Grant Holloway (USA) 12.99
World Indoor Championships (60m hurdles): Grant Holloway (USA) 7.29
Wanda Diamond League: Sasha Zhoya (FRA) 13.16
European Championships: Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli (ITA) 13.05
African Championships: Louis Francois Mendy (SEN) 13.49
Oceanian Championships: Tayleb Willis (AUS) 13.56
World U20 Championships: Ja’Kobe Tharp (USA) 13.05
Season snapshot
- Grant Holloway’s credentials were missing just one gold medal — until 2024. The US hurdle king claimed his first Olympic gold medal in Paris, the only man in the final to run under 13 seconds, and one of six times he ran sub-13 during the season.
Grant Holloway wins the 110m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
- Holloway’s hold on the event began, as usual, during the winter. When Holloway successfully defended his world indoor 60m hurdles title in Glasgow in 7.29, it continued his unbeaten streak in the event to nine years.
- Italy’s Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli set an early world lead of 13.05 to win the European Championships in June, but it wasn’t for long. Later that month, Holloway won the US Olympic trials in 12.86 – the fourth-fastest performance in history. The meeting produced the four fastest times of the season globally, including a breakthrough 12.96 by Daniel Roberts, his first career clocking under 13 seconds. In Paris, Roberts earned silver by edging Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell by just three-thousandths of a second.
- Holloway would go on to win his first 10 outdoor races of the season, including heats. He remained unbeaten through the Olympics until finishing second to Broadbell at the Wanda Diamond League stop in Lausanne on 22 August.
- In all, the top 13 times in the world in 2024 were run by US athletes. And of those 13 times, Holloway was responsible for 10.
Women’s 100m hurdles
Season top list
| 12.24 | Ackera Nugent (JAM) | Rome | 30 August |
| 12.25 | Masai Russell (USA) | Eugene | 30 June |
| 12.31 | Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) | Rome | 8 June |
| 12.31 | Alaysha Johnson (USA) | Eugene | 30 June |
| 12.31 | Grace Stark (USA) | Eugene | 30 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) | 1464 |
| 2 | Masai Russell (USA) | 1431 |
| 3 | Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) | 1428 |
| 4 | Devynne Charlton (BAH) | 1424 |
| 5 | Ackera Nugent (JAM) | 1413 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Masai Russell (USA) | 12.33 |
| 🥈 | Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) | 12.34 |
| 🥉 | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) | 12.36 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Masai Russell (USA) 12.33
World Indoor Championships (60m hurdles): Devynne Charlton (BAH) 7.65
Wanda Diamond League: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) 12.38
European Championships: Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) 12.31
African Championships: Ebony Morrison (LBR) 12.70
Oceanian Championships: Liz Clay (AUS) 12.99
World U20 Championships: Kerrica Hill (JAM) 12.99
Season snapshot
- Masai Russell enjoyed enormous success at the University of Kentucky last year, breaking the NCAA record and advancing to the semifinals of the World Championships. In 2024, she built on that foundation with a significant progression, starting by winning the US Olympic trials in June in a PB of 12.25 that broke Gail Devers’ 24-year-old Trials record and moved her to equal fourth on the world all-time list at that point.
- In her Olympic debut in Paris, Russell narrowly edged France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela for the gold medal. Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who earned bronze, was attempting to become the first woman to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the event.
Masai Russell dips to win the Olympic 100m hurdles title in Paris (© AFP / Getty Images)
- Devynne Charlton was the standout performer of the indoor season, breaking the world indoor 60m hurdles record with 7.67 in New York (which was equalled five days later by USA's Tia Jones), then reducing it to 7.65 to win the world indoor title in Glasgow.
- In August, Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent established the year’s fastest mark by winning in Rome in 12.24, which bumped Russell down a place on the world all-time list.
- Camacho-Quinn finished the season strong by winning September’s Diamond League Final in 12.38 and, shortly after, the inaugural Athlos NYC invitational, in 12.36.
- With 35 sub-12.40 performances achieved by 12 women across the season, 2024 is by far the highest quality season ever for the women's 100m hurdles.
