1928 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Men
Attendees	25 athletes from 14 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Amsterdam
Competition phase	July 29, 1928 (preliminary / semi-finals) July 30, 1928 (final)
Medalist David Burghley ( GBR )   Frank Cuhel ( USA )   Morgan Taylor ( USA )

The men's 400-meter hurdles at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was held on July 29 and 30, 1928 in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. 25 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Briton David Burghley ahead of the American Frank Cuhel . Bronze went to defending champion Morgan Taylor , also from the USA.

Existing records

• World record : 52.0 s - Morgan Taylor ( USA ), Philadelphia , July 4, 1928
• Olympic record : 53.8 s - Erik Wilén ( Sweden ), Paris final , July 7th - The then winner Morgan Taylor ran faster, but had knocked over a hurdle illegally. For this reason, his time of 52.6 s was not recognizable as a record.

Conducting the competition

The runners competed in six heats on July 29th. The two best runners in each case qualified for the semi-finals on the same day. From the two preliminary rounds, the three best each came into the final, which was held on July 30th.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Prelims

Date: July 29, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Forward 1

Photo from the first run: Left David Burghley (GBR), right in the foreground Robert Maxwell (USA)

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Burghley	United Kingdom	57.0 s
2	Robert Maxwell	United States	57.2 s
3	Vangelis Moiropoulos	Greece	58.4 s
4th	André Adelheim	France	59.2 s
5	Herman Larsen	Denmark	1: 00.0 min

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	John Gibson	United States	57.0 s
2	Frederick Chauncy	United Kingdom	k. A.
3	Émile Swinnen	Belgium	k. A.
DNF	Pierre Arnaudin	France

Forward 3

Finish of the third heat: Viel (100) ahead of Livingstone-Learmonth (468) and Matilainen (795), Watson in the background on the left

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Roger Much	France	56.2 s
2	Tom Livingstone-Learmonth	United Kingdom	56.4 s
3	Juka Matilainen	Finland	56.7 s
4th	Alf Watson	Australia	57.8 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	55.2 s
2	Erkka Wilén	Finland	56.5 s
3	Erik Kjellström	Sweden	56.6 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	55.8 s
2	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	56.0 s
3	Lance Percival	United Kingdom	k. A.

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Frank Cuhel	United States	54.6 s
2	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.1 s
3	Louis Lundgren	Denmark	55.9 s
4th	Warren Montabone	Canada	56.5 s
5	Edouard Max-Robert	France	k. A.
6th	Abdul Hamid	British India

Semifinals

Date: July 29, 1928

Not all times have been passed down.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Morgan Taylor	United States	53.4 s	OR
2	Frank Cuhel	United States	53.6 s
3	David Burghley	United Kingdom	53.9 s
4th	Roger Much	France	57.6 s
5	Stefan Kostrzewski	Poland	58.0 s
6th	Frederick Chauncy	United Kingdom	k. A.

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Tom Livingstone-Learmonth	United Kingdom	54.0 s
2	Luigi Facelli	Italy	54.2 s
3	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	54.3 s
4th	John Gibson	United States	54.4 s
5	Erkka Wilén	Finland	54.5 s
6th	Robert Maxwell	United States	k. A.

final

space	Surname	nation	height	annotation
1	David Burghley	United Kingdom	53.4 s	OR
2	Frank Cuhel	United States	53.6 s
3	Morgan Taylor	United States	53.6 s
4th	Sten Pettersson	Sweden	53.8 s
5	Tom Livingstone-Learmonth	United Kingdom	54.2 s
6th	Luigi Facelli	Italy	55.8 s

Date: July 30, 1928

The clear favorite was the Olympic champion of the last games , Morgan Taylor. In July he had set the world record in the US Olympic eliminations with 52.0 seconds . Here in Amsterdam he had defeated his compatriot Frank Cuhel and the British Lord Burghley in the interim. In the final this Lord Burghley set the fastest starting pace, but at the end of the last corner he had lost his lead, Taylor, Cuhel and Lord Burghley were pretty much even. Everyone was counting on Taylor's finish. But the Briton did not give up, was the fastest on the home stretch and became Olympic champion. Taylor resigned himself in the last few meters and dropped to third behind Cuhel.

For the first time there was no US victory over the 400 meter hurdles .

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic champion David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter (GBR), who started under the real name of David Burghley

• 

  Frank Cuhel (USA), silver medal winner

• 

  Defending champion Morgan Taylor (USA) won bronze.

• 

  Fourth place for the Swede Sten Pettersson (here front left)

• 

  Tom Livingstone-Learmonth (GBR) finished fifth.

• 

  Only 6th in the final: Luigi Facelli (ITA)

• 

  The Polish runner Stefan Kostrzewski was eliminated in the semifinals.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, pp. 199f

Web links

• SportsReference 400m hurdles , accessed September 12, 2017
• Official report pp. 437–439, English (PDF), accessed on September 12, 2017

Video

• Lord David Burghley Claims Olympic Hurdles Title - Amsterdam 1928 Olympics , published February 14, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed September 12, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 554 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )