| Event: | Men's 4 × 400 metres relay |
| Games: | 1948 Summer |
| Dates: | 6 August (heats) 7 August (final) |
| Teams: | 15 |
| Nations: | 15 |
| Win Value: | 3:10.4 |
| Gold: | Roy Cochran Cliff Bourland Arthur Harnden Mal Whitfield |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Jean Kerebel Francis Schewetta Robert Chef d'Hôtel Jacques Lunis |
| Silvernoc: | FRA |
| Bronze: | Kurt Lundquist Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt Folke Alnevik Rune Larsson |
| Bronzenoc: | SWE |
| Prev: | 1936 |
| Next: | 1952 |
The men's 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place on 6 and 7 August. The United States team won the final with a time of 3:10.4.[1]
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record Olympic record | (Ed Ablowich, Bill Carr, Ivan Fuqua, Karl Warner) | 3:08.2 | Los Angeles, United States | 7 August 1932 |
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday 6 August 1948 | 17:30 | Round 1 | ||||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Saturday 7 August 1948 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 16:50 | style=background:lemonchiffon | Final |
The first two teams in each heat qualified for the Final.[2]
Heat 1
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cliff Bourland, Roy Cochran, Arthur Harnden, Mal Whitfield | 3:12.6 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | Ottavio Missoni, Luigi Paterlini, Gianni Rocca, Antonio Siddi | 3:14.0 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | Leslie Lewis, Martin Pike, Derek Pugh, Bill Roberts | 3:14.2 | |||||||
| 4 | Oskar Hardmeier, Walter Keller, Max Trepp, Karl Volkmer | 3:23.0 | |||||||
| - | Charles Denroche, Paul Dolan, Reggie Myles, Jimmy Reardon | DSQ |
Heat 2
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leslie Laing, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden, Arthur Wint | 3:14.0 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | Robert Chef d'Hôtel, Jean Kerebel, Jacques Lunis, Francis Schewetta | 3:17.0 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | Bill LaRochelle, Ernie McCullough, Bob McFarlane, Don McFarlane | 3:19.0 | |||||||
| 4 | Gustavo Ehlers, Sergio Guzmán, Jaime Hitelman, Carlos Silva | 3:23.8 | |||||||
| 5 | Doğan Acarbay, Seydi Dinçtürk, Kemal Horulu, Rıza Maksut İşman | 3:35.0 |
Heat 3
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Runar Holmberg, Bebbe Storskrubb, Tauno Suvanto, Olavi Talja | 3:20.6 | Q | ||||||
| 2 | Folke Alnevik, Rune Larsson, Kurt Lundquist, Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt | 3:21.0 | Q | ||||||
| 3 | Hermelindo Alberti, Guillermo Avalos, Guillermo Evans, Antonio Pocovi | 3:21.2 | |||||||
| 4 | Jerko Bulić, Aleksandar Ćosić, Marko Račič, Zvonko Sabolović | 3:25.4 | |||||||
| 5 | Vasilios Mavroidis, Stefanos Petrakis, Lazaros Petropoulakis, Stylianos Stratakos | 3:33.0 |
| width=15 | Rank | width=300 | Nation | width=700 | Competitors | width=15 | Time | width=15 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:10.4 | |||||||||
| 3:14.8 | |||||||||
| 3:16.0 | |||||||||
| 4 | 3:24.8 | ||||||||
| DNF | |||||||||
| DNF |
Key: DNF = Did not finish