European Athletics Championships 1958/400 m men

6th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 400-meter run
city	Stockholm
Stadion	Olympic Stadium
Attendees	26 athletes from 18 countries
Competition phase	August 19th (preliminary) August 20th (semi-finals) August 21st (final)
Medalist
gold	John Wrighton ( GBR )
silver	John Salisbury ( GBR )
bronze	Karl-Friedrich Haas ( GER )

Official postcard of the Stockholm Olympic Stadium from 1912

The men's 400-meter run at the 1958 European Athletics Championships was held from August 19 to 21, 1958 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

In this competition there was a double victory for Great Britain. European champion was John Wrighton . He won over John Salisbury . Bronze went to the German Olympic runner-up in 1956, Karl-Friedrich Haas .

Records

Existing records

World record	45.8 s	Lou Jones	Los Angeles , USA	June 30, 1956
European record	46.0 s	Rudolf Harbig	Frankfurt am Main , Germany	August 12, 1939
		Ardalion Ignatiev	Moscow , then Soviet Union (now Russia )	June 25, 1955
Championship record	46.6 s	Ardalion Ignatiev	EM Bern , Switzerland	August 27, 1954

Record improvement

European champion John Wrighton improved the championship record in the final by three tenths of a second to 46.3 seconds.  

Preliminary round

August 19, 1958, 5:10 p.m.

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

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	John Salisbury	Great Britain	47.8
2	Csaba Csutorás	Hungary	47.9
3	René Weber	Switzerland	48.2
4th	Renato Panciera	Italy	49.0

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Carl Kaufmann	Germany	48.0
2	Gerard Mach	Poland	48.3
3	Traian Sudrigean	Romania	48.8
4th	Mario Fraschini	Italy	49.0

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Lennart Jonsson	Sweden	48.3
2	Mikhail Nikolsky	Soviet Union	48.3
3	Stanislaw Swatowski	Poland	48.4
4th	Louis De Clerck	Belgium	48.9

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Alf Petersson	Sweden	47.8
2	Viktor Šnajder	Yugoslavia	47.9
3	John Wrighton	Great Britain	47.9
4th	Michael Gialanze	Malta	53.4

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Karl-Friedrich Haas	Germany	48.2
2	Bruno Urben	Switzerland	48.4
3	Pentti Rekola	Finland	48.4
4th	Jaroslav Jirásek	Czechoslovakia	48.6
5	Richard Stiger	Austria	49.0

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Valentin Rachmanov	Soviet Union	48.1
2	Bernard Dibonda	France	48.7
3	Voitto Hellsten	Finland	48.9
4th	Vasilios Syllis	Greece	49.2
5	Fahir Özgüden	Turkey	49.8

Semifinals

August 20, 1958, 4:20 p.m.

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

Pentti Rekola ( left in 1957) was eliminated in fifth place in his semi-final run

The vice European champion from 1954 Voitto Hellstén did not reach the final as third in his semi-final this time

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	John Wrighton	Great Britain	46.9
2	Karl-Friedrich Haas	Germany	47.5
3	Bernard Dibonda	France	48.0
4th	Csaba Csutorás	Hungary	48.0
5	Pentti Rekola	Finland	48.1
6th	Gerard Mach	Poland	48.5

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	John Salisbury	Great Britain	46.8
2	Carl Kaufmann	Germany	47.2
3	Voitto Hellsten	Finland	47.2
4th	Bruno Urben	Switzerland	47.5
5	Lennart Jonsson	Sweden	47.7
6th	Valentin Rachmanov	Soviet Union	48.5

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Stanislaw Swatowski	Poland	47.1
2	Alf Petersson	Sweden	47.4 NO
3	René Weber	Switzerland	47.4
4th	Viktor Šnajder	Yugoslavia	47.5
5	Traian Sudrigean	Romania	48.0
6th	Mikhail Nikolsky	Soviet Union	48.1

final

August 21, 1958, 6:35 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	John Wrighton	Great Britain	46.3 CR / NO
2	John Salisbury	Great Britain	46.5
3	Karl-Friedrich Haas	Germany	47.0
4th	Carl Kaufmann	Germany	47.0
5	Alf Petersson	Sweden	47.5
6th	Stanislaw Swatowski	Poland	47.8

• 

  Carl Kaufmann - Olympic runner-up in 1960 - took fourth place

• 

  Alf Petersson ( left in 1957 ) was fifth in the final, Lennart Jonsson to his right, for whom fifth place in the third semi-final was not enough for the final

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Stockholm 1958 from european-athletics.org, accessed April 22, 2019
• Men 400m European Championship 1958 Stockholm on todor66.com, accessed April 22, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1958 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed April 22, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1958, 400 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on April 22, 2019
• 6th European Athletics Championships 1958 in Stockholm, Sweden from ifosta.de, accessed on April 22, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400m men , accessed April 22, 2019
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 400 m Men , p. 10 (PDF, 271 kB) accessed on April 21, 2019 (French / English)