| | Event type

400 metres, Men

Date	6 – 7 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	42 from 25 countries

Archie Williams had won the 1936 NCAA Championships in 46.1 for a new world record. The final in Berlin was contested by two Americans, two Canadians, and two Britons. Williams led in the final over 200 metres ahead of American Jimmy LuValle. Godfrey Brown closed rapidly on the final straight, passing LuValle 40 metres from the line, and nearly catching Williams. Electric timing revealed that the official margin of 0.2 seconds for Williams victory was probably not accurate. Williams’s was auto-timed in 46.66, with Brown in 46.68, LuValle in 46.84 and Bill Roberts in 46.87.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	QF	SF	Final
1	742	Archie Williams	USA	47.8 (1 h7)	48.0 (1 h3)	47.2 (1 h1)	46.5 (1)	Gold
2	250	Godfrey Brown	GBR	48.8 (1 h3)	48.3 (2 h2)	47.3 (2 h2)	46.7 (2)	Silver
3	740	Jimmy Lu Valle	USA	49.1 (1 h5)	47.6 (1 h4)	47.1 (1 h2)	46.8 (3)	Bronze
4	252	Bill Roberts	GBR	48.1 (1 h1)	47.7 (1 h1)	48.0 (2 h1)	46.8 (4)
5	70	Bill Fritz	CAN	49.0 (2 h7)	48.4 (3 h2)	47.4 (3 h2)	47.8 (5)
6	72	Johnny Loaring	CAN	49.1 (3 h1)	49.3 (3 h3)	48.1 (3 h1)	48.2 (6)
4 h1 r3/4	328	Mario Lanzi	ITA	49.3 (2 h3)	48.8 (3 h1)	48.2 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r3/4	251	Godfrey Rampling	GBR	48.6 (2 h6)	48.0 (3 h4)	47.5 (4 h2)	–
5 h1 r3/4	197	Pierre Skawinski	FRA	48.9 (1 h8)	48.0 (2 h4)	52.0 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r3/4	31	Juan Carlos Anderson	ARG	49.4 (2 h5)	48.7 (2 h3)	48.5 (5 h2)	–
6 h2 r3/4	823	Hermann Blazejczak	GER	47.9 (1 h6)	48.2 (1 h2)	49.2 (6 h2)	–
2 h1 r2/4	741	Harold Smallwood	USA	49.0 (1 h4)	48.6 (2 h1)	– (DNS h2)	–
4 h1 r2/4	707	Zoltán Zsitva	HUN	49.8 (3 h5)	49.4 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r2/4	572	Bertil von Wachenfeldt	SWE	49.0 (2 h8)	48.5 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r2/4	570	Olle Danielsson	SWE	48.6 (2 h1)	49.6 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r2/4	824	Rudolf Klupsch	GER	49.1 (3 h8)	48.8 (4 h4)	–	–
5 h1 r2/4	649	Dennis Shore	RSA	49.9 (3 h2)	49.6 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r2/4	196	Georges Henry	FRA	49.2 (1 h2)	49.4 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h4 r2/4	71	Marshall Limon	CAN	49.2 (2 h4)	48.9 (5 h4)	–	–
6 h1 r2/4	134	Gunnar Christensen	DEN	49.3 (3 h7)	51.0 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r2/4	158	Börje Strandvall	FIN	49.3 (3 h6)	49.9 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h4 r2/4	662	Karel Kněnický	TCH	49.6 (2 h2)	49.6 (6 h4)	–	–
DNS h3 r2/4	825	Adolf Metzner	GER	50.2 (3 h3)	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS h3 r2/4	706	József Vadas	HUN	49.2 (3 h4)	– (DNS h3)	–	–
4 h1 r1/4	615	Albert Jud	SUI	49.4 (4 h1)	–	–	–
4 h2 r1/4	571	Sven Strömberg	SWE	50.0 (4 h2)	–	–	–
4 h3 r1/4	21	Mohamed Ebeid	EGY	50.5 (4 h3)	–	–	–
4 h4 r1/4	469	Rolf Schønheyder	NOR	49.4 (4 h4)	–	–	–
4 h5 r1/4	562	Francisc Nemeș	ROU	50.9 (4 h5)	–	–	–
4 h6 r1/4	195	Raymond Boisset	FRA	49.5 (4 h6)	–	–	–
4 h7 r1/4	371	Toyoji Aihara	JPN	50.2 (4 h7)	–	–	–
4 h8 r1/4	486	Alfred König	AUT	49.4 (4 h8)	–	–	–
5 h1 r1/4	705	Tibor Ribényi	HUN	50.1 (5 h1)	–	–	–
5 h2 r1/4	489	Johann Baptist von Gudenus	AUT	52.9 (5 h2)	–	–	–
5 h3 r1/4	42	Jean Verhaert	BEL	50.7 (5 h3)	–	–	–
5 h4 r1/4	–	Antônio de Carvalho	BRA	50.4 (5 h4)	–	–	–		1
5 h5 r1/4	372	Keiji Imai	JPN	51.0 (5 h5)	–	–	–
5 h6 r1/4	455	Jean Krombach	LUX	50.4 (5 h6)	–	–	–
5 h7 r1/4	93	Raúl Muñoz	CHI	50.5 (5 h7)	–	–	–
5 h8 r1/4	319	Gyan Bhalla	IND	52.4 (5 h8)	–	–	–
6 h3 r1/4	107	Leonard Dai	CHN	52.4 (6 h3)	–	–	–
6 h4 r1/4	373	Hiroyoshi Kubota	JPN	50.8 (6 h4)	–	–	–
DNS	418	Janez Gabršek	YUG	–	–	–	–
DNS	462	Paul Pace	MLT	– (DNS h1)	–	–	–
DNS	561	Eugen Kappler	ROU	– (DNS h4)	–	–	–
DNS	639	Luis Pratmasó	ESP	–	–	–	–
DNS	487	Felix Rinner	AUT	– (DNS h6)	–	–	–
DNS	127	José Domingo Sánchez	COL	–	–	–	–
DNS	329	Marsilio Rossi	ITA	– (DNS h5)	–	–	–
DNS	330	Otello Spampani	ITA	– (DNS h8)	–	–	–
DNS	524	Antonio Cuba	PER	– (DNS h2)	–	–	–
DNS	535	Teodoro Malasig	PHI	–	–	–	–
DNS	540	Klemens Biniakowski	POL	– (DNS h7)	–	–	–

