Colin Jackson’s Moment of Glory
by Steve McGill
For this month’s great race, we’re going to turn back the clock to 1993, to Welshman Colin Jackson’s world record race at the World Championships in Stuttgart. World record performances are always time markers in the history and evolution of an event, and Jackson’s race certainly stands out as one of the most magnificent performances in the history of the 110 meter high hurdles.
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The year prior, in the 1992 Olympic Games, Jackson finished a disappointing seventh place, well out of the medals, after injuring himself while running 13.19 in the semi-finals. So the 1993 World Championships served as his opportunity for redemption.
His stiffest competition in the World Championship final would come from fellow countryman Tony Jarrett, Americans Tony Dees and Jack Pierce, Germany’s Florian Schwarthoff, and Cuba’s Emilio Valle. The favorites were in the middle of the track, with Jackson in lane three, Dees in lane four, Jarrett in lane five, and Pierce in lane six.
Despite the stiff competition, Jackson took control of the race from the start and never looked back. Early on, Dees, Jarrett, Pierce, Valle, and Schwarthoff stayed close enough behind that they would be ready to seize the opportunity if Jackson were to make a mistake.
But he didn’t. He ran a clean race, skimming the barriers but touching none of them, and his turnover between the hurdles was insanely quick. Jackson’s technique over the barriers was exquisite. Though relatively small, he proved able to get the hip height he needed to avoid hitting hurdlers. In addition, his forward lean was very deep over every hurdle, helping him to maintain the forward momentum needed to stay fast and finish fast. He crossed the finish line in a new world record time of 12.91, .01 faster than Roger Kingdom’s 12.92 in 1988, and .02 faster than Renaldo Nehemiah’s 12.93 from 1981. And Jackson had accomplished the rare feat of breaking the world record in a major championship final, in the third of three rounds of competition.
What stands out to me in looking at this race again so many years later is the contrast in lead legs between Jackson and Dees. Jackson represents the bent-leg lead leg style, while Dees represents the straight-leg snap-down lead leg style. If ever there were a perfect example to argue the point that the bent-leg lead is better than the straight-leg lead, this race would be it. Though Dees looks great in the first half of the race and is right there in the thick of things, eventually his straight-leg leads gets him into trouble, as it takes away space to negotiate the barriers. As you can see in the video below, he hits the fifth hurdle with his trail leg, then smashes into the sixth hurdle with the foot of his lead leg, and loses all momentum. He ends up finishing last in 14.13 although he clearly was on pace to medal, or to at least finish fourth.
Meanwhile, I would argue that bronze medalist Jack Pierce had the most efficient technique of any hurdler in this race, and to this day I feel that Pierce had the smoothest, most effortless technique of any hurdler I’ve ever seen. What he lacked that Jackson had, and that later hurdlers like Allen Johnson and Liu Xiang had, was that fierce competitiveness, that refuse-to-lose mentality that separates the very good hurdlers from the all-time greats.
With Jarrett finishing second in 13.00, Great Britain claimed the top two spots in the final, making this the most glorious day in the history of British 110 meter hurdling. Pierce’s 13.06, good for third, would win many a race today. Valle finished fourth in 13.20, and Schwarthoff came in fifth in 13.27. A very fast race.
Though Jackson went on to continue with an outstanding career that spanned the rest of the decade and into the early part of the next one, this was his most glorious moment, as he earned a world record and a world championship gold medal in the same race.
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