# Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. This race was depicted in the film Chariots of Fire. The first two rounds were held on 6 July, with the semifinals and final on 7 July. Eighty-six sprinters from 34 countries competed. The event was won by Harold Abrahams of Great Britain—Great Britain's first Olympic gold medal in the men's 100 metres and only the second time that the United States failed to win (Reggie Walker of South Africa had won in 1908). Jackson Scholz kept the Americans on the podium with a silver. Arthur Porritt won the bronze, New Zealand's first medal in the event.
Chariots of Fire presents a fictionalized version of the event in which Eric Liddell, a devout Christian, dropped out shortly before the competition because the heat was on Sunday, and his faith compelled him to keep Sunday as the Sabbath. While the basic story is accurate, the true timeline was less dramatic, as "Liddell knew about the Olympic schedule several months in advance and never intended to run the 100 in Paris."

## Background

This was the seventh time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. For the first time (excluding the 1906 Intercalated Games), a defending gold medalist (Charley Paddock) attempted to retain his title. Two other 1920 finalists, Loren Murchison and Jackson Scholz, also returned. Other notable entrants included Great Britain's Harold Abrahams, a favorite along with Paddock.
Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Estonia, Haiti, Ireland (newly independent from Great Britain), Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, and Turkey were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first seven Olympic men's 100 metres events.

## Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 17 heats, of 3–6 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 34 quarterfinalists were placed into 6 heats of 5 or 6 athletes. Again, the top 2 advanced. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, this time with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Charles Paddock (USA) | 10.4 s | Redlands, United States | 23 April 1921 |
| Olympic record | Donald Lippincott (USA) | 10.6 s | Stockholm, Sweden | 6 July 1912 |
No new records were set in 1924, though Harold Abrahams equalled the Olympic record three times.

## Results

All times shown are in seconds.

### Heats

The first round was held on 6 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the second round.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Loren Murchison | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Camilo Rivas | Argentina | | |
| 4 | Mariano Aguilar | Mexico | | |
| 5 | Alberto Jurado | Ecuador | | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Ernesto Bonacina | Italy | 11.2 | Q |
| 3 | Mogens Truelsen | Denmark | | |
| 4 | Gentil dos Santos | Portugal | | |
| 5 | Alois Linka | Czechoslovakia | 11.6 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charles Paddock | United States | 11.2 | Q |
| 2 | Oto Seviško | Latvia | 11.8 | Q |
| 3 | Ferdinand Kaindl | Austria | | |
| 4 | Leo Jørgensen | Denmark | | |
| 5 | Fortunato Catalon | Philippines | | |
| 6 | Bohus Fleischer | Czechoslovakia | | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Maurice Degrelle | France | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Reijo Halme | Finland | 11.1 | Q |
| 3 | Frederik Lamp | Netherlands | | |
| 4 | Fritz Schedl | Austria | | |
| 5 | Władysław Dobrowolski | Poland | 11.5 | |
| 6 | Rauf Hasağası | Turkey | | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lajos Kurunczy | Hungary | 11.4 | Q |
| 2 | Johans Oja | Latvia | | Q |
| 3 | Henricus Cockuyt | Belgium | | |
| 4 | Wilfred Hildreth | India | | |
| 5 | Lawrence Betts | South Africa | | |
| 6 | Stanko Perpar | Yugoslavia | | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Henricus Broos | Netherlands | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | George Dunston | South Africa | 11.2 | Q |
| 3 | Antonín Svoboda | Czechoslovakia | 11.3 | |
| 4 | Poul Schiang | Denmark | 11.5 | |
| 5 | José-María Larrabeiti | Spain | 11.6 | |
| 6 | David Nepomuceno | Philippines | | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lancelot Royle | Great Britain | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Giovanni Frangipane | Italy | 11.1 | Q |
| 3 | André Théard | Haiti | 11.2 | |
| 4 | Juan Junqueras | Spain | 11.3 | |
| 5 | Zygmunt Weiss | Poland | 11.4 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Marinus van den Berge | Netherlands | 11.1 | Q |
| 3 | Diego Ordóñez | Spain | | |
| 4 | Victor Moriaud | Switzerland | | |
| 5 | Karel Pott | Portugal | | |
| 6 | Miguel Enrico | Argentina | | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Albert Heisé | France | 11.2 | Q |
| 2 | Gusztáv Rózsahegyi | Hungary | 11.3 | Q |
| 3 | Lauri Härö | Finland | 11.3 | |
| 4 | Curt Wiberg | Sweden | 11.4 | |
| 5 | Alexandros Papafingos | Greece | | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | 11.1 | Q |
| 3 | Laurence Armstrong | Canada | | |
| 4 | Konstantinos Pantelidis | Greece | | |
| 5 | Gvido Jekals | Latvia | | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chester Bowman | United States | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Walter Strebi | Switzerland | 11.2 | Q |
| 3 | James Hall | India | 11.3 | |
| 4 | Bror Österdahl | Sweden | 11.3 | |
| 5 | Félix Escobar | Argentina | | |
| 6 | Herminio Ahumada | Mexico | | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Hester | Canada | 11.2 | Q |
| 2 | Johannes van Kampen | Netherlands | 11.2 | Q |
| 3 | Karl Borner | Switzerland | | |
| 4 | Bill Lowe | Ireland | | |
| 5 | László Muskát | Hungary | | |
| – | Eugène Moetbeek | Belgium | DQ | |

