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

The men's 400 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Friday, July 12, 1912, and on Saturday, July 13, 1912. Forty-nine runners from 16 nations competed.[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2] The event was won by Charles Reidpath of the United States, the nation's fourth title in the event. Hanns Braun of Germany took silver, the nation's first medal in the men's 400 metres.

Men's 400 metres
at the Games of the V Olympiad
Reidpath winning gold with Braun in the foreground.
VenueStockholm Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 12 (heats, semifinals)
July 13 (final)
Competitors49 from 16 nations
Winning time48.2 WR
Medalists
Charles Reidpath  United States
Hanns Braun  Germany
Edward Lindberg  United States

Background

It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1908 returned. The favorites were all among by the American team: 1909 and 1911 AAU champion Edward Lindberg, 1911 IC4A champion Donnell Young, and 1912 IC4A champion Charles Reidpath.[3]

Australasia, Austria, Bohemia, Japan, Portugal, Russia, and South Africa appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its fifth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds. The first round had 15 heats, ranging from 1 to 6 runners. The top two runners in each heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinal was to consist of 5 heats of 6 runners each, but one semifinal had only 5 runners because one preliminary heat had only had 1 runner. Only the top runner in each semifinal heat advanced, making a five-man final. The first two rounds were run without lanes, but an incident in the last semifinal resulted in the final being held with strings demarking lanes.[3][4]

Records

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

World record Maxie Long (USA)47.8(*)New York, United States29 September 1900
Olympic record Wyndham Halswelle (GBR)48.4(**)London, United Kingdom22 July 1908

(*) unofficial 440 yards (= 402.34 m)

(**) This track was 536.45 metres=13 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. Reidpath's time was ratified by the IAAF as the inaugural official world record. Hanns Braun also broke the old Olympic record and Edward Lindberg tied it, en route to silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Friday, 12 July 191211:00
16:15
Round 1
Semifinals
Saturday, 13 July 191215:00Final

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1James Rosenberger United States50.6Q
2Charles Poulenard France50.7Q
3Wladyslaw Ponurski AustriaUnknown
Claude Ross AustralasiaDNF

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ernest Haley Great Britain1:06.6Q
2Mel Sheppard United States1:06.6Q

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Hanns Braun Germany50.6Q
2Ted Meredith United StatesUnknownQ
3Armando Cortesão PortugalUnknown

Heat 4

Heat 4:Paul Zerling leads Yahiko Mishima.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Paul Zerling Sweden55.4Q
2Yahiko Mishima Japan55.5Q

Heat 5

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Charles Lelong France50.2Q
2Donnell Young United States50.4Q
3István Déván HungaryUnknown
4Gustav Möller SwedenUnknown

Heat 6

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Knut Stenborg Sweden1:01.6Q

Heat 7

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Carroll Haff United States50.4Q
2Emilio Lunghi Italy50.5Q
3Max Herrmann GermanyUnknown

Heat 8

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Frigyes Wiesner Hungary50.8Q
2John Dahlin Sweden51.0Q
3Georges Malfait FranceUnknown

Heat 9

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Eric Lindholm Sweden51.4Q
2Jacob Pedersen Norway51.6Q
3Heinrich Burkowitz Germany51.7
4Václav Labík BohemiaUnknown

Heat 10

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Edward Lindberg United States50.6Q
2James Soutter Great BritainUnknownQ
3Franco Giongo ItalyUnknown

Heat 11

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Clarence Edmundson United States50.2Q
2Ernest Henley Great BritainUnknownQ
3Mel Brock CanadaUnknown
4Pyotr Gayevsky RussiaUnknown

Heat 12

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1George Nicol Great Britain50.0Q
2Ira Davenport United StatesUnknownQ
3Thomas Gallon CanadaUnknown
4Erich Lehmann GermanyUnknown
5Georges Rolot FranceUnknown
6Ödön Bodor HungaryUnknown

Heat 13

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jacques Person Germany55.4Q
2Joseph Wells Great Britain1:01.2Q

Heat 14

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Cyril Seedhouse Great Britain51.5Q
2Ervin Szerelemhegyi HungaryUnknownQ
Alexander Pedersen Norway51.9 DSQ

Heat 15

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1George Patching South Africa51.1Q
2Charles Reidpath United States51.2Q
3Heinrich Wenseler GermanyUnknown
4Alan Patterson Great BritainUnknown
5Robert Schurrer FranceUnknown

Semifinals

The start of one of the semifinals.

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

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Charles Reidpath United States48.7Q
2Clarence Edmundson United StatesUnknown
3George Nicol Great BritainUnknown
4Frigyes Wiesner HungaryUnknown
5Charles Poulenard FranceUnknown
John Dahlin SwedenDNS

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Edward Lindberg United States48.9Q
2Eric Lindholm Sweden50.2
3Charles Lelong FranceUnknown
Jacques Person GermanyDNF
Cyril Seedhouse Great BritainDNF
Joseph Wells Great BritainDNF

Semifinal 3

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Ted Meredith United States48.8Q
2Mel Sheppard United States48.9
3George Patching South Africa50.5
4Knut Stenborg Sweden50.5
5Jacob Pedersen NorwayUnknown
6Ernest Henley Great BritainUnknown

Semifinal 4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Carroll Haff United States49.7Q
2Emilio Lunghi ItalyUnknown
3Ervin Szerelemhegyi HungaryUnknown
Ernest Haley Great Britain UnknownDNF
James Rosenberger United StatesDNF
Yahiko Mishima JapanDNS

Semifinal 5

Young was disqualified for elbowing Braun, knocking him to the outside of the track, as Braun tried to cut in front of him. This event resulted in lanes being used for the final the next day.[5][3]

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Hanns Braun Germany49.2Q
2Ira Davenport United StatesUnknown
3James Soutter Great BritainUnknown
4Paul Zerling SwedenUnknown
Donnell Young United StatesDSQ

Final

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

The final was held on Saturday, July 13, 1912. It was held in lanes because of the incident between Young and Braun in the semifinals. There were three false starts before the race finally started legally. Meredith led early with a strong pace. Braun took the lead around the halfway mark. Reidpath finished strong, passing Braun in the final 15 metres.[6]

Reidpath's time broke the Olympic record; it was also recognized as the inaugural world record in the event at the formation of World Athletics (then known as the IAAF).

RankLaneAthleteNationTimeNotes
3Charles Reidpath United States48.2WR
2Hanns Braun Germany48.3
5Edward Lindberg United States48.4
41Ted Meredith United States49.2
54Carroll Haff United States49.5

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. Official report, p. 61.
  3. "400 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. Official Report, pp. 357–60.
  5. Official Report, p. 359.
  6. Official Report, p. 360.
  • Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 27 August 2006.
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