fall at the final hurdle

What Does “fall at the final hurdle” mean?

Definition:

If you fall at the final hurdle, you fail to accomplish something near the end of your attempt.

A related idiom is the following:

fall at the first hurdle.

The above idiom means to fail at the beginning of something that you are trying to do.

Example(s)

Congratulations John! You are doing a good job! Just make sure you don’t fall at the final hurdle!

This idiom is in the sport category.