1912 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 200 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	61 athletes from 19 countries
Competition location	Stockholm Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	July 10, 1912 (preliminary round / semi-finals) July 11, 1912 (final)
Medalist Ralph Craig ( USA )   Donald Lippincott ( USA )   Willie Applegarth ( GBR )

The men's 200-meter race at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm was held on July 10 and 11, 1912 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. 61 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was the American Ralph Craig ahead of his compatriot Donald Lippincott . The bronze medal went to the Briton Willie Applegarth .

The German starters Heinrich Wenseler and Emil Ketterer as well as the Austrians Rudolf Rauch , Władysław Ponurski and Fritz Fleischer were eliminated in their preliminary stages . Erwin Kern , Germany, was unable to compete due to an injury. The best athlete from the German-speaking countries was Richard Rau from Germany, who made it to the finals and took fourth place there. Swiss athletes were not at the start.

Existing records

World record	Jack Donaldson ( Australia )	21.3 s (unofficial, race over 220 yards)	Glasgow	July 26, 1911
Olympic record	Archie Hahn ( USA )	21.6 s (straight route)	St. Louis	August 31, 1904

Conducting the competition

A total of 18 preliminary runs were carried out on July 10th. The athletes who finished in the first two places qualified for the semi-finals, which were held on the same day. In each of the six races, only the winners qualified for the final on July 11th.

Note: The runners qualified for the next round are highlighted in light blue.

leader

Date: July 10, 1912
The athletes who finished in the first two places qualified for the semi-finals.

Only a few times have come down to us, the times of victory and a few others. Also in the official report of the games, only the distances between the other runners are given in centimeters or meters, but not the times.

The divisions in the preliminary stages seem very strange. Some races were carried out with only two participants, who of course both had to get ahead beforehand, while other runs were carried out with up to five sprinters.

Forward 1

Charles Reidpath (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Reidpath	United States	22.6 s
2	Georges Rolot	France	22.7 s
3	Knut Stenborg	Sweden	k. A.
4th	Václav Labík-Gregan	Bohemia	k. A.

Forward 2

Charles Poulenard (FRA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Craig	United States	22.8 s
2	Richard Rice	Great Britain	23.0 s
3	Charles Poulenard	France	k. A.
4th	Karl Lindblom	Sweden	k. A.

Forward 3

Ira Courtney was able to keep Britain's Duncan Macmillan at bay, who had recovered from a training injury that he sustained a few days before the start of the competition.

Ira Courtney (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ira Courtney	United States	22.7 s
2	Duncan Macmillan	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Léon Aelter	Belgium	k. A.
4th	Haralds Hāns	Russia	k. A.
DNF	Herbert's Baumanis	Russia

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Luther	Sweden	23.6 s
2	Jan Grijseels	Netherlands	k. A.

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Willie Applegarth	Great Britain	24.7 s
2	Harold Savior	United States	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Richard Rau	German Empire	22.5 s
2	Arthur Anderson	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Rudolf Rauch	Austria	k. A.

Forward 7

Cooke beat South African Povey in the fastest of all heats.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Carl Cooke	United States	22.5 s
2	Reuben Povey	South African Union	k. A.
3	Joseph Wells	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Harry Beasley	Canada	k. A.
5	Georges Malfait	France	k. A.

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Howard	Canada	25.0 s
2	Franco Giongo	Italy	k. A.

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Knut Lindberg	Sweden	23.1 s
2	Frigyes Wiesner	Hungary	k. A.
3	Charles Lelong	France	k. A.

Forward 10

Peter Clarence Gerhardt (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Peter Clarence Gerhardt	United States	22.9 s
2	Victor d'Arcy	Great Britain	22.9 s
3	Gustav Möller	Sweden	k. A.
DNS	Erwin Kern	German Empire

Forward 11

Pierre Failliot (FRA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Donald Lippincott	United States	22.8 s
2	Ivan Möller	Sweden	k. A.
3	Pierre Failliot	France	k. A.
4th	Ernest Haley	Great Britain	k. A.
5	Pablo Eitel	Chile	k. A.

Forward 12

Alvah Meyer (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Alvah Meyer	United States	24.1 s
2	Robert C. Duncan	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 13

Donnell Young and Cyril Seedhouse only paid attention to their opponents. Seedhouse didn't stop Young from winning.

Yahiko Mishima (JPN)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Donnell Young	United States	22.8 s
2	Cyril Seedhouse	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Fritz Fleischer	Austria	k. A.
4th	Heinrich Wenseler	German Empire	k. A.
5	Yahiko Mishima	Japan	k. A.

