[2] Joanna Hayes led through all the rounds, her closest competitor, Perdita Felicien.

In the final, Felicien crashed the first hurdle with her lead leg, falling to her right and taking out Irina Shevchenko along with her.

As Krasovska began to edge ahead for the silver, Clarke slowed over the last four hurdles while Morrison battled back to take the bronze.

The following records were established during the competition: The qualification period for athletics was 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004.

For the women's 100 metres hurdles, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 12.96 seconds or faster during the qualification period.