The race was held over hurdles set at 76cm rather than the standard
91.4cm. Hillman built up a comfortable lead from the start, and then
lost almost all of his advantage when hitting the eighth hurdle hard.
Waller almost caught him at the next hurdle, and Hillman had to fight
him off after knocking over the last hurdle, winning by less than two
yards. Poage became the first black athlete to win an Olympic medal in
an athletics event, though in 1900 a silver medal was won by a black
Frenchman in the tug-of-war.