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

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
Venue	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
Dates	July 10 (heats and quarterfinals) July 11 (semifinals and final)
Competitors	60 from 27 nations
Medalists
Eric Liddell  Great Britain Horatio Fitch  United States Guy Butler  Great Britain

Official Video

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.

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

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Horace Aylwin (CAN)	54.0	Q
2	Erik Wilén (FIN)	54.8	Q

Heat 2

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

Heat 3

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

Heat 4

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

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Josef Imbach (SUI)	51.8	Q

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	David Johnson (CAN)	51.8	Q
2	Charles Hoff (NOR)	53.0	Q

Heat 7

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

Heat 8

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

Heat 9

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

Heat 10

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

Heat 11

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

Heat 12

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

Heat 13

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Luigi Facelli (ITA)	51.0	Q
2	Federico Brewster (ARG)	51.8	Q
3	Stefan Ołdak (POL)	55.0

Heat 14

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

Heat 15

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Horatio Fitch (USA)	52.0	Q
2	Erik Åström (FIN)	52.1	Q

Heat 16

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

Heat 17

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Barthélémy Favodon (FRA)	51.2	Q
2	Adriaan Paulen (NED)	52.0	Q
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

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

Quarterfinal 2

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

Quarterfinal 3

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

Quarterfinal 4

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

Quarterfinal 5

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

Quarterfinal 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Josef Imbach (SUI)	48.0	Q OR
2	Nils Engdahl (SWE)	48.4	Q
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

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

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eric Liddell (GBR)	48.2	Q
2	Josef Imbach (SUI)	48.3	Q
3	John Coard Taylor (USA)	48.7	Q
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.

Place	Athlete	Time
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

External links

• Olympic Report
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2009.