European Athletics Championships 1954/400 m men

5th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 400-meter run
city	Bern
Stadion	Neufeld Stadium
Attendees	25 athletes from 14 countries
Competition phase	August 25th (preliminary) August 26th (semi-finals) August 27th (final)
Medalist
gold	Ardalion Ignatiev ( URS )
silver	Voitto Hellstén ( FIN )
bronze	Zoltán Adamik ( HUN )

Grandstand of the Neufeld stadium in Bern

The men's 400-meter run at the 1954 European Athletics Championships was held from 25 to 27 August 1954 in the Neufeld stadium in Bern .

The European champion was the Soviet runner Ardalion Ignatiev - two days later the silver medalist over 200 meters . Second place went to Voitto Hellstén from Finland . Bronze went to the Hungarian Zoltán Adamik.

Records

Existing records

World record	45.8 s	George Rhoden	Eskilstuna , Sweden	22nd August 1950
European record	46.0 s	Rudolf Harbig	Frankfurt am Main , Germany	August 12, 1939
Championship record	47.3 s	Derek Pugh	EM Brussels , Belgium	August 25, 1950

Record improvement

European champion Ardalion Ignatiev improved the championship record twice:

• 47.0 s - semi-finals on August 26th
• 46.6 s - final on August 27th

Preliminary round

August 25, 1954, 5.45 p.m.

The preliminary round was carried out in six runs. The first two athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the semi-finals.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	47.9
2	Vincenzo Lombardo	Italy	48.2
3	Gerard Mach	Poland	48.9
4th	José Fórmiga	Spain	50.3
5	Gerald Wicher	Austria	51.8

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Hans Geister	BR Germany	47.9
2	Rolf Back	Finland	48.4
3	Edmunds Pīlāgs	Soviet Union	48.8
4th	Charles Cuvelier	France	50.3

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	47.7
2	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.8
3	Peter Fryer	Great Britain	48.0
4th	Rudolf Haidegger	Austria	51.4

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Jean-Paul Martin-du-Gard	France	48.4
2	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	48.7
3	Vasilios Syllis	Greece	48.8
4th	Lech Sierek	Poland	49.6

Gösta Brännström ( left ) was eliminated with his third place in the fifth heat

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Zoltán Adamik	Hungary	47.9
2	Alan Dick	Great Britain	48.4
3	Gösta Brännström	Sweden	48.7
4th	René Weber	Switzerland	49.3

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Jean-Jacques Hegg	Switzerland	47.7
2	Jacques Degats	France	48.5
3	Marcello Dani	Italy	49.1
4th	Egon Solymossy	Hungary	49.4

Semifinals

August 26, 1954, 5:15 p.m.

In each of the two semi-finals, the first three athletes - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Run 1

Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt's fifth place in his semi-final run was not enough for the final - four years earlier he had won bronze

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	47.0 CR
2	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	47.1 NO
3	Jacques Degats	France	47.8
4th	Vincenzo Lombardo	Italy	48.4
5	Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt	Sweden	48.8
DSQ	Hans Geister	BR Germany

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.9
2	Zoltán Adamik	Hungary	48.1
3	Jean-Jacques Hegg	Switzerland	48.1
4th	Jean-Paul Martin du Gard	France	48.2
5	Alan Dick	Great Britain	48.3
6th	Rolf Back	Finland	48.9

final

August 27, 1954, 5:20 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ardalion Ignatiev	Soviet Union	46.6 CR / NO
2	Voitto Hellstén	Finland	47.0 NO
3	Zoltán Adamik	Hungary	47.6 NO
4th	Karl-Friedrich Haas	BR Germany	47.6
5	Jean-Jacques Hegg	Switzerland	47.8
DSQ	Jacques Degats	France

• 

  Voitto Hellstén - here as a relay runner - became vice European champion

• 

  Jean-Jacques Hegg - after his active career a politician and journalist - took fifth place

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Bern 1954 at european-athletics.org, accessed on April 4, 2019
• Men 400m European Championship 1954 Bern on todor66.com, accessed on April 4, 2019
• V European Championship, Bern 1954 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on April 4, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1954, 400 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on April 4, 2019
• 5th European Athletics Championships 1954 in Bern, Switzerland from ifosta.de, accessed on April 4, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400m men , accessed April 4, 2019