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.[10][11] 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.[10] 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.[12][13][14] He also won gold in the relay at the 2012 CAC Junior Championships in San Salvador.[13]

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.[10] After graduating from Kingston College, he went to the University of Arkansas on a track and field scholarship.[10]

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.[13][15] 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.[15]

Omar McLeod racing at the 2016 Doha Diamond League meeting

McLeod returned to competition in 2015; he won the SEC indoor title in a personal best 7.49.[13] 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.[13][16][17] Outdoors, McLeod set a personal best of 13.21 at the Drake Relays and won at both the SEC meet and the West Regionals.[13] 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.[18][19] Only two collegiate athlete, Renaldo Nehemiah in 1979, had run faster in any conditions.[19][20] 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.[13][19]

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.[11][21]

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.[22] 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.[23]

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.[24]

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

Based on his outstanding athletic performance, Mcleod was recently crowned Jamaica's 2017 Sportsman of the Year. During 2017, he won six of seven 110m hurdles races, including the World Championships in London.

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.[25] After the appeal of the Spanish Federation, the IAAF awarded Ortega with a bronze medal.[26]

Information from IAAF profile or Track & Field Results Reporting System unless otherwise noted.[27][28]

International championship results

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 [3][4]
	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 [29]
2019	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	DQ	110 m hurdles	—	+0.6	Impeding competitors [30]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Omar McLeod.

• Omar McLeod on Twitter
• Omar McLeod on Instagram
• Omar McLeod at World Athletics
• Omar McLeod profile at TFRRS
• Omar McLeod bio at the Arkansas Razorbacks