| Event: | Men's 400 metres |
| Games: | 1936 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympiastadion Berlin, Germany |
| Dates: | August 6 (heats and quarterfinals) August 7 (semifinals and final) |
| Competitors: | 42 |
| Nations: | 25 |
| Win Value: | 46.5 |
| Longnames: | yes |
| Gold: | Archie Williams |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Godfrey Brown |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | James LuValle |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 1932 |
| Next: | 1948 |
The men's 400 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place in early August. Forty-two athletes from 25 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.2 seconds by American Archie Williams, the third consecutive and seventh overall title in the event for the United States.[2] Godfrey Brown's silver was Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1924.
This was the tenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. None of the finalists from 1932 returned. Archie Williams of the United States was the favorite, setting the world record at 46.1 seconds at the 1936 NCAA championships.[1]
The Republic of China and Romania appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its tenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.
The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. There were 8 heats in the first round, each with 5 or 6 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals. There were 4 quarterfinals of 6 runners each; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 6 runners each. The top three runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making a six-man final.[1] [3]
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.
No records were set during this event.
| Date | Time | Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 6 August 1936 | 10:30 15:15 | Heats Quarterfinals | ||||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Friday, 7 August 1936 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 15:00 17:30 | style=background:lemonchiffon | Semifinals Final |
The fastest three runners in each of the eight heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48.1 | |||
| 2 | Olle Danielsson | 48.6 | ||
| 3 | Johnny Loaring | 49.1 | ||
| 4 | Albert Jud | 49.4 | ||
| 5 | Tibor Ribényi | 50.1 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49.2 | |||
| 2 | Karel Kněnický | 49.6 | ||
| 3 | Dennis Shore | 49.9 | ||
| 4 | Sven Strömberg | 50.0 | ||
| 5 | Johann Baptist Gudenus | 52.9 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48.8 | |||
| 2 | Mario Lanzi | 49.3 | ||
| 3 | Adolf Metzner | 50.2 | ||
| 4 | Mohamed Ebeid | 50.5 | ||
| 5 | Jean Verhaert | 50.7 | ||
| 6 | Leonard Tay | 52.4 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49.0 | |||
| 2 | Marshall Limon | 49.2 | ||
| 3 | József Vadas | 49.2 | ||
| 4 | Rolf Schønheyder | 49.4 | ||
| 5 | Antônio de Carvalho | 50.4 | ||
| 6 | Hiroyoshi Kubota | 50.8 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49.1 | |||
| 2 | Juan Carlos Anderson | 49.4 | ||
| 3 | Zoltán Zsitva | 49.8 | ||
| 4 | Francisc Nemeş | 50.9 | ||
| 5 | Keiji Imai | 51.0 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 47.9 | |||
| 2 | Godfrey Rampling | 48.6 | ||
| 3 | Börje Strandvall | 49.3 | ||
| 4 | Raymond Boisset | 49.5 | ||
| 5 | Jean Krombach | 50.4 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 47.8 | |||
| 2 | William Fritz | 49.0 | ||
| 3 | Gunnar Christensen | 49.3 | ||
| 4 | Toyoyi Aihara | 50.2 | ||
| 5 | Raúl Muñoz | 50.5 | ||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48.9 | |||
| 2 | Bertil von Wachenfeldt | 49.0 | ||
| 3 | Rudolf Klupsch | 49.1 | ||
| 4 | Alfred König | 49.4 | ||
| 5 | Gyan Bhalla | 52.4 | ||
The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 47.7 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Harold Smallwood | 48.6 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Mario Lanzi | 48.8 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Zoltán Zsitva | 49.4 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Dennis Shore | 49.6 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Gunnar Christensen | 51.0 | ||
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 48.2 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Godfrey Brown | 48.3 | ||
| 3 | 6 | William Fritz | 48.4 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Bertil von Wachenfeldt | 48.5 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Georges Henry | 49.4 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Börje Strandvall | 49.9 | ||
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 48.0 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Juan Carlos Anderson | 48.7 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Johnny Loaring | 49.3 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Olle Danielsson | 49.6 | ||
| — | — | Adolf Metzner | |||
| — | József Vadas |
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 47.6 | |||
| 2 | 6 | Pierre Skawinski | 48.0 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Godfrey Rampling | 48.0 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Rudolf Klupsch | 48.8 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Marshall Limon | 48.9 | ||
| 6 | 5 | Karel Kněnický | 49.6 | ||
The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 47.2 | |||||
| 2 | 2 | Bill Roberts | 48.0 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | Johnny Loaring | 48.1 | ||||
| 4 | 1 | Mario Lanzi | 48.2 | ||||
| 5 | 5 | Pierre Skawinski | 52.0 | ||||
| data-sort-value=6 | — | — |
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 47.1 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Godfrey Brown | 47.3 | ||
| 3 | 6 | William Fritz | 47.4 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Godfrey Rampling | 47.5 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Juan Carlos Anderson | 48.5 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Hermann Blazejezak | 49.2 | ||
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 46.5 | ||||
| 6 | 46.7 | ||||
| 2 | 46.8 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 46.8 | |||
| 5 | 1 | 47.8 | |||
| 6 | 4 | 48.2 |