Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the Games of the V Olympiad
Reidpath winning gold with Braun in the foreground.
Venue	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 12 (heats, semifinals) July 13 (final)
Competitors	49 from 16 nations
Medalists
Charles Reidpath   United States   Hanns Braun   Germany   Edward Lindberg   United States

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
110 m hurdles		men
4×100 m relay		men
4×400 m relay		men
3000 m team race		men
10 km walk		men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Standing long jump	men
Standing high jump	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
2-hand shot put	men
2-hand discus	men
2-hand javelin	men
Combined events
Pentathlon	men
Decathlon	men
Cross-country events
Individual	men
Team	men

The men's 400 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Friday, July 12, 1912 and on Saturday, July 13, 1912.

Forty-nine runners from 16 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	47.8(*)	Maxie Long	New York (USA)	September 29, 1900
Olympic Record	48.4(**)	Wyndham Halswelle	London (GBR)	July 22, 1908

(*) unofficial 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

(**) This track was 536.45 metres= ¹⁄₃ mile in circumference.

The Olympic record of 48.4 seconds, set at the previous Olympics, fell in the final. Charles Reidpath broke the record with a 48.2 second performance. Hanns Braun also broke the old record and Edward Lindberg tied it, en route to silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Results

Heats

All heats were held on Friday, July 12, 1912.

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	James Rosenberger (USA)	50.6	QS
2	Charles Poulenard (FRA)	50.7	QS
3	Wladyslaw Ponurski (AUT)
4	Claude Ross (ANZ)

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ernest Haley (GBR)	1:06.6	QS
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)	1:06.6	QS

Heat 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Hanns Braun (GER)	50.6	QS
2	Ted Meredith (USA)		QS
3	Armando Cortesão (POR)

Heat 4

Heat 4:Paul Zerling leads Yahiko Mishima.

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Paul Zerling (SWE)	55.4	QS
2	Yahiko Mishima (JPN)	55.5	QS

Heat 5

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Charles Lelong (FRA)	50.2	QS
2	Donnell Young (USA)	50.4	QS
3	István Déván (HUN)
4	Gustav Möller (SWE)

Heat 6

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Knut Stenborg (SWE)	1:01.6	QS

Heat 7

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Carroll Haff (USA)	50.4	QS
2	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)	50.5	QS
3	Max Herrmann (GER)

Heat 8

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Frigyes Wiesner (HUN)	50.8	QS
2	John Dahlin (SWE)	51.0	QS
3	Georges Malfait (FRA)

Heat 9

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Eric Lindholm (SWE)	51.4	QS
2	Jacob Pedersen (NOR)	51.6	QS
3	Heinrich Burkowitz (GER)	51.7
4	Václav Labík (BOH)

Heat 10

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Edward Lindberg (USA)	50.6	QS
2	James Soutter (GBR)		QS
3	Franco Giongo (ITA)

Heat 11

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Clarence Edmundson (USA)	50.2	QS
2	Ernest Henley (GBR)		QS
3	Mel Brock (CAN)
4	Pyotr Gaevski (RUS)

Heat 12

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Nicol (GBR)	50.0	QS
2	Ira Davenport (USA)		QS
3	Thomas Gallon (CAN)
4	Erich Lehmann (GER)
5	Georges Rolot (FRA)
6	Ödön Bodor (HUN)

Heat 13

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Jacques Person (GER)	55.4	QS
2	Joseph Wells (GBR)	1:01.2	QS

Heat 14

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Cyril Seedhouse (GBR)	51.5	QS
2	Ervin Szerelemhegyi (HUN)		QS
—	Alexander Pedersen (NOR)	Disqualified

Heat 15

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	George Patching (RSA)	51.1	QS
2	Charles Reidpath (USA)	51.2	QS
3	Heinrich Wenseler (GER)
4	Alan Patterson (GBR)
5	Robert Schurrer (FRA)

Semifinals

The start of one of the semifinals.

All semi-finals were held on Friday, July 12, 1912.

Semifinal 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Charles Reidpath (USA)	48.7	QF
2	Clarence Edmundson (USA)
3	George Nicol (GBR)
4	Frigyes Wiesner (HUN)
5	Charles Poulenard (FRA)
—	John Dahlin (SWE)	Did not start

Semifinal 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Edward Lindberg (USA)	48.9	QF
2	Eric Lindholm (SWE)	50.2
3	Charles Lelong (FRA)
—	Jacques Person (GER)	Did not finish
	Cyril Seedhouse (GBR)	Did not finish
	Joseph Wells (GBR)	Did not finish

Semifinal 3

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Ted Meredith (USA)	48.8	QF
2	Mel Sheppard (USA)	48.9
3	George Patching (RSA)	50.5
4	Knut Stenborg (SWE)	50.5
5	Jacob Pedersen (NOR)
6	Ernest Henley (GBR)

Semifinal 4

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Carroll Haff (USA)	49.7	QF
2	Emilio Lunghi (ITA)
3	Ervin Szerelemhegyi (HUN)
—	Ernest Haley (GBR)	Did not finish
	James Rosenberger (USA)	Did not finish
	Yahiko Mishima (JPN)	Did not start

Semifinal 5

Charles Reidpath (second from left) beats Hanns Braun (second from right) in the final.

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1	Hanns Braun (GER)	49.2	QF
2	Ira Davenport (USA)
3	James Soutter (GBR)
4	Paul Zerling (SWE)
—	Donnell Young (USA)	Disqualified

Final

The final was held on Saturday, July 13, 1912.

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Charles Reidpath (USA)	48.2 OR
2	Hanns Braun (GER)	48.3
3	Edward Lindberg (USA)	48.4
4	Ted Meredith (USA)	49.2
5	Carroll Haff (USA)	49.5

References

• sports-reference.com
• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.)., ed. The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. 
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 27 August 2006.