# Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres sprint event at the 1948 Summer Olympics took place between 2 August and 3 August. There were 51 competitors from 28 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Mel Patton. His countryman Barney Ewell earned silver, making this the third consecutive Games the United States took the top two spots in the event. Lloyd La Beach's bronze gave Panama a medal in its debut in the event.

## Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. None of the six finalists from the pre-war 1936 Games returned. The Americans were favored. Barney Ewell was the 1946 and 1947 AAU champion. Mel Patton was a short sprint specialist who had been disappointed by a fifth-place finish in the 100 metres earlier in the Games; he had never won an American title at the longer sprint distance. European champion Nikolay Karakulov did not compete because the Soviet Union did not yet participate in the Olympics.
Bermuda, Burma, Ceylon, Cuba, Iceland, Iraq, Jamaica, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 10th 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 12 heats of between 3 and 6 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. Again, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a now-standard 400 metre track.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Jesse Owens (USA) | 20.3 | Michigan, United States | 1935 |
| Olympic record | Jesse Owens (USA) | 20.7 | Berlin, Germany | 5 August 1936 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 2 August 1948 | 14:30 16:15 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Tuesday, 3 August 1948 | 15:30 17:15 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the quarterfinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 21.3 | Q |
| 2 | Ted Haggis | Canada | 22.2 | Q |
| 3 | Haukur Clausen | Iceland | 22.2 | |
| 4 | Stanley Lines | Bermuda | Unknown | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Vallé | Great Britain | 22.3 | Q |
| 2 | John De Saram | Ceylon | 23.1 | Q |
| 3 | Bernabe Lovina | Philippines | 23.2 | |
| 4 | Stefanos Petrakis | Greece | Unknown | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 21.9 | Q |
| 2 | Dennis Shore | South Africa | 22.1 | Q |
| 3 | António Morais | Portugal | 22.6 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Barney Ewell | United States | 21.6 | Q |
| 2 | Abram van Heerden | South Africa | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Angel García | Cuba | 22.2 | |
| 4 | Fernand Linssen | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 5 | Hazzard Dill | Bermuda | Unknown | |
| 6 | Ali Salman | Iraq | Unknown | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Julien Lebas | France | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Rosalvo Ramos | Brazil | 22.2 | Q |
| 3 | Basil McKenzie | Jamaica | 22.4 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Patton | United States | 21.6 | Q |
| 2 | Leslie Laing | Jamaica | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Guillermo Geary | Argentina | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Duncan White | Ceylon | Unknown | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 0.69 | Q |
| 2 | John Fairgrieve | Great Britain | 22.2 | Q |
| 3 | Raúl Mazorra | Cuba | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Kemal Aksur | Turkey | Unknown | |
| 5 | Gonzalo Rodríguez | Mexico | Unknown | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cliff Bourland | United States | 21.3 | Q |
| 2 | Haroldo da Silva | Brazil | 21.9 | Q |
| 3 | Georgie Lewis | Trinidad and Tobago | 22.4 | |
| 4 | Walter Pérez | Uruguay | Unknown | |
| 5 | Peter Bloch | Norway | Unknown | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Treloar | Australia | 21.7 | Q |
| 2 | Muhammad Sharif Butt | Pakistan | 22.8 | Q |
| 3 | Raşit Öztaş | Turkey | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Perry Johnson | Bermuda | Unknown | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | 22.3 | Q |
| 2 | Santiago Ferrando | Peru | 22.5 | Q |
| 3 | Fernand Bourgaux | Belgium | 22.9 | |
| 4 | Étienne Bally | France | Unknown | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Juan López | Uruguay | 22.1 | Q |
| 2 | Ivan Hausen | Brazil | 22.2 | Q |
| 3 | Gabe Scholten | Netherlands | 22.2 | |
| 4 | Maung Sein Pe | Burma | Unknown | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Peter Heredia | Great Britain | 2 | Q |
| 2 | Jan Lammers | Netherlands | 22.0 | Q |
| 3 | Don Pettie | Canada | 22.0 | |
| 4 | Mario Fayos | Uruguay | Unknown | |
| 5 | Joseph Stéphan | France | Unknown | |
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### Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 21.3 | Q |
| 2 | Barney Ewell | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Vallé | Great Britain | 22.1 | Q |
| 4 | Jan Lammers | Netherlands | Unknown | |
| 5 | Julien Lebas | France | Unknown | |
| 6 | Rosalvo Ramos | Brazil | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cliff Bourland | United States | 21.3 | Q |
| 2 | John Treloar | Australia | 21.5 | Q |
| 3 | Haroldo da Silva | Brazil | 22.0 | Q |
| 4 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | Unknown | |
| 5 | Dennis Shore | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 6 | John De Saram | Ceylon | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lloyd La Beach | Panama | 21.7 | Q |
| 2 | Leslie Laing | Jamaica | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Abram van Heerden | South Africa | 22.9 | Q |
| 4 | John Fairgrieve | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 5 | Santiago Ferrando | Peru | Unknown | |
| — | Juan López | Uruguay | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Patton | United States | 21.4 | Q |
| 2 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 22.0 | Q |
| 4 | Ivan Hausen | Brazil | 22.3 | |
| 5 | Ted Haggis | Canada | Unknown | |
| 6 | Muhammad Sharif Butt | Pakistan | Unknown | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| 1 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 21.4 | Q |
| 2 | Mel Patton | United States | 21.6 | Q |
| 3 | Barney Ewell | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 4 | Haroldo da Silva | Brazil | Unknown | |
| 5 | Abram van Heerden | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 6 | Paul Vallé | Great Britain | Unknown | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| 1 | Cliff Bourland | United States | 21.5 | Q |
| 2 | Lloyd La Beach | Panama | 21.6 | Q |
| 3 | Leslie Laing | Jamaica | 21.6 | Q |
| 4 | John Treloar | Australia | Unknown | |
| 5 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 6 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | Unknown | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| | Mel Patton | United States | 21.1 | |
| | Barney Ewell | United States | 21.1 | |
| | Lloyd La Beach | Panama | 21.2 | |
| 4 | Herb McKenley | Jamaica | 21.3 | * |
| 5 | Cliff Bourland | United States | 21.3 | * |
| 6 | Leslie Laing | Jamaica | 21.8 | * |
Key: * = Time is an estimate