Best 10 Lebanese Athletics Performances in the Hurdles Since 2010

04 Oct. 2016 – We already wrote about the sprint events (100m, 200m, and the 400m), the Middle Distance (800m and 1500m), we jumped to the jumps with the High, Long and Triple Jump. We skipped the long distance because we are waiting for the Marathon season to be done. Today we are going to take a look at the Best 10 Lebanese Athletics Performances in the Hurdles Since 2010.

Even without looking at the tables below, everyone knows that the Hazer brothers have been dominating the hurdles since they first started. Ahmad Hazer is the best 110m Hurdler of all times and Ali Hazer, the older brother, is the best 400m Hurdler of all times as well.

The brothers were able to create a gap between them and the rest of their competitors. Ahmad is the only athlete who ran Sub 14.5 seconds on 110m Hurdles since 2010. Only his brother Ali was able to go under 15 seconds on this distance. Ahmad made it to the Olympic Games twice and was able with his performances in this event to be the best man in Lebanon according to the IAAF scoring table (the athlete with the highest points in the table).

Both competed in Czech Republic many times looking for adversity. Something that doesn’t event exist in Lebanon. Ahmad ran several times alone in Lebanon, while the only athlete who is close to Ali Hazer today, is Daniel Bassous with his personal and season best of 54.94 seconds. Both also hold the national records in their respective events.

The lack of adversity is also obvious in the women’s category. The hurdles race is one of the most difficult events in Track and field, which is one of the reasons why we don’t have a lot of athletes competing in it. It requires speed and a very good technique over the hurdles in order to “run” the hurdle and not “jump” over it.

In the women’s category, the level is not as good as the Hazers, I was able to break Zeina Mina’s record on 100m Hurdles back in 2013 for the first time, and later on improved it this year to 15.34, which is still not a good performance for women. A sub 15 seconds would be a great one. In the 400m Hurdles, Laura Saliba who used to excel in the 200 meters, attacked the 400m Hurdles in 2010 and 2011 and set a Youth record for the distance.

Laura wa later busy with her studies therefore couldn’t really focus on improving her times. Meanwhile, Corine Freiha took the lead with a great consistency with one minute 11 seconds and 12 seconds but couldn’t break Laura’s record. Both athletes who dominated this event since 2010, were first Junior and Youth athletes, and second, couldn’t match Diala El Chab’s record of 1:00.96.

*We should note that Alina Popescu, who was Romanian at that time, ran several time in the 14 seconds before getting the Lebanese Nationality. The Juniors World Champion in the Triple Jump is always showing up as a supporter to the Lebanese athletes in competitions. 

When we have more athletes competing in those two events, the level will directly improve. Coming from someone who trained 4 years for the hurdles, and tried different events, it takes a lot of patience, a lot of dedication and perseverance to be able to become a good hurdler. But once you achieve your goal, it is the best feeling in the world!

Best Lebanese Athletics Performances since 2010

Best 10 Athletics Performances in the 100m Since 2010 

Best 10 Lebanese Athletics Performance in 200m Since 2010

Best 10 Lebanese Athletics Performance in 400m Since 2010

Krystel Saneh

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