Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Six heats were held; the fastest three runners advanced to the Quarterfinal Round.

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Adolf Metzner	Germany	50.4
2	Seikan Oki	Japan	50.5
3	Alex Wilson	Canada	50.5
4	Kell Areskoug	Sweden	50.7

Heat Two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ben Eastman	United States	49.0
2	Joachim Büchner	Germany	49.3
3	Hjalle Johannesen	Norway	49.5
4	Carlos de Anda	Mexico	49.8

Heat Three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Börje Strandvall	Finland	49.8
2	Jimmy Ball	Canada	50.0
3	Iwao Masuda	Japan	50.1
4	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	50.2

Heat Four

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Bill Carr	United States	48.8
2	George Golding	Australia	49.0
3	Crew Stoneley	Great Britain	49.1
4	Walter Nehb	Germany	49.4
5	Khristos Mantikas	Greece	49.6
6	Manuel Álvarez	Mexico	49.9

Heat Five

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Felix Rinner	Austria	49.2
2	Godfrey Rampling	Great Britain	49.5
3	Willie Walters	South Africa	49.8
4	Stuart Black	New Zealand	49.9
5	Seiken Cho	Japan	50.0

Heat Six

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	James Gordon	United States	50.6
2	Ray Lewis	Canada	50.7
3	Domingos Puglisi	Brazil	50.8
4	Richard Arguello	Mexico	50.9

Three heats were held; the four fastest runners in each heat advanced to the Semifinal Round.

Heat One

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Bill Carr	United States	48.4
2	Willie Walters	South Africa	48.5
3	George Golding	Australia	48.6
4	Alex Wilson	Canada	49.6
5	Domingos Puglisi	Brazil	50.1
6	Iwao Masuda	Japan

Heat Two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	James Gordon	United States	48.6
2	Godfrey Rampling	Great Britain	48.8
3	Joachim Büchner	Germany	48.9
4	Jimmy Ball	Canada	49.3
5	Hjalle Johannesen	Norway	49.4
6	Seikan Oki	Japan

Heat Three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ben Eastman	United States	48.8
2	Felix Rinner	Austria	48.9
3	Börje Strandvall	Finland	49.0
4	Crew Stoneley	Great Britain	49.1
5	Ray Lewis	Canada	49.1
6	Adolf Metzner	Germany	49.2

Two heats were held; the fastest three runners advanced to the Final Round.

Heat One

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Bill Carr	United States	47.2	OR
2	Alex Wilson	Canada	47.8
3	George Golding	Australia	48.0
4	Godfrey Rampling	Great Britain	48.0
5	Felix Rinner	Austria	48.8
6	Joachim Büchner	Germany	49.2

Heat Two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ben Eastman	United States	47.6
2	Willie Walters	South Africa	48.2
3	James Gordon	United States	48.2
4	Börje Strandvall	Finland	48.4
5	Crew Stoneley	Great Britain	48.6
6	Jimmy Ball	Canada	49.0

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Bill Carr	United States	46.28	WR
	Ben Eastman	United States	46.50
	Alex Wilson	Canada	47.4
4	Willie Walters	South Africa	48.2
5	James Gordon	United States	48.2
6	George Golding	Australia	48.8

Key: OR = Olympic record; WR = world record