Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The first round was held on July 20. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the quarterfinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Charles Moore	United States	51.8
2	Lars Ylander	Sweden	53.7
3	Eitaro Okano	Japan	54.2
4	Rudolf Haidegger	Austria	54.8
5	Johny Fonck	Luxembourg	57.8

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Timofey Lunev	Soviet Union	54.3
2	Lee Yoder	United States	55.2
3	Ken Doubleday	Australia	55.4
4	Muhammad Shafi	Pakistan	56.1
5	Ingi Þorsteinsson	Iceland	56.5

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Anatoly Yulin	Soviet Union	53.6
2	Fotios Kosmas	Greece	53.9
3	Roland Blackman	United States	54.8
4	Ragnar Graeffe	Finland	55.0
5	Jörn Gevert	Chile	56.1
6	Emin Doybak	Turkey	56.6

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Yuriy Lituyev	Soviet Union	53.5
2	Rainer Pelkonen	Finland	54.2
3	Robert Bart	France	54.5
4	Pedro Yoma	Chile	56.8
5	Paulino Ferrer	Venezuela	1:02.1

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Ron Wilkie	South Africa	54.5
2	Arvo Hilli	Finland	54.6
3	Rune Larsson	Sweden	55.9
4	Mirza Khan	Pakistan	56.3

Heat 6

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	John Holland	New Zealand	53.3
2	Sven-Olov Eriksson	Sweden	54.3
3	Angus Scott	Great Britain	54.9
4	Kemal Horulu	Turkey	55.2
5	Karl Schmid	Switzerland	57.5

Heat 7

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	David Gracie	Great Britain	54.2
2	Wilson Carneiro	Brazil	56.0
3	Hans Schwarz	Switzerland	56.3
4	Fernando Fernandes	Portugal	56.8
5	Doğan Acarbay	Turkey	1:02.8

Heat 8

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.8
2	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	53.9
3	Antal Lippay	Hungary	54.0
4	Amadeo Francis	Puerto Rico	54.0
5	Jean Thureau	France	56.7

The quarterfinals were held on July 20. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Charles Moore	United States	50.8	OR
2	Anatoly Yulin	Soviet Union	52.4
3	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.0
4	Robert Bart	France	53.0
5	Sven-Olov Eriksson	Sweden	53.8
6	Hans Schwarz	Switzerland	54.0

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	John Holland	New Zealand	52.2
2	Lee Yoder	United States	53.3
3	David Gracie	Great Britain	53.9
4	Arvo Hilli	Finland	54.0
5	Fotios Kosmas	Greece	55.3
6	Wilson Carneiro	Brazil	59.4

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Yuriy Lituyev	Soviet Union	52.2
2	Antal Lippay	Hungary	52.7
3	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	52.8
4	Lars Ylander	Sweden	53.1
5	Ron Wilkie	South Africa	54.5
6	Ken Doubleday	Australia	1:00.2

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Timofey Lunev	Soviet Union	52.7
2	Roland Blackman	United States	52.7
3	Rune Larsson	Sweden	53.3
4	Angus Scott	Great Britain	53.4
5	Rainer Pelkonen	Finland	53.9
6	Eitaro Okano	Japan	54.4

The semifinals were held on July 21. The three fastest runners from each heat qualified for the final.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Yuriy Lituyev	Soviet Union	51.8
2	John Holland	New Zealand	52.0
3	Anatoly Yulin	Soviet Union	52.1
4	David Gracie	Great Britain	52.4
5	Roland Blackman	United States	52.7
6	Rune Larsson	Sweden	53.9

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Result	Notes
1	Charles Moore	United States	52.0
2	Harri Whittle	Great Britain	52.9
3	Armando Filiput	Italy	53.0
4	Lee Yoder	United States	53.0
5	Antal Lippay	Hungary	53.0
6	Timofey Lunev	Soviet Union	53.1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Notes
	Charles Moore	United States	50.8	=OR
	Yuriy Lituyev	Soviet Union	51.3
	John Holland	New Zealand	52.2
4	Anatoliy Yulin	Soviet Union	52.8
5	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	53.1
6	Armando Filiput	Italy	54.4

Key: =OR = Equalled Olympic record