Round One (6 August 1936 — 10:30)

Top three in each heat advanced to the quarter-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	252	Bill Roberts	GBR	48.1	Q
2	570	Olle Danielsson	SWE	48.6	Q
3	72	Johnny Loaring	CAN	49.1	Q
4	615	Albert Jud	SUI	49.4
5	705	Tibor Ribényi	HUN	50.1
DNS	462	Paul Pace	MLT	–

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	196	Georges Henry	FRA	49.2	Q
2	662	Karel Kněnický	TCH	49.6	Q
3	649	Dennis Shore	RSA	49.9	Q
4	571	Sven Strömberg	SWE	50.0
5	489	Johann Baptist von Gudenus	AUT	52.9
DNS	524	Antonio Cuba	PER	–

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	250	Godfrey Brown	GBR	48.8	Q
2	328	Mario Lanzi	ITA	49.3	Q
3	825	Adolf Metzner	GER	50.2	Q
4	21	Mohamed Ebeid	EGY	50.5
5	42	Jean Verhaert	BEL	50.7
6	107	Leonard Dai	CHN	52.4

Heat Four

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	741	Harold Smallwood	USA	49.0	Q
2	71	Marshall Limon	CAN	49.2	Q
3	706	József Vadas	HUN	49.2	Q
4	469	Rolf Schønheyder	NOR	49.4
5	–	Antônio de Carvalho	BRA	50.4		2
6	373	Hiroyoshi Kubota	JPN	50.8
DNS	561	Eugen Kappler	ROU	–