#### Heat 13

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Hammer | Luxembourg | 11.3 | Q |
| 3 | Terence Pitt | India | 11.3 | |
| 4 | Knut Russell | Sweden | 11.3 | |
| 5 | Reinhold Kesküll | Estonia | 11.5 | |

#### Heat 14

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Slip Carr | Australia | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Sasago Tani | Japan | | |
| 4 | Anton Husgafvel | Finland | | |
| 5 | Álvaro Ribeiro | Brazil | | |
| 6 | Şekip Engineri | Turkey | | |

#### Heat 15

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | André Mourlon | France | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Enrico Torre | Italy | 11.2 | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Hilger | Luxembourg | | |

#### Heat 16

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Félix Mendizábal | Spain | 11.4 | Q |
| 2 | Anthony Vince | Canada | 11.4 | Q |
| 3 | Vittorio Zucca | Italy | 11.5 | |
| 4 | Stanisław Sośnicki | Poland | 11.6 | |
| 5 | Artūrs Gedvillo | Latvia | | |

#### Heat 17

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ferenc Gerő | Hungary | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | René Mourlon | France | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Väinö Eskola | Finland | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Aleksander Szenajch | Poland | | |
| 5 | Christiaan Steyn | South Africa | | |
| 6 | Aleksa Spahic | Yugoslavia | | |

### Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on 6 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Loren Murchison | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Giovanni Frangipane | Italy | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Henricus Broos | Netherlands | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Paul Hammer | Luxembourg | 11.1 | |
| 5 | Reijo Halme | Finland | 11.1 | |
| 6 | Anthony Vince | Canada | | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chester Bowman | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Walter Rangeley | Great Britain | 11.0 | |
| 4 | René Mourlon | France | 11.0 | |
| 5 | Lajos Kurunczy | Hungary | 11.0 | |
| 6 | Enrico Torre | Italy | | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | André Mourlon | France | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Marinus van den Berge | Netherlands | | |
| 5 | Jānis Oja | Latvia | | |
| 6 | Walter Strebi | Switzerland | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q =OR |
| 2 | George Hester | Canada | 10.7 | Q |
| 3 | Ferenc Gerő | Hungary | | |
| 4 | Albert Heisé | France | | |
| 5 | Ernesto Bonacina | Italy | | |
| 6 | Félix Mendizábal | Spain | | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charles Paddock | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Maurice Degrelle | France | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Johannes van Kampen | Netherlands | | |
| 4 | George Dunston | South Africa | | |
| 5 | Gusztáv Rózsahegyi | Hungary | | |

#### Quarterfinal 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Slip Carr | Australia | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Lancelot Royle | Great Britain | | |
| 4 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | | |
| 5 | Oto Seviško | Latvia | | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held on 7 July. The first three runners from each semifinal qualified for the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 11.1 | Q |
| 3 | Loren Murchison | United States | 11.2 | Q |
| 4 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 11.3 | |
| 5 | Maurice Degrelle | France | 11.4 | |
| 6 | George Hester | Canada | 11.5 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q =OR |
| 2 | Charles Paddock | United States | 10.7 | Q |
| 3 | Chester Bowman | United States | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | Slip Carr | Australia | 10.7 | |
| 5 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | 10.8 | |
| 6 | Giovanni Frangipane | Italy | 11.2 | |

### Final

The final was held on 7 July.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 10.6 | =OR |
| | 3 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.7 | |
| | 6 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 10.8 | |
| 4 | 5 | Chester Bowman | United States | 10.9 | |
| 5 | 1 | Charles Paddock | United States | 10.9 | |
| 6 | 2 | Loren Murchison | United States | 11.0 | |