# Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. It was held on 31 July and 1 August 1928 at the Olympic Stadium. There were 59 competitors from 29 nations. Nations had been limited to 4 athletes each since 1920. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Percy Williams of Canada, the nation's second victory in the event (after 1908). The win broke a streak of three victories by the United States; with no Americans on the podium, the nation's six-Games medal streak was broken as well. Walter Rangeley of Great Britain took silver, giving Great Britain a four-Games medal streak in the event. Germany earned its first men's 200 metres medal with Helmut Körnig's bronze.

## Background

This was the seventh appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Two of the six finalists from the 1924 Games returned: gold medalist Jackson Scholz and two-time silver medalist Charley Paddock, both of the United States. Scholz was a slight favorite, but the Americans had not won any medals in the 100 metres earlier in Amsterdam and the winner of that event, Canada's Percy Williams, was a strong contender for a double in this event.
Lithuania and Romania each made their debut in the event. The United States made its seventh appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

## Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 15 heats of between 2 and 6 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of 5 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top three athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a now-standard 400 metre track.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | | | | |
| Olympic record | Archie Hahn (USA) | 21.6 | St. Louis, United States | 31 August 1904 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Helmut Körnig tied the Olympic record in the last quarterfinal.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 31 July 1928 | 14:50 17:15 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Saturday, 1 August 1928 | 14:00 15:50 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats

15 heats were held; the fastest two in each heat advanced to Round Two.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Henry Cumming | United States | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | André Mourlon | France | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | André Théard | Haiti | Unknown | |
| 4 | Willy Weibel | Switzerland | Unknown | |
| 5 | Diego Ordóñez | Spain | Unknown | |
| 6 | Ladislau Peter | Romania | Unknown | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Björn Kugelberg | Sweden | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | Maurice Degrelle | France | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Donald Cullen | Ireland | Unknown | |
| 4 | Renos Frangoudis | Greece | Unknown | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Fitzpatrick | Canada | 22.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jimmy Carlton | Australia | 22.8 | Q |
| 3 | Juan Serrahima | Spain | Unknown | |
| 4 | Ronald Burns | India | Unknown | |
| 5 | Alejandro Hannig | Chile | Unknown | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jakob Schüller | Germany | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Rinus van den Berge | Netherlands | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | François Prinsen | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 4 | Hans Niggl | Switzerland | Unknown | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Paddock | United States | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Mario Gómez | Mexico | 22.5 | Q |
| 3 | Anselmo Gonzaga | Philippines | 22.7 | |
| 4 | Adolphe Groscol | Belgium | 23.8 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Ralph Adams | Canada | 22.5 | Q |
| 3 | Iwao Aizawa | Japan | 22.6 | |
| 4 | Sean Lavan | Ireland | 22.9 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charley Borah | United States | 25.0 | Q |
| 2 | Hermann Schlöske | Germany | 25.0 | Q |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | André Cerbonney | France | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Ferenc Gerő | Hungary | Unknown | |
| 4 | James Hall | India | Unknown | |
| 5 | Johann Bartl | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |
| 6 | Francisco Costas | Mexico | Unknown | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilfred Legg | South Africa | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | Alberto Barucco | Argentina | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Haris Šveminas | Lithuania | Unknown | |
| — | George Hester | Canada | DSQ | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helmut Körnig | Germany | 23.4 | Q |
| 2 | Karel Knenicky | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Jean Moulin | Luxembourg | Unknown | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Guy Butler | Great Britain | 22.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jérôme Mannaert | France | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Juan Bautista Pina | Argentina | Unknown | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hermann Geißler | Austria | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | Giuseppe Castelli | Italy | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Aubrey Burton-Durham | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 4 | Angelos Lambrou | Greece | Unknown | |

#### Heat 13

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Harry Broos | Netherlands | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Willy Dujarin | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 4 | José de Lima | Portugal | Unknown | |

#### Heat 14

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Percy Williams | Canada | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Jack Hambidge | Great Britain | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Jaroslav Vykoupil | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 15

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cyril Gill | Great Britain | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Howard Kinsman | South Africa | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Edgardo Toetti | Italy | Unknown | |

### Quarterfinals

Six heats were held; the fastest two finishers in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jakob Schüller | Germany | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Henry Cumming | United States | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Ralph Adams | Canada | Unknown | |
| 4 | Hermann Geißler | Austria | Unknown | |
| 5 | Jack Hambidge | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilfred Legg | South Africa | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Cyril Gill | Great Britain | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Hermann Schlöske | Germany | Unknown | |
| 4 | Rinus van den Berge | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 5 | André Mourlon | France | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Paddock | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Björn Kugelberg | Sweden | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | André Cerbonney | France | Unknown | |
| 4 | Guy Butler | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 5 | Harry Broos | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 21.9 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 4 | Maurice Degrelle | France | Unknown | |
| 5 | Karel Knenicky | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Fitzpatrick | Canada | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Mario Gómez | Mexico | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Alberto Barucco | Argentina | Unknown | |
| 4 | Jérôme Mannaert | France | Unknown | |
| 5 | Howard Kinsman | South Africa | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helmut Körnig | Germany | 21.6 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | Percy Williams | Canada | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Charley Borah | United States | 21.8 | |
| 4 | Jimmy Carlton | Australia | 22.0 | |
| 5 | Giuseppe Castelli | Italy | 22.2 | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners from each of the two heats advanced to the Final Round.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Percy Williams | Canada | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 22.0 | Q |
| 3 | Jakob Schüller | Germany | 22.1 | Q |
| 4 | Charley Paddock | United States | 22.1 | |
| 5 | Mario Gómez | Mexico | 22.3 | |
| — | Wilfred Legg | South Africa | DNF | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helmut Körnig | Germany | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.9 | Q |
| 3 | John Fitzpatrick | Canada | 22.0 | Q |
| 4 | Henry Cumming | United States | 22.1 | |
| 5 | Cyril Gill | Great Britain | 22.3 | |
| 6 | Björn Kugelberg | Sweden | 22.6 | |

### Final

Helmut Körnig and Jackson Scholz finished so close that the judges could not determine who was third and who fourth.
The judges called it a dead heat and called for a run-off. Scholz declined to participate, resulting in Körnig being awarded the bronze medal: the film of the race confirmed that Körnig finished third.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Percy Williams | Canada | 21.8 |
| | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 21.9 |
| | Helmut Körnig | Germany | 21.9 |
| 4 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.9 |
| 5 | John Fitzpatrick | Canada | 22.1 |
| 6 | Jakob Schüller | Germany | 22.2 |