The men's 400 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place in early August. Forty-two athletes from 25 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.2 seconds by American Archie Williams, the third consecutive and seventh overall title in the event for the United States. Godfrey Brown's silver was Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1924.

Background

This was the tenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1932 returned. Archie Williams of the United States was the favorite, setting the world record at 46.1 seconds at the 1936 NCAA championships.

The Republic of China and Romania appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its tenth 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. There were 8 heats in the first round, each with 5 or 6 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 runners each; the top three 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, vol. 1, pp. 624–26.

Records

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

No records were set during this event.

Schedule

Date Time Round Thursday, 6 August 1936 10:30 15:15 Heats Quarterfinals Friday, 7 August 1936 15:00 17:30 Semifinals Final

Results

Heats

The fastest three runners in each of the eight heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bill Roberts 48.1 2 Olle Danielsson 48.6 3 John Loaring 49.1 4Albert Jud 49.4 5Tibor Ribényi 50.1

Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Georges Henry 49.2 2 Karel Kněnický 49.6 3 Dennis Shore 49.9 4Sven Strömberg 50.0 5Johann Baptist Gudenus 52.9

Heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Godfrey Brown 48.8 2 Mario Lanzi 49.3 3 Adolf Metzner 50.2 4Mohamed Ebeid 50.5 5Jean Verhaert 50.7 6Leonard Tay 52.4

Heat 4 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harold Smallwood 49.0 2 Marshall Limon 49.2 3 József Vadas 49.2 4Rolf Schønheyder 49.4 5Antônio de Carvalho 50.4 6Hiroyoshi Kubota 50.8

Heat 5 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jimmy LuValle 49.1 2 Juan Carlos Anderson 49.4 3 Zoltán Zsitva 49.8 4Francisc Nemeş 50.9 5Keiji Imai 51.0

Heat 6 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hermann Blazejezak 47.9 2 Godfrey Rampling 48.6 3 Börje Strandvall 49.3 4Raymond Boisset 49.5 5Jean Krombach 50.4

Heat 7 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Archie Williams 47.8 2 William Fritz 49.0 3 Gunnar Christensen 49.3 4Toyoyi Aihara 50.2 5Raúl Muñoz 50.5

Heat 8 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pierre Skawinski 48.9 2 Bertil von Wachenfeldt 49.0 3 Rudolf Klupsch 49.1 4Alfred König 49.4 5Gyan Bhalla 52.4

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Bill Roberts 47.7 2 1 Harold Smallwood 48.6 3 3 Mario Lanzi 48.8 4 2 Zoltán Zsitva 49.4 5 4 Dennis Shore 49.6 6 6 Gunnar Christensen 51.0

Quarterfinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Hermann Blazejezak 48.2 2 5 Godfrey Brown 48.3 3 6 William Fritz 48.4 4 4 Bertil von Wachenfeldt 48.5 5 1 Georges Henry 49.4 6 3 Börje Strandvall 49.9

Quarterfinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Archie Williams 48.0 2 3 Juan Carlos Anderson 48.7 3 2 Johnny Loaring 49.3 4 4 Olle Danielsson 49.6 — — Adolf Metzner — József Vadas

Quarterfinal 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Jimmy LuValle 47.6 2 6 Pierre Skawinski 48.0 3 3 Godfrey Rampling 48.0 4 4 Rudolf Klupsch 48.8 5 1 Marshall Limon 48.9 6 5 Karel Kněnický 49.6

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Archie Williams 47.2 2 2 Bill Roberts 48.0 3 3 Johnny Loaring 48.1 4 1 Mario Lanzi 48.2 5 5 Pierre Skawinski 52.0 — — Harold Smallwood

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Jimmy LuValle 47.1 2 5 Godfrey Brown 47.3 3 6 William Fritz 47.4 4 2 Godfrey Rampling 47.5 5 3 Juan Carlos Anderson 48.5 6 1 Hermann Blazejezak 49.2

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 5 Archie Williams 46.5 6 Godfrey Brown 46.7 2 James LuValle 46.8 4 3 Bill Roberts 46.8 5 1 William Fritz 47.8 6 4 Johnny Loaring 48.2

References