Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 20 (quarterfinals) July 21 (semifinals) July 22 (final)
Competitors	15 from 6 nations
Medalists
Charles Bacon  United States Harry Hillman  United States Jimmy Tremeer  Great Britain

Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5 miles		men
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3200 m steeplechase		men
Medley relay		men
3 mile team race		men
Road events
Marathon	men
3500 m walk	men
10 mile walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Standing long jump	men
Standing high jump	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
Greek discus	men
Freestyle javelin	men

The men's 400 metres hurdles was the longer of two hurdling events at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. It was the third time the event had been featured at the Olympics. The Olympic record was beat three times in the course of the Games.

Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (= 91.5 centimetre) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line.

The competition was held from Monday, July 20, 1908 to Wednesday, July 22, 1908.

15 runners from six nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record	55.8(*)	Charles Bacon	Philadelphia (USA)	July 6, 1908
Olympic Record	57.6(**)	Walter Tewksbury	Paris (FRA)	July 15, 1900

(*) unofficial

(**) This track was 500 metres in circumference.

Harry Hillman ran 53.0 but he knocked over a hurdle and the hurdles were only 30 inches (76 cm) high.

In the first round Charles Bacon set a new Olympic record with 57.0 seconds. In the second round Harry Hillman set a new record with 56.4 seconds. In the final Charles Bacon set a new world record with 55.0 seconds. This record became the first official world record for the 400 metre hurdles.

Results

First round

First round, heat 1

There was no competition for Koops in the first heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Evert Koops	Netherlands	walkover

First round, heat 2

A tight race from start to finish, Coe won by about a metre.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Harry Coe	United States	58.8 seconds
2	John Densham	Great Britain	(59.0 seconds)

First round, heat 3

Bacon won easily, breaking Godfrey Shaw's 440 yards world record.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Charles Bacon	United States	57.0 seconds OR
2	Henry St Aubyn Murray	Australasia	(59.8 seconds)

First round, heat 4

There was no competition for Harmer in the fourth heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Frederick Harmer	Great Britain	walkover

First round, heat 5

There was no competition for Burton in the fifth heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	G. Burton	Great Britain	walkover

First round, heat 6

Dubois pulled up lame three-quarters of the way through the race, leaving Hillman with the win.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Harry Hillman	United States	59.2 seconds
—	Georges Dubois	France	DNF

First round, heat 7

There was no competition for Groenings in the seventh heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Oswald Groenings	Great Britain	walkover

First round, heat 8

There was no competition for Gould in the eighth heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Wyatt Gould	Great Britain	walkover

First round, heat 9

There was no competition for Kovacs in the ninth heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Nándor Kovács	Hungary	walkover

First round, heat 10

There was no competition for Tremeer in the tenth heat.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Jimmy Tremeer	Great Britain	walkover

First round, heat 11

The eleventh heat was cancelled as there were no starters.

First round, heat 12

In only the fourth actual race of the first round, and the third in which both runners finished, Burton won in the straight.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Leslie Burton	Great Britain	1:00.4
2	Henri Meslot	France	(1:01.0)

Second round

Second round, heat 1

Koops fell; Hillman won easily, breaking Bacon's record that was set in the first round.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Harry Hillman	United States	56.4 seconds OR
2	Harry Coe	United States	(57.0 seconds)
—	Evert Koops	Netherlands	DNF

Second round, heat 2

Bacon started off fast, and the other two runners dropped out at 200m.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Charles Bacon	United States	58.8 seconds
—	Oswald Groenings	Great Britain	DNF
—	Nándor Kovács	Hungary	DNF

Second round, heat 3

Burton led after the hurdles, and won despite losing ground in the straight.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Leslie Burton	Great Britain	59.8 seconds
2	Frederick Harmer	Great Britain	1:00.3
3	Wyatt Gould	Great Britain	unknown

Second round, heat 4

Burton retired, allowing Tremeer to win with a jog.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Jimmy Tremeer	Great Britain	1:00.6
—	G. Burton	Great Britain	DNF

Final

The final was held on Wednesday, July 22, 1908.

Charles Bacon and Harry Hillman in the final.

Halfway into the race, it was clear that the only question was which American would win. Bacon and Hillman were even all the way until the straight, with Bacon just barely pulling ahead to win by two yards, as both of the Americans came in under the world record set by Hillman in the second round.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Charles Bacon	United States	55.0 seconds WR
2	Harry Hillman	United States	55.3 seconds
3	Jimmy Tremeer	Great Britain	57.0 seconds
4	Leslie Burton	Great Britain	58.0 seconds

References

Official Report