Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1928 Olympic Games took place between July 29 & July 30. There were 25 athletes from 13 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation was 4. The event was won by David Burghley of Great Britain, the first time a hurdler not from the United States had won. Americans Frank Cuhel and Morgan Taylor took silver and bronze. Taylor, who had been the defending champion, was the second man to win multiple medals in the 400 metres hurdles.

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the IX Olympiad
David Burghley
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	July 29 (heats & semifinals) July 30 (final)
Competitors	25 from 13 nations
Winning time	53.4 =OR
Medalists
David Burghley  Great Britain Frank Cuhel  United States Morgan Taylor  United States

Background

This was the sixth time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

Two of the six finalists from the 1924 Games returned: gold medalist Morgan Taylor of the United States and silver medalist Erik Wilén of Finland. Taylor had won the 1924, 1925, and 1926 AAU titles and set a new world record at the U.S. Trials; he was favored in the event.

India and Poland each made their debut in the event. The United States made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition featured the three-round format introduced in 1908: quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was now standard.

There were 6 quarterfinal heats, with between 3 and 6 athletes each. The top 2 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. The 12 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 6 athletes each, with the top 3 in each semifinal advancing to the 6-man final.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

World record	Morgan Taylor (USA)	52.0	Philadelphia, United States	4 July 1928
Olympic record	Erik Wilén (FIN)	53.8	Paris, France	7 July 1924

Morgan Taylor set a new Olympic record with 53.4 seconds in the first semifinal. David Burghley matched that time in the final.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 29 July 1928	14:00 17:30	Quarterfinals Semifinals
Monday, 30 July 1928	15:10	Final

Results

Quarterfinals

The first two finishers in each of the six heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	David Burghley	Great Britain	57.0	Q
2	Robert Maxwell	United States	57.2	Q
3	Evangelos Moiropoulos	Greece	58.4
4	André Adelheim	France	59.2
5	Herman Larsen	Denmark	1:00.0

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Johnny Gibson	United States	57.0	Q
2	Frederick Chauncy	Great Britain	Unknown	Q
3	Émile Swinnen	Belgium	Unknown
—	Pierre Arnaudin	France	DNF

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Roger Viel	France	56.2	Q
2	Thomas Livingston-Learmonth	Great Britain	56.4	Q
3	Jukka Matilainen	Finland	56.7
4	Alf Watson	Australia	57.8

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	55.2	Q
2	Erkka Wilén	Finland	56.5	Q
3	Erik Kjellström	Sweden	56.6

Quarterfinal 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	55.8	Q
2	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	56.0	Q
3	Lance Percival	Great Britain	Unknown

Quarterfinal 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Frank Cuhel	United States	54.6	Q
2	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.1	Q
3	Louis Lundgren	Denmark	55.9
4	Warren Montabone	Canada	56.5
5	Édouard Max-Robert	France	Unknown
6	S. Abdul Hamid	India	Unknown

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	53.4	Q, OR
2	Frank Cuhel	United States	53.6	Q
3	David Burghley	Great Britain	53.9	Q
4	Roger Viel	France	57.6
5	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	58.0
6	Frederick Chauncy	Great Britain	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Thomas Livingston-Learmonth	Great Britain	54.0	Q
2	Luigi Facelli	Italy	54.2	Q
3	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	54.3	Q
4	Johnny Gibson	United States	54.4
5	Erkka Wilén	Finland	54.5
6	Robert Maxwell	United States	Unknown

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	David Burghley	Great Britain	53.4	=OR
	Frank Cuhel	United States	53.6
	Morgan Taylor	United States	53.6
4	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	53.8
5	Thomas Livingston-Learmonth	Great Britain	54.2
6	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.8

Results summary

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final	Notes
	David Burghley	Great Britain	57.0	53.9	53.4	=OR
	Frank Cuhel	United States	54.6	53.6	53.6
	Morgan Taylor	United States	55.2	53.4	53.6	OR
4	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	55.8	54.3	53.8
5	Thomas Livingston-Learmonth	Great Britain	56.4	54.0	54.2
6	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.1	54.2	55.8
7	Johnny Gibson	United States	57.0	54.4	Did not advance
8	Erkka Wilén	Finland	56.5	54.5
9	Roger Viel	France	56.2	57.6
10	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	56.0	58.0
11	Frederick Chauncy	Great Britain	Unknown	Unknown		6th in semifinal
	Robert Maxwell	United States	57.2	Unknown		6th in semifinal
13	Louis Lundgren	Denmark	55.9	Did not advance
14	Warren Montabone	Canada	56.5
15	Erik Kjellström	Sweden	56.6
16	Jukka Matilainen	Finland	56.7
17	Alf Watson	Australia	57.8
18	Evangelos Moiropoulos	Greece	58.4
19	André Adelheim	France	59.2
20	Herman Larsen	Denmark	1:00.0
21	Lance Percival	Great Britain	Unknown			3rd in quarterfinal
	Émile Swinnen	Belgium	Unknown			3rd in quarterfinal
23	Édouard Max-Robert	France	Unknown			5th in quarterfinal
24	S. Abdul Hamid	India	Unknown			6th in quarterfinal
25	Pierre Arnaudin	France	DNF