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. No nation had more than 4 athletes.

Background

This was the seventh appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The defending gold medalist from 1920, Bevil Rudd of South Africa, did not return; the other two medalists, silver-winning Guy Butler of Great Britain and bronze-winning Nils Engdahl of Sweden, did. Eric Liddell of Great Britain was the 1924 Scottish and AAA champion.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Haiti, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, and Switzerland appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its seventh appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The first round had 17 heats, ranging from 1 to 5 athletes. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 6 quarterfinals, intended to have 5 or 6 runners in each but sometimes having 4 due to withdrawals; the top two athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.Official Report, pp. 108–09.

Records

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

(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

In the quarterfinals, Josef Imbach set a new Olympic record with 48.0 seconds. In the semifinals 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. World Athletics rescinded Liddell's time as a world record in 1928.

Schedule

Date Time Round Thursday, 10 July 1924 14:00 16:00 Heats Quarterfinals Friday, 11 July 1924 14:45 17:30 Semifinals Final

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Horace Aylwin 54.0 2 Erik Wilén 54.8

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ray Robertson 50.2 2 Kai Jensen 50.9 3 Jules Migeot 51.6 4 Reinhold Kesküll 53.2 5 Christophe Mirgain Unknown

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Gustaf Wejnarth 50.2 2 Lajos Kurunczy 52.6 3 Richard Honner 53.1 4 Kiril Petrunov Unknown

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Eric Wilson 49.6 2 Roy Norman 50.6 3 William Fuller 51.5 4 Édouard Armand Unknown

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Josef Imbach 51.8

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 David Johnson 51.8 2 Charles Hoff 53.0

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Coard Taylor 50.8 2 Tokushige Noto 51.7 3 Wim Bolten 53.0

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Toby Betts 49.8 2 Sean Lavan 51.2 3 Wim Kat 51.8 4 Guillermo Amparan 52.0

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Artur Svensson 50.0 2 Raymond Fritz 51.0 3 Charles Lane 51.4 4 Menso Menso Unknown 5 Juan Escutia Unknown

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Clarence Oldfield 49.6 2 Edward Toms 49.9 3 Carlos Garces 51.0 4 Emilio Casanovas Unknown

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Nils Engdahl 49.2 2 George Renwick 50.3 3 Francisco Dova 51.0 4 José Martínez Unknown

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Terence Pitt 49.8 2 Alan Christie 50.5 3 Félix Escobar 51.4 4 Raymond Jamois Unknown 5 Karel Přibyl 52.8

Heat 13

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Luigi Facelli 51.0 2 Federico Brewster 51.8 3 Stefan Ołdak 55.0

Heat 14

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Eric Liddell 50.2 2 Alfredo Gargiullo 50.4 3 Erik Byléhn 50.6 4 Stanisław Świętochowski 55.4

Heat 15

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Horatio Fitch 52.0 2 Erik Åström 52.1

Heat 16

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Guy Butler 50.2 2 Gaston Féry 51.1 3 Narciso Costa Unknown 4 Ennio Maffiolini Unknown 5 Christian Simmen Unknown

Heat 17

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Barthélémy Favodon 51.2 2 Adriaan Paulen 52.0 3 Paul Hammer 53.1

Quarterfinals

All quarter-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.

Lajos Kurunczy and Erik Åström had qualified for the quarterfinals but withdrew.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Horatio Fitch 49.0 2 Artur Svensson 50.0 3 Alan Christie 50.8 4 Edward Toms Unknown

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Toby Betts 49.0 2 Charles Hoff 49.2 3 Gustaf Wejnarth 50.2 4 Gaston Féry 50.7

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Guy Butler 49.8 2 John Coard Taylor 50.4 3 Barthélémy Favodon 50.9 4 Terence Pitt 51.6 5 Kai Jensen Unknown 6 Federico Brewster Unknown

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Adriaan Paulen 49.0 2 Eric Liddell 49.3 3 Ray Robertson 49.5 4 Luigi Facelli 50.5 5 Raymond Fritz 50.5

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Clarence Oldfield 49.0 2 David Johnson 49.3 3 Erik Wilén 49.6 4 Roy Norman 50.2 5 Alfredo Gargiullo Unknown 6 George Renwick Unknown

Quarterfinal 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Josef Imbach 48.0 , 2 Nils Engdahl 48.4 3 Eric Wilson 48.8 4 Sean Lavan 49.8 5 Tokushige Noto 50.7 6 Horace Aylwin Unknown

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Horatio Fitch 47.8 , 2 Guy Butler 47.9 3 David Johnson 48.0 4 Adriaan Paulen 48.2 5 Toby Betts 48.4 6 Nils Engdahl 48.6

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Eric Liddell 48.2 2 Josef Imbach 48.3 3 John Coard Taylor 48.7 4 Charles Hoff 48.8 5 Clarence Oldfield 49.0 6 Artur Svensson 49.1

Final

The final was held on Friday, July 11, 1924, and started at 5:30 p.m. Taylor's ankle gave out just before the finish line in a career-ending injury; he crawled across the line. Imbach tripped over the lane-dividing ropes, fell, and was unable to finish.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Eric Liddell 47.6 Horatio Fitch 48.4 Guy Butler 48.6 4 David Johnson 48.8 5 John Coard Taylor 1:07.0 — Josef Imbach

References

External links Olympic Report