For the race, ten hurdles of a height of 33 inches (83.8 cm) are placed along a straight course of 100 metres (109.36 yd).

In 1935, this rule was abandoned, and L-shaped hurdles were introduced that fell over forward easily and greatly reduced the risk of injury to the runner.

Hurdles are weighted, so when properly set for the height (for women, closer to the fulcrum of the "L"), they serve as a consistent disadvantage to making contact with the barrier.

During the 1960s, some experimental races were run over a distance of 100 metres using hurdles with a height of 30 inches (76.2 cm).

The first international event in the 100 m hurdles occurred at the European Athletics Championships, which were won by Karin Balzer of the GDR.

The home stretch is shorter by 1.5 m. Currently, women run 110 m hurdles at the World Athletics Relays, a mixed team event, which was instituted in 2019.