Athletics at the 1951 Pan American Games – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1951 Pan American Games was held at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on 3 and 4 March.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mal Whitfield  United States	Hugo Maiocco  United States	Herb McKenley  Jamaica

Results

Heats

Held on 3 March

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	John Voight	United States	50.6	Q
2	1	Angel García	Cuba	50.6	Q
3	1	Ramón Sandoval	Chile	50.7	Q
4	1	Carlos Camargo	Mexico	51.2
5	1	Anastasio Zelaya	Paraguay	51.5
6	1	Luis Modeste	Trinidad and Tobago	??.?
1	2	Guillermo Evans	Argentina	57.3	Q
2	2	Gustavo Ehlers	Chile	57.4	Q
3	2	Carlos Monges	Mexico	1:04.9	Q
	2	Argemiro Roque	Brazil	DNS
	2	Evelio Planas	Cuba	DNS
1	3	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	49.0	Q
2	3	Hugo Maiocco	United States	50.0	Q
3	3	Guido Veronese	Argentina	50.2	Q
4	3	José Zelaya	Paraguay	50.5
5	3	Javier Souza	Mexico	50.6
1	4	Mal Whitfield	United States	49.2	Q
2	4	Jaime Hitelman	Chile	50.6	Q
3	4	Máximo Guerra	Argentina	50.6	Q
4	4	Guillermo Gutiérrez	Venezuela	51.2
	4	Jacinto González	Ecuador	DNS

Semifinals

Held on 3 March

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Angel García	Cuba	48.5	Q
2	1	John Voight	United States	48.9	Q
3	1	Gustavo Ehlers	Chile	48.9	Q
4	1	Carlos Monges	Mexico	49.8
5	1	Guillermo Evans	Argentina	50.8
6	1	Ramón Sandoval	Chile	??.?
1	2	Mal Whitfield	United States	48.1	Q
2	2	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	48.9	Q
3	2	Hugo Maiocco	United States	49.0	Q
4	2	Jaime Hitelman	Chile	49.5
5	2	Guido Veronese	Argentina	49.7
6	2	Máximo Guerra	Argentina	??.?

Final

Held on 4 March

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Mal Whitfield	United States	47.8
	Hugo Maiocco	United States	48.0
	Herb McKenley	Jamaica	48.2
4	John Voight	United States	48.3
5	Angel García	Cuba	48.4
6	Gustavo Ehlers	Chile	49.4