Men’s 400m hurdles
Season top list
| 46.46 | Rai Benjamin (USA) | Eugene | 30 June |
| 46.63 | Alison Dos Santos (BRA) | Oslo | 30 May |
| 46.70 | Karsten Warholm (NOR) | Oslo | 30 May |
| 47.23 | Caleb Dean (USA) | Eugene | 7 June |
| 47.42 | Malik James-King (JAM) | Kingston | 28 June |
| 47.42 | Clement Ducos (FRA) | Chorzow | 25 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Alison Dos Santos (BRA) | 1504 |
| 2 | Karsten Warholm (NOR) | 1486 |
| 3 | Rai Benjamin (USA) | 1484 |
| 4 | Kyron McMaster (IVB) | 1414 |
| 5 | Abderrahman Samba (QAT) | 1407 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Rai Benjamin (USA) | 46.46 =SB |
| 🥈 | Karsten Warholm (NOR) | 47.06 |
| 🥉 | Alison Dos Santos (BRA) | 47.26 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Rai Benjamin (USA) 46.46
Wanda Diamond League: Alison Dos Santos (BRA) 47.93
European Championships: Karsten Warholm (NOR) 46.98
African Championships: Victor Ntweng (BOT) 48.88
Oceanian Championships: Angus Proudfoot (AUS) 50.64
World U20 Championships: Vance Nilsson (USA) 49.26
Season snapshot
- Of the three 400m hurdlers who since 2021 had run the event faster than ever, only one – Rai Benjamin – had yet to win an individual global title. That changed in 2024 when the US hurdler became one of nine athletes to win Olympic gold medal while also going unbeaten during their entire season.
- In Paris, Benjamin equalled his season’s best to win in 46.46, edging rivals Karsten Warholm of Norway, the world record-holder and previous gold medallist in Tokyo, and 2022 world champion Alison Dos Santos of Brazil.
Rai Benjamin wins the 400m hurdles title at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Dan Vernon)
- Dos Santos served notice in May that he remained near his top form by running what was a then world-leading 46.63 in Oslo. One month to the day later, Benjamin usurped that world lead to win the US Olympic trials. Of the year’s five-fastest times, Benjamin ran four, including wins at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in May and July’s Wanda Diamond League stop in Monaco.
- When Benjamin ended his season following the Olympics, opportunities were created for others during the season’s final month, with Dos Santos earning the overall Wanda Diamond League title and the victory at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
Women’s 400m hurdles
Season top list
| 50.37 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) | Paris | 8 August |
| 50.95 | Femke Bol (NED) | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 14 July |
| 51.87 | Anna Cockrell (USA) | Paris | 8 August |
| 52.29 | Jasmine Jones (USA) | Paris | 8 August |
| 52.51 | Rushell Clayton (JAM) | Kingston | 28 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Femke Bol (NED) | 1494 |
| 2 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) | 1462 |
| 3 | Anna Cockrell (USA) | 1457 |
| 4 | Rushell Clayton (JAM) | 1416 |
| 5 | Shiann Salmon (JAM) | 1411 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) | 50.37 WR, OR |
| 🥈 | Anna Cockrell (USA) | 51.87 PB |
| 🥉 | Femke Bol (NED) | 52.15 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) 50.37
Wanda Diamond League: Femke Bol (NED) 52.45
European Championships: Femke Bol (NED) 52.49
African Championships: Rogail Joseph (RSA) 55.71
Oceanian Championships: Sarah Carli (AUS) 56.52
World U20 Championships: Meta Tumba (FRA) 55.59
Season snapshot
- Two years after lowering her own world record under the once-unthinkable 51-second barrier, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States went even faster in 2024 — twice. Her unprecedented season reached its highest point when she established a world record of 50.37 to win gold at the Paris Olympics.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone wins the 400m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)
- The Olympic final was anticipated as a showdown between McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol of the Netherlands after Bol, in July, ran 50.95 and became only the second woman in history to run sub-51.
- In the final, however, Anna Cockrell of the US continued the improvement that had defined her season. At the US Olympic trials in June, Cockrell ran sub-53 for the first time, including a PB 52.64 in the final, and was second only to McLaughlin-Levrone’s 50.65 that was a world record. The US duo went first and second again in Paris when McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own record for the second time of the season, while Cockrell held off Bol with 51.87 – a time which, up until August 2021, would have been a world record.
- Jasmine Jones of the US finished just shy of the podium in Paris with 52.29 yet still became history’s fifth-fastest performer.
- At the World U20 Championships in Lima, France’s Meta Tumba won gold in 55.26, which marked her first sub-56 performance and fifth-fastest all-time in European U20 ranks.