Heat Five

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	740	Jimmy Lu Valle	USA	49.1	Q
2	31	Juan Carlos Anderson	ARG	49.4	Q
3	707	Zoltán Zsitva	HUN	49.8	Q
4	562	Francisc Nemeș	ROU	50.9
5	372	Keiji Imai	JPN	51.0
DNS	329	Marsilio Rossi	ITA	–

Heat Six

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	823	Hermann Blazejczak	GER	47.9	Q
2	251	Godfrey Rampling	GBR	48.6	Q
3	158	Börje Strandvall	FIN	49.3	Q
4	195	Raymond Boisset	FRA	49.5
5	455	Jean Krombach	LUX	50.4
DNS	487	Felix Rinner	AUT	–

Heat Seven

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	742	Archie Williams	USA	47.8	Q
2	70	Bill Fritz	CAN	49.0	Q
3	134	Gunnar Christensen	DEN	49.3	Q
4	371	Toyoji Aihara	JPN	50.2
5	93	Raúl Muñoz	CHI	50.5
DNS	540	Klemens Biniakowski	POL	–

Heat Eight

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	197	Pierre Skawinski	FRA	48.9	Q
2	572	Bertil von Wachenfeldt	SWE	49.0	Q
3	824	Rudolf Klupsch	GER	49.1	Q
4	486	Alfred König	AUT	49.4
5	319	Gyan Bhalla	IND	52.4
DNS	330	Otello Spampani	ITA	–

Quarter-Finals (6 August 1936 — 15:15)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	252	Bill Roberts	GBR	47.7	Q
2	741	Harold Smallwood	USA	48.6	Q
3	328	Mario Lanzi	ITA	48.8	Q
4	707	Zoltán Zsitva	HUN	49.4
5	649	Dennis Shore	RSA	49.6
6	134	Gunnar Christensen	DEN	51.0

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	823	Hermann Blazejczak	GER	48.2	48.205	Q
2	250	Godfrey Brown	GBR	48.3	48.35	Q
3	70	Bill Fritz	CAN	48.4	48.37	Q
4	572	Bertil von Wachenfeldt	SWE	48.5	48.57
5	196	Georges Henry	FRA	49.4	–
6	158	Börje Strandvall	FIN	49.9	–

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	742	Archie Williams	USA	48.0	Q
2	31	Juan Carlos Anderson	ARG	48.7	Q
3	72	Johnny Loaring	CAN	49.3	Q
4	570	Olle Danielsson	SWE	49.6
DNS	825	Adolf Metzner	GER	–
DNS	706	József Vadas	HUN	–

Heat Four

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	740	Jimmy Lu Valle	USA	47.6	Q
2	197	Pierre Skawinski	FRA	48.0	Q
3	251	Godfrey Rampling	GBR	48.0	Q
4	824	Rudolf Klupsch	GER	48.8
5	71	Marshall Limon	CAN	48.9
6	662	Karel Kněnický	TCH	49.6

Semi-Finals (7 August 1936 — 15:00)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)
1	742	Archie Williams	USA	47.2	Q
2	252	Bill Roberts	GBR	48.0	Q
3	72	Johnny Loaring	CAN	48.1	Q
4	328	Mario Lanzi	ITA	48.2
5	197	Pierre Skawinski	FRA	52.0

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	740	Jimmy Lu Valle	USA	47.1	47.18	Q
2	250	Godfrey Brown	GBR	47.3	47.31	Q
3	70	Bill Fritz	CAN	47.4	47.32	Q
4	251	Godfrey Rampling	GBR	47.5	47.65
5	31	Juan Carlos Anderson	ARG	48.5	–
6	823	Hermann Blazejczak	GER	49.2	–
DNS	741	Harold Smallwood	USA	–	–

Final (7 August 1936 — 17:30)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	5	Archie Williams	USA	46.5	46.66
2	6	Godfrey Brown	GBR	46.7	46.68
3	2	Jimmy Lu Valle	USA	46.8	46.84
4	3	Bill Roberts	GBR	46.8	46.87
5	1	Bill Fritz	CAN	47.8	–
6	4	Johnny Loaring	CAN	48.2	–