Forward 14

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	George Patching	South African Union	22.3 s
2	Clement Wilson	United States	k. A.
3	Frank McConnell	Canada	k. A.
4th	Ervin Szerelemhegyi	Hungary	k. A.
DNF	Emil Grandell	Sweden

Forward 15

Władysław Ponurski (AUT), left in the picture

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Max Herrmann	German Empire	22.9 s
2	István Déván	Hungary	k. A.
3	Herman Sotaaen	Norway	k. A.
DNF	Wladyslaw Ponurski	Austria

Forward 16

The only two participants in this run did not run seriously and passed the finish line almost simultaneously.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	William Stewart	Australasia	26.0 s
2	Henry Macintosh	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 17

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Jacobs	Great Britain	23.2 s
2	Skotte Jacobsson	Sweden	k. A.
DNS	Emil Ketterer	German Empire

Forward 18

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ture person	Sweden	23.2 s
2	Robert Schurrer	France	k. A.
3	Antonio Stromp	Portugal	k. A.

Semifinals

Date: July 10, 1912

Only the winners qualified for the final. As in the preliminary stages, only the victory times and a few other times were transmitted.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Craig	United States	21.9 s
2	David Jacobs	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Ira Courtney	United States	k. A.
4th	Ture person	Sweden	k. A.
5	Frigyes Wiesner	Hungary	k. A.
DNF	Arthur Anderson	Great Britain

There was a start-to-finish victory for the American Ralph Craig.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Willie Applegarth	Great Britain	21.9 s
2	Clement Wilson	United States	k. A.
3	Cyril Seedhouse	Great Britain	k. A.
4th	Harold Savior	United States	k. A.
5	Skotte Jacobsson	Sweden	k. A.
DSQ	William Stewart	Australasia

William Applegarth and Clement Wilson fought a tough fight to the finish, which the Briton won.

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Donnell Young	United States	21.9 s
2	Carl Cooke	United States	k. A.
3	Georges Rolot	France	k. A.
4th	Max Herrmann	German Empire	k. A.
DNF	Henry Macintosh	Great Britain
DNF	George Patching	South African Union

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Donald Lippincott	United States	21.8 s
2	Alvah Meyer	United States	k. A.
3	John Howard	Canada	k. A.
4th	Ivan Möller	Sweden	22.4 s
5	Duncan Macmillan	Great Britain	k. A.
6th	Jan Grijseels	Netherlands	k. A.

While Ivan Möller and John Howard were able to follow the two Americans in the curve, they picked up speed on the straight. In the end, Donald Lippincott ran the fastest time of the day.

Run 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Richard Rau	German Empire	22.1 s
2	Peter Clarence Gerhardt	United States	k. A.
3	Charles Luther	Sweden	22.3 s
4th	Franco Giongo	Italy	k. A.
5	Reuben Povey	South African Union	k. A.
DNF	Richard Rice	Great Britain

Charles Luther got off to a bad start and fought his way to the straight against the two leaders, Richard Rau and Peter Gerhardt. After 120 meters the three were almost tied. Rau had the strongest final sprint and won just ahead of Gerhardt and Luther.

Run 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Reidpath	United States	22.1 s
2	Victor d'Arcy	Great Britain	k. A.
3	Knut Lindberg	Sweden	22.5 s
4th	István Déván	Hungary	k. A.
5	Robert Schurrer	France	k. A.
DNF	Robert C. Duncan	Great Britain

There was also a three-way battle in the last semifinals. Charles Reidpath, Victor d'Arcy and Knut Lindberg were almost tied up to 25 meters from the finish when Reidpath accelerated and narrowly won.

final

Start of the finals

Finish

Date: July 11, 1912
It was the eighth US medal in this discipline since its introduction in 1900.

After a quick start, the Americans were in the lead. William Applegarth took the lead out of the corner, but Ralph Craig passed him. Donald Lippincott was able to follow Craig, but Craig had the best final sprint. Applegarth and Richard Rau fought for third place in the end, the Briton turned out to be the stronger.
Ralph Craig became a double Olympic champion after his 100 meter victory.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Craig	United States	21.7 s
2	Donald Lippincott	United States	21.8 s
3	Willie Applegarth	Great Britain	22.0 s
4th	Richard Rau	German Empire	22.2 s
5	Charles Reidpath	United States	22.3 s
6th	Donnell Young	United States	22.3 s

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Ralph Craig (USA)

• 

  Donald Lippincott (USA), silver medal winner

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 99f

Video

• 1912 Stockholm Olympics - 100m & 200m on YouTube , accessed February 18, 2019.

Web links

• SportsReference 200 m , accessed August 25, 2017
• Official report , engl. (PDF), accessed on August 25, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Description of the preliminary stages in the official report ( memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 354 - 355, engl. (PDF) 
2. ↑ Description of the semi-finals in the official report, pp. 355 - 356 (English) ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Description of the finale in the official report ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pp. 356 - 357, engl. (PDF)