| Event: | Men's 4 × 100 metres relay |
| Games: | 1948 Summer |
| Dates: | August 6 (heats) August 7 (final) |
| Teams: | 15 |
| Nations: | 15 |
| Win Value: | 40.6 |
| Gold: | Barney Ewell Lorenzo Wright Harrison Dillard Mel Patton |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Alastair McCorquodale Jack Gregory Ken Jones Jack Archer |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | Michele Tito Enrico Perucconi Carlo Monti Antonio Siddi |
| Bronzenoc: | ITA |
| Prev: | 1936 |
| Next: | 1952 |
The men's 4 × 100 metres relay event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place on August 6 & August 7.[1] The United States team won the final, but was initially disqualified when officials thought the pass between Barney Ewell and Lorenzo Wright had taken place outside the zone. After further review, officials saw that the pass took place inside the zone, and restored U.S. results.
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record Olympic record | (Foy Draper, Ralph Metcalfe, Jesse Owens, Frank Wykoff) | 39.8 | Berlin, Germany | 9 August 1936 |
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, 6 August 1948 | 16:00 | Round 1 | ||||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Saturday, 7 August 1948 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 15:30 | style=background:lemonchiffon | Finals |
Round 1 took place on 6 August. The first two teams from each heat advanced to the final.
Heat 1
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrison Dillard, Barney Ewell, Mel Patton, Lorenzo Wright | 41.1 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | Carlo Monti, Enrico Perucconi, Antonio Siddi, Michele Tito | 41.3 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | Haroldo da Silva, Hélio da Silva, Ivan Hausen, Rosalvo Ramos | 42.4 | |||||||
| - | Kemal Aksur, Erdal Barkay, Raşit Öztaş, Ruhi Sarıalp | DSQ |
Heat 2
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Archer, Jack Gregory, Ken Jones, Alastair McCorquodale | 41.4 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | László Bartha, György Csányi, Béla Goldoványi, Ferenc Tima | 41.4 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | John Bartram, Bill Bruce, Morris Curotta, John Treloar | 41.5 | |||||||
| 4 | Hércules Azcune, Mario Fayos, Juan López, Walter Pérez | 42.8 | |||||||
| 5 | Hazzard Dill, Perry Johnson, Stanley Lines, Frank Mahoney | 45.4 | |||||||
| - | Fernand Bourgaux, Pol Braekman, Fernand Linssen, Isidoor Van De Wiele | DNF |
Heat 3
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan Lammers, Jan Meijer, Gabe Scholten, Jo Zwaan | 41.7 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | Ted Haggis, Don McFarlane, James O'Brien, Don Pettie | 42.3 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | Alberto Biedermann, Gerardo Bönnhoff, Carlos Isaac, Fernando Lapuente | 42.4 | |||||||
| 4 | Ásmundur Bjarnason, Haukur Clausen, Trausti Eyjólfsson, Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson | 42.9 | |||||||
| - | Julien Lebas, Marc Litaudon, Alain Porthault, René Valmy | DNF |
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison Dillard, Barney Ewell, Mel Patton, Lorenzo Wright | 40.6 | ||||||||
| Jack Archer, Jack Gregory, Ken Jones, Alastair McCorquodale | 41.3 | ||||||||
| Carlo Monti, Enrico Perucconi, Antonio Siddi, Michele Tito | 41.5 | ||||||||
| 4 | László Bartha, György Csányi, Béla Goldoványi, Ferenc Tima | 41.6 | |||||||
| 5 | Ted Haggis, Don McFarlane, James O'Brien, Don Pettie | 41.9 | |||||||
| 6 | Jan Lammers, Jan Meijer, Gabe Scholten, Jo Zwaan | 41.9 |