Introduction
Laurent Ottoz (born 10 April 1970) is an Italian hurdler. He won four medals, at senior level, at international athletics competitions.
His personal best time was 13.42 seconds, achieved in August 1994 in Berlin. This is a former Italian record, which in turn belonged to his father Eddy Ottoz with 13.46 seconds. The Italian record currently belongs to Emanuele Abate with 13.28 seconds.
After this he changed event to the 400 metres hurdles. His personal best time is 48.52 seconds, and in Italy only Fabrizio Mori has run the distance faster.
In 1995, Laurent set the fastest automatically recorded time for the rarely run 200 metres low hurdles at 22.55. While inferior to the last official world record in the race, a hand timed 21.9 by Don Styron in 1960, Ottoz bettered the previous best automatic time 22.63 held by Colin Jackson, arguably the best hurdler in the world at that time. On 16 May 2010 the English hurdler Andy Turner set 22.30, but his record was never recognized by International federation, because was obtained in a straight race. Ottoz ran his race around a bend. IAAF still recognizes Styron as a hand timed record, Turner as the automatically timed record, both for a straight race, and Ottoz as the record holder for around a bend.
World best performance
- 200 metres hurdles (bend): 22.55 (Milan, 31 May 1995) - current holder
International competitions
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Italy |
|||||
| 1990 | European Championships | Split, Yugoslavia | 14th (sf) | 110 m hurdles | 13.97 (wind: 0.0m/s) |
| 1992 | European Indoor Championships | Genoa, Italy | 6th | 60 m hurdles | 7.80 |
| 1994 | European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 9th (sf) | 110 m hurdles | 13.53 (wind: +0.1m/s) |
| 1997 | Mediterranean Games | Bari, Italy | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 49.27 |
| 1998 | European Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 6th | 400 m hurdles | 49.15 |
| 2001 | Mediterranean Games | Tunis, Tunisia | 3rd | 400 m hurdles | 50.75 |
| 2005 | Mediterranean Games | Almería, Spain | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 49.41 |
| 2006 | European Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 18th | 400 m hurdles | 51.22 |
National championships
Ottoz won thirteen individual national championships.
- 4 wins in the 110 metres hurdles (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994)
- 6 wins in the 400 metres hurdles (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002)
- 3 wins in the 60 metres hurdles indoor (1991, 1993, 1994)