Omar McLeod

McLeod was a promising high school athlete, running for Manchester High School and later Kingston College; during his early career, he competed in both the 110 m and 400 m hurdles.^[11][12] He represented Jamaica at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Lille, qualifying for the finals in both hurdles events; he placed fourth in the 110 m hurdles and eighth in the 400 m hurdles.^[11] At the CARIFTA Games, he won gold in the under-20 400 m hurdles for three consecutive years (2011, 2012 and 2013); he scored another five medals in the 110 m hurdles and 4 × 400 m relay including a relay gold in 2013.^[13][14][15] He also won gold in the relay at the 2012 CAC Junior Championships in San Salvador.^[14]

In 2013, his final year in high school, McLeod set Jamaican junior records in both the 110 m (13.24 s) and 400 m hurdles (49.98 s) at the Boys and Girls Championships; he was the first Jamaican high schooler to break 50 s in the latter.^[11] After graduating from Kingston College, he went to the University of Arkansas on a track and field scholarship.^[11]

McLeod had no experience running indoors before his move to the United States, but adapted rapidly; he won the 60 m hurdles as a freshman at the 2014 NCAA indoor championships in Albuquerque with a personal best 7.57 s in the heats and 7.58 s in the final.^[14][16] Outdoors, he placed second in the 110 m hurdles at both the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and West Regionals, but pulled a hamstring at the NCAA championships and missed the final.^[16]

McLeod returned to competition in 2015; he won the SEC indoor title in a personal best 7.49.^[14] At the 2015 NCAA indoor championships he repeated as champion, running 7.55 in the heats and 7.45 in the final; his time in the final was a new Jamaican indoor record, broke Reggie Torian's NCAA record from 1997 and tied with Cuba's Orlando Ortega for the world's fastest time that winter.^[14][17][18] Outdoors, McLeod set a personal best of 13.21 at the Drake Relays and won at both the SEC meet and the West Regionals.^[14] He entered the NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene as the favorite; he won, running 13.08 in the heats and 13.01 in the final, but both times were wind-aided.^[19][20] Only two collegiate athlete, Renaldo Nehemiah in 1979, had run faster in any conditions.^[20][21] In addition to his hurdles victory, McLeod ran on the Arkansas relay teams in both the 4 × 100 m relay and the 4 × 400 m relay; Arkansas won the 4 × 100 m in 38.47 and placed sixth in the longer relay.^[14][20]

After the 2015 collegiate season McLeod turned professional and signed an endorsement deal with Nike, forgoing his two remaining years as an NCAA athlete; although he stayed at Arkansas to complete his business studies, he lost his eligibility to represent the Arkansas Razorbacks.^[12][22]

McLeod won the 110 m hurdles at the 2015 Jamaican Championships, defeating national record holder Hansle Parchment in a wind-legal 12.97 and breaking 13 seconds for the first time; the time was world-leading for a week.^[23] He made his debut as a professional at the István Gyulai Memorial in Székesfehérvár on 7 July, but pulled up with a cramp and failed to finish.^[24] At the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, he finished 6th in finals with 13.18. (2015 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 110 metres hurdles)

At the start of the 2016 outdoor season, he ran 9.99 seconds for the 100 metres, becoming the first athlete to complete the 110 m hurdles in under 13 seconds and also break the 10-second barrier.^[25]

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won Gold in the 110 m hurdles.

Based on his outstanding athletic performance, McLeod was crowned Jamaica's 2017 Sportsman of the Year. During 2017, he won six of seven 110 m hurdles races, including the gold in London (2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 110 metres hurdles).

At the 2019 World Championships, McLeod was disqualified in the final for a lane violation, impeding Orlando Ortega. Ortega was second in the 110 metres hurdles until McLeod stumbled into him and arrested his momentum.^[26] After the appeal of the Spanish Federation, the IAAF awarded Ortega with a bronze medal.^[27]

Since 2018, after experiencing personal setbacks and tragedies, he struggles to return to top form. ^[28][29][30]

Information from IAAF profile or Track & Field Results Reporting System unless otherwise noted.^[31][32]

International championship results

More information Year, Competition ...

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Wind (m/s)	Notes
Representing  Jamaica
2011	CARIFTA Games (U20)	Montego Bay, Jamaica	1st	400 m hurdles	52.42	n/a	PB
			3rd	110 m hurdles	14.10	−0.8	PB
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:09.41	n/a	PB
	World Youth Championships	Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France	4th	110 m hurdles	13.61	+0.1	PB
			8th	400 m hurdles	52.82	n/a
			DNS	Medley relay	—	n/a
2012	CARIFTA Games (U20)	Hamilton, Bermuda	1st	400 m hurdles	52.35	n/a
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:12.48	n/a	SB
	CACAC Junior Championships (U20)	San Salvador, El Salvador	1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:08.94	n/a	PB
	World Junior Championships	Barcelona, Spain	1st (semi 1)	4 × 400 m relay	3:08.83	n/a	Q[note 1], PB
2013	CARIFTA Games (U20)	Nassau, The Bahamas	1st	400 m hurdles	51.46	n/a
			2nd	110 m hurdles	13.57	NWI
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	6th	110 m hurdles	13.18	+0.1
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, Oregon, U.S.	1st	60 m hurdles	7.41	n/a	WL, NR [4][5]
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	110 m hurdles	13.05	+0.2
2017	World Championships	London, England	1st	110 m hurdles	13.04	0.0
			DNF	4 × 100 m relay	—	n/a	Teammate injury [33]
2019	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	DQ	110 m hurdles	—	+0.6	Impeding competitors [34]

Close