| Final 17:30 | time | | L | | 1. Archibald Williams |  United States | 46.5s | | 5 | | 2. Godfrey Brown |  Great Britain | 46.7s | | 6 | | 3. James LuValle | United States | 46.8s | | 2 | | 4. William Roberts | Great Britain | 46.8s | | 3 | | 5. William Fritz |  Canada | 47.8s | | 1 | | 6. Johnny Loaring | Canada | 48.2s | | 4 |
Archibald "Archie" Williams (USA), William "Bill" Roberts (GBR).
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| | | Venue: Olympiastadion, Charlottenburg, Berlin. Capp.: 100,000. -- competitors from -- nations. |
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| | | First 3 from each Semi advanced to Final |
| Semi 1 | time | | L | | 1. Archibald Williams | United States | 47.2s | Q | 5 | | 2. William Roberts | Great Britain | 48.0s | Q | 2 | | 3. Johnny Loaring | Canada | 48.1s | Q | 3 | | 4. Mario Lanzi |  Italy | 48.2s | | 1 | | 5. Pierre Skawinski |  France | 52.0s | | 5 | | -. Harold Smallwood | United States | DNS | | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | L | | 1. Jimmy LuValle | United States | 47.1s | Q | 4 | | 2. Godfrey Brown | Great Britain | 47.3s | Q | 5 | | 3. William Fritz | Canada | 47.4s | Q | 6 | | 4. Godfrey Rampling | Great Britain | 47.5s | | 2 | | 5. Juan Carlos Anderson |  Argentina | 48.5s | | 3 | | 6. Hermann Blazejezak |  Germany | 49.2s | | 1 |
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| Quarter 1 | time | | L | | 1. William Roberts | Great Britain | 47.7s | Q | 5 | | 2. Harold Smallwood | United States | 48.6s | Q | 1 | | 3. Mario Lanzi | Italy | 48.8s | Q | 3 | | 4. Zoltán Zsitva |  Hungary | 49.4s | | 2 | | 5. Dennis Shore |  South Africa | 49.6s | | 4 | | 6. Gunnar Christensen |  Denmark | 51.0s | | 6 |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | L | | 1. Hermann Blazejezak | Germany | 48.2s | Q | 2 | | 2. Godfrey Brown | Great Britain | 48.3s | Q | 5 | | 3. William Fritz | Canada | 48.4s | Q | 6 | | 4. Bertil von Wachenfeldt |  Sweden | 48.5s | | 4 | | 5. Georges Henry | France | 49.4s | | 1 | | 6. Strandvall Börje |  Finland | 49.9s | | 3 |
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| Quarter 3 | time | | L | | 1. Archibald Williams | United States | 48.0s | Q | 1 | | 2. Juan Carlos Anderson | Argentina | 48.7s | Q | 3 | | 3. Johnny Loaring | Canada | 49.3s | Q | 2 | | 4. Olle Danielsson | Sweden | 49.6s | | 4 | | -. Adolf Metzner | Germany | DNS | | | | -. Vadas József | Hungary | DNS | | |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | L | | 1. Jimmy LuValle | United States | 47.6s | Q | 2 | | 2. Pierre Skawinski | France | 48.0s | Q | 6 | | 3. Godfrey Rampling | Great Britain | 48.0s | Q | 3 | | 4. Rudolf Klupsch | Germany | 48.8s | | 4 | | 5. Marshall Limon | Canada | 48.9s | | 1 | | 6. Karel Kněnický |  Czechoslovakia | 49.6s | | 5 |
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| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. William Roberts | Great Britain | 48.1s | Q | | 2. Olle Danielsson | Sweden | 48.6s | Q | | 3. Johnny Loaring | Canada | 49.1s | Q | | 4. Albert Jud |  Switzerland | 49.4s | | | 5. Tibor Ribényi | Hungary | 50.1s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Georges Henry | France | 49.2s | Q | | 2. Karel Kněnický | Czechoslovakia | 49.6s | Q | | 3. Dennis Shore | South Africa | 49.9s | Q | | 4. Sven Strömberg | Sweden | 50.0s | | | 5. Johann Baptist Gudenus |  Austria | 52.9s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Godfrey Brown | Great Britain | 48.8s | Q | | 2. Mario Lanzi | Italy | 49.3s | Q | | 3. Adolf Metzner | Germany | 50.2s | Q | | 4. Mohamed Ebeid |  Egypt | 50.5s | | | 5. Jean Verhaert |  Belgium | 50.7s | | | 6. Leonard Tay |  Rep. China | 52.4s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Harold Smallwood | United States | 49.0s | Q | | 2. Marshall Limon | Canada | 49.2s | Q | | 3. József Vadas | Hungary | 49.2s | Q | | 4. Rolf Schønheyder |  Norway | 49.4s | | | 5. Antônio de Carvalho |  Brazil | 50.4s | | | 6. Hiroyoshi Kubota |  Japan | 50.8s | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. Jimmy LuValle | United States | 49.1s | Q | | 2. Juan Carlos Anderson | Argentina | 49.4s | Q | | 3. Zoltán Zsitva | Hungary | 49.8s | Q | | 4. Francisc Nemeş |  Romania | 50.9s | | | 5. Keiji Imai | Japan | 51.0s | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Hermann Blazejezak | Germany | 47.9s | Q | | 2. Godfrey Rampling | Great Britain | 48.6s | Q | | 3. Börje Strandvall | Finland | 49.3s | Q | | 4. Raymond Boisset | France | 49.5s | | | 5. Jean Krombach |  Luxembourg | 50.4s | |
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| Heat 7 | time | | | 1. Archibald Williams | United States | 47.8s | Q | | 2. William Fritz | Canada | 49.0s | Q | | 3. Gunnar Christensen | Denmark | 49.3s | Q | | 4. Toyoyi Aihara | Japan | 50.2s | | | 5. Raúl Muñoz |  Chile | 50.5s | |
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| Heat 8 | time | | | 1. Pierre Skawinski | France | 48.9s | Q | | 2. Bertil von Wachenfeldt | Sweden | 49.0s | Q | | 3. Rudolf Klupsch | Germany | 49.1s | Q | | 4. Alfred König | Austria | 49.4s | | | 5. Gyan Bhalla |  India | 52.4s | |
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