On August 4th, the runners competed in six preliminary runs. The three fastest athletes each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The four best runners from the four quarter-finals also made it to the next round, the semifinals. In the preliminary rounds, the top three qualified for the final. The two semi-finals and the final were played on August 5th.
Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue. The run times given are the hand-stopped results from the official report. The remeasured results of the electrical timing are, if available, in the note.
The two Americans William Carr and Ben Eastman fought for the gold medal among themselves. By early July was Eastman, who's with 46.4 over 440 yards the pre-existing 400-meters - a world record s had significantly undercut by 47.0, the clear favorite. But on July 2, 1932, he was beaten by the hitherto little known Bill Carr and so the outcome of this race was open again. After 300 meters Eastman was ahead by a tenth of a second. In the end, Carr had the better reserves and won the gold medal with a two-tenths advantage with a new world record. Third was Canadian Alex Wilson, who had already won silver in the 800 m three days earlier, one second behind Eastman .
For the USA it was the sixth success in the eighth Olympic final over 400 meters. At the same time it was the fourth double success for the US team in this discipline.
literature
Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 227f