| | Event type

400 metres Hurdles, Men

Date	30 – 31 July 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Empire Stadium, Wembley, London
Participants	25 from 17 countries

In 1942 Roy Cochran (USA) had set a world record for the 440 yard hurdles, running 52.2 at the Drake Relays. He had won the 1939 AAU title and would have been favored at the 1940 Olympics, but had to wait eight years for his Olympic chance. Once he got it he did not disappoint, winning the final comfortably by six metres clear on Ceylon’s Duncan White, the first Olympic medal won from that island nation. He would win the 1950 British Empire Games 440 yards hurdles gold medal.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	339	Roy Cochran	USA	53.9 (1 h1)	51.9 (1 h2)	51.1 (1)	Gold	OR
2	22	Duncan White	SRI	53.6 (1 h6)	52.1 (3 h1)	51.8 (2)	Silver
3	128	Rune Larsson	SWE	54.5 (2 h4)	51.9 (1 h1)	52.2 (3)	Bronze
4	338	Dick Ault	USA	54.7 (1 h5)	52.1 (2 h1)	52.4 (4)
5	327	Yves Cros	FRA	55.7 (2 h5)	52.5 (2 h2)	53.3 (5)
6	331	Ottavio Missoni	ITA	53.9 (1 h4)	53.4 (3 h2)	54.0 (6)
4 h1 r2/3	326	Jean-Claude Arifon	FRA	56.9 (2 h2)	52.3 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r2/3	330	Harry Whittle	GBR	56.9 (1 h2)	53.4 (4 h2)	–			1
5 h1 r2/3	340	Jeff Kirk	USA	54.3 (2 h6)	52.5 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	324	Bebbe Storskrubb	FIN	54.6 (2 h3)	53.5 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	325	Jacques André	FRA	54.5 (2 h1)	56.3 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	332	John Holland	NZL	54.6 (1 h3)	53.9 (6 h2)	–
3 h1 r1/3	320	Hermelindo Alberti	ARG	54.6 (3 h1)	–	–
3 h2 r1/3	303	Lazaros Petropoulakis	GRE	57.9 (3 h2)	–	–
3 h3 r1/3	133	Kemal Horulu	TUR	55.1 (3 h3)	–	–
3 h4 r1/3	329	Ron Unsworth	GBR	55.1 (3 h4)	–	–
3 h5 r1/3	337	Werner Christen	SUI	56.7 (3 h5)	–	–
3 h6 r1/3	336	Alf Westman	SWE	54.5 (3 h6)	–	–
4 h1 r1/3	103	Jaime Aparicio	COL	55.1 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	333	Mohsin Nazar Khan	PAK	59.5 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	328	Michael Pope	GBR	55.3 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	322	Sergio Guzmán	CHI	55.9 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	323	Huang Liangzheng	CHN	57.7 (4 h5)	–	–
4 h6 r1/3	321	Bill LaRochelle	CAN	54.9 (4 h6)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	104	Mario Rosas	COL	55.9 (5 h4)	–	–
DNS	335	José Luis Rubio	ESP	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	59	Bernabe Lovina	PHI	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	334	Fernando Fernandes	POR	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	310	Julio Sabater	PUR	– (DNS h6)	–	–

Round One (30 July 1948 — 14:30)

Top two in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	3	Roy Cochran	USA	53.9	54.0	Q
2	2	Jacques André	FRA	54.5	–	Q
3	4	Hermelindo Alberti	ARG	54.6	–
4	1	Jaime Aparicio	COL	55.1	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	4	Harry Whittle	GBR	56.9	56.9	Q	2
2	3	Jean-Claude Arifon	FRA	56.9	–	Q
3	2	Lazaros Petropoulakis	GRE	57.9	–
4	5	Mohsin Nazar Khan	PAK	59.5	–
DNS	1	José Luis Rubio	ESP	–	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	4	John Holland	NZL	54.6	–	Q
2	3	Bebbe Storskrubb	FIN	54.6	–	Q
3	2	Kemal Horulu	TUR	55.1	–
4	5	Michael Pope	GBR	55.3	–
DNS	1	Bernabe Lovina	PHI	–	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	5	Ottavio Missoni	ITA	53.9	54.1	Q
2	4	Rune Larsson	SWE	54.5	–	Q
3	3	Ron Unsworth	GBR	55.1	–
4	2	Sergio Guzmán	CHI	55.9	–
5	1	Mario Rosas	COL	55.9	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	5	Dick Ault	USA	54.7	–	Q
2	4	Yves Cros	FRA	55.7	–	Q
3	1	Werner Christen	SUI	56.7	–
4	3	Huang Liangzheng	CHN	57.7	–
DNS	2	Fernando Fernandes	POR	–	–

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	5	Duncan White	SRI	53.6	53.8	Q
2	4	Jeff Kirk	USA	54.3	–	Q
3	3	Alf Westman	SWE	54.5	–
4	2	Bill LaRochelle	CAN	54.9	–
DNS	1	Julio Sabater	PUR	–	–

Semi-Finals (30 July 1948 — 17:00)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	128	Rune Larsson	SWE	51.9	52.0	QOR
2	338	Dick Ault	USA	52.1	52.15	Q
3	22	Duncan White	SRI	52.1	52.34	Q
4	326	Jean-Claude Arifon	FRA	52.3	52.39
5	340	Jeff Kirk	USA	52.5	52.49
6	325	Jacques André	FRA	56.3	–

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	339	Roy Cochran	USA	51.9	51.8	Q=OR
2	327	Yves Cros	FRA	52.5	52.64	Q
3	331	Ottavio Missoni	ITA	53.4	53.30	Q
4	330	Harry Whittle	GBR	53.4	53.38		3
5	324	Bebbe Storskrubb	FIN	53.5	53.65
6	332	John Holland	NZL	53.9	53.87

Final (31 July 1948 — 15:30)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (H)	Time (A)
1	3	Roy Cochran	USA	51.1	51.3	OR
2	5	Duncan White	SRI	51.8	52.06
3	6	Rune Larsson	SWE	52.2	52.30
4	4	Dick Ault	USA	52.4	52.56
5	1	Yves Cros	FRA	53.3	53.48
6	2	Ottavio Missoni	ITA	54.0	54.15