Men’s 3000m steeplechase
Season top list
| 8:01.63 | Lamecha Girma (ETH) | Stockholm | 2 June |
| 8:02.36 | Abrham Sime (ETH) | Paris | 7 July |
| 8:02.36 | Amos Serem (KEN) | Paris | 7 July |
| 8:04.29 | Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) | Chorzow | 25 August |
| 8:04.34 | Samuel Firewu (ETH) | Chorzow | 25 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) | 1452 |
| 2 | Amos Serem (KEN) | 1413 |
| 3 | Abraham Kibiwot (KEN) | 1406 |
| 4 | Samuel Firewu (ETH) | 1399 |
| 5 | Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui (TUN) | 1388 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) | 8:06.05 SB |
| 🥈 | Kenneth Rooks (USA) | 8:06.41 PB |
| 🥉 | Abraham Kibiwot (KEN) | 8:06.47 SB |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) 8:06.05
Wanda Diamond League: Amos Serem (KEN) 8:06.90
European Championships: Alexis Miellet (FRA) 8:14.01
African Championships: Leonard Chemutai (UGA) 8:21.30
Oceanian Championships: Matthew Clarke (AUS) 8:31.00
World U20 Championships: Edmund Serem (KEN) 8:15.28
Season snapshot
- Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma established a world lead that wouldn’t be surpassed in early June by running 8:01.63 in Stockholm, and one month later compatriot Abrham Sime and Kenya’s Amos Serem came within one second at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.
- Yet on the day of the Olympic final, the gold medal belonged to Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco, only the second man to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 3000m steeplechase and not since Volmari Iso-Hollo of Finland did it from 1932-36. To retain his Tokyo title in Paris, El Bakkali endured a chaotic final that saw Girma, the world record-holder, trip on the third-to-last barrier and fall hard to the track, unable to finish. (Girma did not race again during the season while recovering.) El Bakkali moved into first with 100 metres to go, passing US Olympic newcomer Kenneth Rooks.
Soufiane El Bakkali at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
- Rooks authored one of the biggest surprises of the season by earning silver at the Paris Olympics. Rooks made a bold surge by passing seven competitors before reaching the bell lap and extending his lead to two strides on the backstretch. By running an eight-second PB, Rooks became the second-fastest US steeplechaser in history. Three weeks later at the Diamond League stop in Silesia, Rooks fell and injured his shoulder, ending his season.
- Kenya’s Serem held off El Bakkali to win the season-ending Wanda Diamond League final by nearly two seconds. It was El Bakkali’s first defeat in a steeplechase final in more than three years.
Women’s 3000m steeplechase
Season top list
| 8:44.39 | Winfred Yavi (BRN) | Rome | 30 August |
| 8:48.03 | Peruth Chemutai (UGA) | Rome | 30 August |
| 8:55.15 | Faith Cherotich (KEN) | Paris | 6 August |
| 8:55.40 | Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) | Xiamen | 20 April |
| 8:58.67 | Alice Finot (FRA) | Paris | 6 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Winfred Yavi (BRN) | 1485 |
| 2 | Peruth Chemutai (UGA) | 1467 |
| 3 | Faith Cherotich (KEN) | 1445 |
| 4 | Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) | 1422 |
| 5 | Alice Finot (FRA) | 1404 |
Olympic medallists
| 🥇 | Winfred Yavi (BRN) | 8:52.76 OR |
| 🥈 | Peruth Chemutai (UGA) | 8:53.34 NR |
| 🥉 | Faith Cherotich (KEN) | 8:55.15 PB |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
Olympic Games: Winfred Yavi (BRN) 8:52.76
Wanda Diamond League: Faith Cherotich (KEN) 9:02.36
European Championships: Alice Finot (FRA) 9:16.22
African Championships: Loice Chekwemoi (UGA) 9:24.47
Oceanian Championships: Amy Cashin (AUS) 9:41.54
World U20 Championships: Sembo Almayew (ETH) 9:12.71
Season snapshot
- After establishing herself as the No.1 steeplechaser by winning the world title in Budapest last year, Winfred Yavi built on that in 2024 with an even stronger season, running two of the six fastest times in history and claiming Olympic gold in Paris.
- In Rome in August, Yavi ran 8:44.39 to come within 0.07 of Beatrice Chepkoech’s 2018 world record. And only three weeks earlier, she won Olympic gold in a Games record of 8:52.76, which now stands as the sixth fastest performance in history.
Winfred Yavi wins the 3000m steeplechase at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Dan Vernon)
- Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, who claimed bronze at the Olympics behind Yavi and Chemutai, held off Yavi in the Wanda Diamond League final in Brussels.
- Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, Olympic champion in 2021, had a standout performance of her own in Rome by finishing second to Yavi in 8:48.03, a PB of more than five seconds and elevating her to third on the world all-time list. Chemutai had never run under nine minutes in her career prior to 2024, but did so three times in the span of three months this year.
- At the Olympics, home hope Alice Finot produced the fastest time never to make a podium. The 33-year-old was, however, rewarded with a European record of 8:58.67. Earlier in the season, she had won the European title in Rome.
Andrew Greif for World Athletics
