There were only six entrants with Germany’s Eugen Mühlberger the most notable absentee. He was European Champion in 1930 and runner-up in 1931 and had held the world record in 1930. That was broken in 1931 by Egypt’s Saleh Soliman who set the record to win the 1931 European Championship, but he was also not in Los Angeles. In their absence the competition was won by France’s Raymond Suvigny, bronze medalist at the 1930 Europeans. Suvigny ate so much on his trip to Los Angeles that he was forced to lose 10 pounds in one week to make the weight limit for the division. The silver medal went to German Hans Wölpert, bronze medalist from Amsterdam and silver medalist at the 1930 European Championship, who would win that title in 1933.