Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Dates	July 30 (heats, semifinals) July 31 (final)
Medalists
Roy Cochran United States   Duncan White Ceylon   Rune Larsson Sweden

Video on YouTube Official Video
@ 21:42

Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
80 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men
Road events
Marathon		men
10 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Decathlon		men

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games took place July 30 and July 31. The final was won by American Roy Cochran.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Glenn Hardin (USA)	50.6 s	Stockholm, Sweden	26 July 1934
Olympic record		52.0 s	Berlin, Germany	6 August 1936

The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	Notes
31 July	Final	Roy Cochran (USA)	51.1 s	OR

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Date	Time
Friday, 30 July 1948	14:30 17:00	Round 1 Semifinals
Saturday, 31 July 1948	15:30	Final

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on 30 July. The two fastest runners from each heat qualified to the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Roy Cochran	United States	53.9
2	Jacques André	France	54.5
3	Hermenegildo Alberti	Argentina	54.6
4	Jaime Aparicio	Colombia	55.1

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	56.9
2	Jean-Claude Arifon	France	56.9
3	Lazaros Petropoulakis	Greece	57.9
4	Mohsin Nazar Khan	Pakistan	59.5

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	John Holland	New Zealand	54.6
2	Bebbe Storsrkubb	Finland	54.6
3	Kemal Horulu	Turkey	55.1
4	Michael Pope	Great Britain	55.3

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ottavio Missoni	Italy	53.9
2	Rune Larsson	Sweden	54.5
3	Ron Unsworth	Great Britain	55.1
4	Sergio Guzmán	Chile	55.9
5	Mario Rosas	Colombia	55.9

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Dick Ault	United States	54.7
2	Yves Cros	France	55.7
3	Werner Christen	Switzerland	56.7
4	Huan Liangzheng	China	57.7

Heat 6

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Duncan White	Ceylon	53.6
2	Jeff Kirk	United States	54.3
3	Alf Westman	Sweden	54.5
4	Bill LaRochelle	Canada	54.9

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on 30 July. The three fastest runners from each heat advanced to the final.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Rune Larsson	Sweden	51.9	OR
2	Dick Ault	United States	52.1
3	Duncan White	Ceylon	52.1
4	Jean-Claude Arifon	France	52.3
5	Jeff Kirk	United States	52.5
6	Jacques André	France	56.3

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Roy Cochran	United States	51.9	= OR
2	Yves Cros	France	52.5
3	Ottavio Missoni	Italy	53.4
4	Harry Whittle	Great Britain	53.4
5	Bebbe Storsrkubb	Finland	53.5
6	John Holland	New Zealand	53.9

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time (hand)	Notes
	Roy Cochran	United States	51.1	OR
	Duncan White	Ceylon	51.8
	Rune Larsson	Sweden	52.2
4	Dick Ault	United States	52.4
5	Yves Cros	France	53.3
6	Ottavio Missoni	Italy	54.0

Key: OR = Olympic record

References

• 1948 Summer Olympics results: Men's 400 metre hurdles, from http://www.sports-reference.com/; retrieved 2010-06-19.
• Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad, The (1948). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 5 September 2016.