Hurdling hurdle over various natural obstacles, such as logs, mounds of earth and small streams – this represents the sporting origin of the modern events. Horse racing has its own variant of hurdle racing, with similar principles. The standard sprint or short hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard number of steps to the first hurdle should be 8. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women. Each of these races is run over ten hurdles and they are all Olympic events. The men's 200 meters low hurdles event
110 metres hurdles instead of being jumped over and with three steps each between the hurdles was first used by the 1900 Olympic champion, Alvin Kraenzlein. The 110 metre hurdles have been an Olympic discipline since 1896. Women ran it occasionally in the 1920s but it never became generally accepted. From 1926 on, women have only run the 80 metre hurdles which was increased to 100 metres starting in 1961 on a trial basis and in 1969 in official competition. In 1900 and 1904, the Olympics also included a 200-metre hurdles race, and the IAAF recognized world records for the 200 metre hurdles