Two top hurdlers, Stephen Chase of the United States and Godfrey Shaw of Great Britain, were not present.

Alajos Szokolyi had won the Hungarian Olympic trials and was considered a strong contender there.

Curtis then won the final in 17.6 seconds to finish the Games with the Olympic record.

The 110 metres hurdles semifinal round was the first event of the afternoon session on the second day, which began around "half past two".

Athanasios Skaltsogiannis of Greece and Kurt Doerry of Germany also competed, though their final positions are not recorded.

Hoyt scratched from the final in order to prepare for the pole vault (which he won).

As there are conflicting reports of who qualified in second from the first heat, there are conflicting reports of why that runner scratched: Mallon and Widlund have Reichel as second in the heat, and that he was forced to scratch from the final as he was serving as an assistant to Albin Lermusiaux in the marathon.

[9] In any case, only two athletes competed, but they finished within one-tenth of a second: Goulding led at the final hurdle, being a better hurdler, but Curtis passed him in the straight and won a tight race by two inches.