Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. This race was depicted in the film Chariots of Fire. The competition was held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and on Friday, July 11, 1924.[1]

Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
VenueStade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
DatesJuly 10 (heats and quarterfinals)
July 11 (semifinals and final)
Competitors60 from 27 nations
Medalists
Eric Liddell
 Great Britain
Horatio Fitch
 United States
Guy Butler
 Great Britain
Official Video
Athletics at the
1924 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmen
200 mmen
400 mmen
800 mmen
1500 mmen
5000 mmen
10,000 mmen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmen
3000 m steeplechasemen
4×100 m relaymen
4×400 m relaymen
3000 m team racemen
10 km walkmen
Road events
Marathonmen
Field events
Long jumpmen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmen
Pole vaultmen
Shot putmen
Discus throwmen
Hammer throwmen
Javelin throwmen
Combined events
Pentathlonmen
Decathlonmen
Cross-country events
Individualmen
Teammen

As for all other races the track was 500 metres in circumference.

Sixty runners from 27 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World Record 47.4(*) Ted Meredith Cambridge, MA (USA) May 27, 1916
Olympic Record 48.2 Charles Reidpath Stockholm (SWE) July 13, 1912

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

In the quarter-finals, Josef Imbach set a new Olympic record with 48.0 seconds. In the semi-finals Horatio Fitch improved the Olympic record with 47.8 seconds. In the final, Eric Liddell set a new world record with 47.6 seconds; this time was ratified as a 400 metres world record as Ted Meredith ran his record over 440 yards.

Results

Round 1

All heats were held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and started at 2 p.m.

The best two finishers of every heat qualified for the quarter-finals.

Heat 1

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Horace Aylwin (CAN)54.0Q
2 Erik Wilén (FIN)54.8Q

Heat 2

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Ray Robertson (USA)50.2Q
2 Kai Jensen (DEN)50.9Q
3 Jules Migeot (BEL)51.0
4 Reinhold Kesküll (EST)
5 Christophe Mirgain (LUX)

Heat 3

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Gustaf Wejnarth (SWE)50.2Q
2 Lajos Kurunczy (HUN)52.6Q
3 Richard Honner (AUS)53.1
4 Kiril Petrunov (BUL)

Heat 4

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Eric Wilson (USA)49.6Q
2 Roy Norman (AUS)50.6Q
3 William Fuller (CAN)51.5
4 Édouard Armand (HAI)

Heat 5

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Josef Imbach (SUI)51.8Q

Heat 6

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 David Johnson (CAN)51.8Q
2 Charles Hoff (NOR)53.0Q

Heat 7

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 John Coard Taylor (USA)50.8Q
2 Tokushige Noto (JPN)51.7Q
3 Wim Bolten (NED)53.0

Heat 8

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Toby Betts (RSA)49.8Q
2 Sean Lavan (IRL)51.2Q
3 Wim Kat (NED)51.8
4 Guillermo Amparan (MEX)52.0

Heat 9

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Artur Svensson (SWE)50.0Q
2 Raymond Fritz (FRA)51.0Q
3 Charles Lane (AUS)51.4
4 Menso Menso (NED)
5 Juan Escutia (MEX)

Heat 10

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Clarence Oldfield (RSA)49.6Q
2 Edward Toms (GBR)49.9Q
3 Carlos Garces (MEX)51.0
4 Emilio Casanovas (ARG)

Heat 11

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Nils Engdahl (SWE)49.2Q
2 George Renwick (GBR)50.3Q
3 Francisco Dova (ARG)51.0
4 José Martínez (MEX)

Heat 12

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Terence Pitt (IND)49.8Q
2 Alan Christie (CAN)50.5Q
3 Félix Escobar (ARG)51.4
4 Raymond Jamois (FRA)
5 Karel Přibyl (TCH)52.8

Heat 13

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Luigi Facelli (ITA)51.0Q
2 Federico Brewster (ARG)51.8Q
3 Stefan Ołdak (POL)55.0

Heat 14

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Eric Liddell (GBR)50.2Q
2 Alfredo Gargiullo (ITA)50.4Q
3 Erik Byléhn (SWE)50.6
4 Stanisław Świętochowski (POL)55.4

Heat 15

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Horatio Fitch (USA)52.0Q
2 Erik Åström (FIN)52.1Q

Heat 16

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Guy Butler (GBR)50.2Q
2 Gaston Féry (FRA)51.1Q
3 Narciso Costa (BRA)
4 Ennio Maffiolini (ITA)
5 Christian Simmen (SUI)

Heat 17

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Barthélémy Favodon (FRA)51.2Q
2 Adriaan Paulen (NED)52.0Q
3 Paul Hammer (LUX)53.1

Quarterfinals

All semi-finals were held on Thursday, July 10, 1924 and started at 4 p.m.

The best two finishers of every heat qualified for the semifinals.

Horace Aylwin, Lajos Kurunczy, George Renwick, and Erik Åström qualified for the quarterfinals but withdrew.

Quarterfinal 1

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Horatio Fitch (USA)49.0Q
2 Artur Svensson (SWE)50.0Q
3 Alan Christie (CAN)50.8
4 Edward Toms (GBR)

Quarterfinal 2

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Toby Betts (RSA)49.0Q
2 Charles Hoff (NOR)49.2Q
3 Gustaf Wejnarth (SWE)50.2
4 Gaston Féry (FRA)50.7

Quarterfinal 3

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Guy Butler (GBR)49.8Q
2 John Coard Taylor (USA)50.4Q
3 Barthélémy Favodon (FRA)50.9
4 Terence Pitt (IND)51.6
5 Kai Jensen (DEN)
6 Federico Brewster (ARG)

Quarterfinal 4

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Adriaan Paulen (NED)49.0Q
2 Eric Liddell (GBR)49.3Q
3 Ray Robertson (USA)49.5
4 Luigi Facelli (ITA)50.5
5 Raymond Fritz (FRA)50.5

Quarterfinal 5

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Clarence Oldfield (RSA)49.0Q
2 David Johnson (CAN)49.3Q
3 Erik Wilén (FIN)49.6
4 Roy Norman (AUS)50.2
5 Alfredo Gargiullo (ITA)

Quarterfinal 6

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Josef Imbach (SUI)48.0Q OR
2 Nils Engdahl (SWE)48.4Q
3 Eric Wilson (USA)48.8
4 Sean Lavan (IRL)49.8
5 Tokushige Noto (JPN)50.7

Semifinals

All semi-finals were held on Friday, July 11, 1924 and started at 2:45 p.m.

The best three finishers of each heat qualified for the final.

Semifinal 1

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Horatio Fitch (USA)47.8Q OR
2 Guy Butler (GBR)47.9Q
3 David Johnson (CAN)48.0Q
4 Adriaan Paulen (NED)48.2
5 Toby Betts (RSA)48.4
6 Nils Engdahl (SWE)48.6

Semifinal 2

PlaceAthleteTimeQual.
1 Eric Liddell (GBR)48.2Q
2 Josef Imbach (SUI)48.3Q
3 John Coard Taylor (USA)48.7Q
4 Charles Hoff (NOR)
5 Clarence Oldfield (RSA)
6 Artur Svensson (SWE)

Final

The final was held on Friday, July 11, 1924 and started at 5:30 p.m.

PlaceAthleteTime
1 Eric Liddell (GBR)47.6 OR
2 Horatio Fitch (USA)48.4
3 Guy Butler (GBR)48.6
4 David Johnson (CAN)48.8
5 John Coard Taylor (USA)1:07.0 est
— Josef Imbach (SUI)DNF

References
  1. "Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
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