Do you jump the hurdle or run through it? Takeoff, scissor movement and landing - the three phases, done in under half a second.
Do you jump over a hurdle or run over it? Honest answer: if it feels like jumping, you're doing something wrong. Elite hurdlers lose only about 0.02 m/s of speed clearing one — a number that's only possible if you actually run through the hurdle instead of hopping over it.
The entire clearance takes elite sprinters only about 0.5 seconds: roughly 0.10 s for takeoff, 0.33 s for the flight phase, and 0.07 s for landing. That's shorter than it takes to read this sentence — every extra millisecond in the air is lost ground time that costs you the race.
The movement itself breaks into three phases with two different legs: the lead leg (which crosses the hurdle first) and the trail leg (which follows). Takeoff happens roughly 2 m before the hurdle, landing about 1 m beyond it — the hurdle itself is just a brief interruption in what's really a continuous sprint.
The lead leg drives explosively upward while the torso stays upright in sprint position. Important: the foot stays behind the knee as it rises — the knee leads, the foot follows, not the other way around.
As the lead leg clears the hurdle, the trail leg pulls through bent sideways, tight against the body — this simultaneous drop of one leg and pull-through of the other is called the scissor movement. The trail-leg knee comes clearly in front of the torso before the foot seeks ground contact again.
The extended lead leg is planted actively on the ground, landing on the ball of the foot, not the heel. This active landing — almost a downward strike rather than a passive drop — is the key to running straight on instead of stalling.
The difference between good and weak hurdlers rarely lies in jump height, but in the ratio between takeoff and touchdown distance. Technically superior athletes take off earlier and land closer to the hurdle than weaker ones — they spend less time in the air and more time driving forward.
If, while practicing, you notice you're going "high" instead of "long" over the hurdle, your approach speed is usually too low or your takeoff point too close to the hurdle. Both cause an unnecessary jump instead of a flat run-through.
Practice new technique elements exclusively on low mini hurdles, never at full competition height — a technical error at 106.7 cm has very different consequences than the same error at 20 cm. Warm up hips, groin and hamstrings thoroughly before practicing the scissor movement; these are exactly the muscle groups most stressed by rapid leg action.
If your landing gets messy and you lose balance, keep running deliberately slower rather than forcing balance back by brute force — falls usually don't happen at the hurdle itself, but in the frantic recovery attempt right after.
Film yourself practicing from the side, not from the front. From a side angle you immediately see whether you're running flat through the hurdle or actually jumping up — an angle you can never judge accurately yourself in the moment, because both feel identical while you're doing them.
Running. Elite athletes lose only about 0.02 m/s of speed clearing a hurdle — that's only possible if the hurdle is treated as a flat pass-through rather than a jump. Anyone who jumps up over the hurdle loses noticeably more speed.
For elite sprinters, about 0.5 seconds total: roughly 0.10 s takeoff, 0.33 s flight, 0.07 s landing. Every extra millisecond in the air costs race time, which is why the landing is made as active as possible.
The lead leg goes over the hurdle first, extended, and lands actively on the ground. The trail leg follows bent sideways, tight against the body, in the so-called scissor movement, and then becomes the new drive leg for the next step.
Because technically superior athletes demonstrably take off earlier and land closer to the hurdle than weaker ones. That shortens the flight phase and preserves more of your sprint speed through the hurdle.
Hurdles: The Three-Step Rhythm and First Drills