# Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The first two rounds were held on 8 July, with the semifinals and final on 9 July. Sixty-five sprinters from 33 countries competed. Nations were limited to 4 athletes each. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Jackson Scholz of the United States, the nation's third consecutive victory in the event and fifth in six Games. For the third straight Games, the podium consisted of two Americans winning gold and silver (Charley Paddock) and a Briton taking bronze (Eric Liddell). Paddock, the silver medalist in 1920 as well, was the second man to earn multiple medals in the 200 metres.

## Background

This was the sixth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the six finalists from the 1920 Games returned: silver medalist Charley Paddock of the United States.
Argentina, Brazil, Haiti, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Turkey, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its sixth 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 17 heats of between 3 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of between 5 and 6 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 race was run on a 500-metre track, the last time the Olympics used a track with a different length than the now-standard 400 metres.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Willie Applegarth (GBR) | 21.2 | London, United Kingdom | 4 July 1914 |
| Olympic record | Archie Hahn (USA) | 21.6 | St. Louis, United States | 31 August 1904 |
Jackson Scholz of the United States tied the Olympic record in the final.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 8 July 1924 | 14:30 17:00 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Wednesday, 9 July 1924 | 14:00 15:45 | Semifinals Final |

## Results

All times shown are in seconds.

### Heats

The first round was held on 8 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the second round.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Howard Kinsman | South Africa | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | André Mourlon | France | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Pietro Pastorino | Italy | 22.1 | |
| 4 | James Hall | India | 22.5 | |
| 5 | José-María Larrabeiti | Spain | Unknown | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bayes Norton | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Carlos Garces | Mexico | Unknown | |
| 4 | Félix Mendizábal | Spain | Unknown | |
| 5 | Fritz Bürger | Austria | Unknown | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Eric Liddell | Great Britain | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Rudolf Rauch | Austria | 22.6 | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Hilger | Luxembourg | Unknown | |
| 4 | Herminio Ahumada | Mexico | Unknown | |
| 5 | Emilio Casanovas | Argentina | Unknown | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | Larry Armstrong | Canada | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Karl Borner | Switzerland | Unknown | |
| 4 | Lauri Härö | Finland | Unknown | |
| 5 | Artūrs Gedvillo | Latvia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Henricus Broos | Netherlands | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | George Dunston | South Africa | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Paul Hammer | Luxembourg | Unknown | |
| 4 | Mogens Truelsen | Denmark | Unknown | |
| 5 | Oto Seviško | Latvia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 22.4 | Q |
| 2 | George Hester | Canada | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Terence Pitt | India | Unknown | |
| 4 | Pierre Parrain | France | Unknown | |
| 5 | Reijo Halme | Finland | Unknown | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Slip Carr | Australia | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Bill Lowe | Ireland | 23.0 | Q |
| 3 | Jan de Vries | Netherlands | 23.2 | |
| 4 | Antonín Svoboda | Czechoslovakia | | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John McKechenneay | Canada | 23.2 | Q |
| 2 | Roy Norman | Australia | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Alexandros Papafingos | Greece | Unknown | |
| 4 | Alois Linka | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |
| 5 | Wilfred Hildreth | India | Unknown | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Ferenc Gerő | Hungary | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | José Martínez | Mexico | Unknown | |
| 4 | Christiaan Steyn | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 5 | Rauf Hasağası | Turkey | Unknown | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Charley Paddock | United States | 22.3 | Q |
| 3 | Gentil dos Santos | Portugal | 23.0 | |
| 4 | Johannes van Kampen | Netherlands | 23.1 | |
| 5 | Diego Ordóñez | Spain | | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | 23.0 | Q |
| 2 | Konstantinos Pantelidis | Greece | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Stanko Perpar | Yugoslavia | Unknown | |
| 4 | Leo Jørgensen | Denmark | Unknown | |
| 5 | Walter Strebi | Switzerland | Unknown | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lajos Kurunczy | Hungary | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Sasago Tani | Japan | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Gvido Jekals | Latvia | Unknown | |
| 4 | Poul Schiang | Denmark | Unknown | |
| 5 | Hirsch Drisin | Finland | Unknown | |

#### Heat 13

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Hill | United States | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Thomas Matthewman | Great Britain | 21.0 | Q |
| 3 | Alvaro de Oliveira | Brazil | Unknown | |
| 4 | Aleksander Szenajch | Poland | Unknown | |
| 5 | Mariano Aguilar | Mexico | Unknown | |

#### Heat 14

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joseph Jackson | France | 22.8 | Q |
| 2 | Félix Escobar | Argentina | 23.0 | Q |
| 3 | Zygmunt Weiss | Poland | 23.4 | |
| 4 | Ville Ritola | Finland | Unknown | |
| 5 | Bohus Fleischer | Czechoslovakia | Unknown | |

#### Heat 15

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Maurice Degrelle | France | 22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Marinus van den Berge | Netherlands | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | David Nepomuceno | Philippines | Unknown | |
| 4 | Lawrence Beets | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 5 | Henricus Cockuyt | Belgium | Unknown | |

#### Heat 16

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sean Lavan | Ireland | 23.2 | Q |
| 2 | Juan Junquera | Spain | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Reinhold Kesküll | Estonia | Unknown | |
| 4 | Narciso Valdares Costa | Brazil | Unknown | |
| 5 | Karel Pott | Portugal | Unknown | |

#### Heat 17

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Valéry Théard | Haiti | 23.6 | Q |
| 2 | Jānis Oja | Latvia | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Johannes Brock | Denmark | Unknown | |
| 4 | Fortunato Catalon | Philippines | Unknown | |
| 5 | Mohamed Burhan | Turkey | Unknown | |

### Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals were held on 8 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the semifinals.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charley Paddock | United States | 22.2 | Q |
| 2 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 22.6 | Q |
| 3 | George Dunston | South Africa | Unknown | |
| 4 | Jānis Oja | Latvia | Unknown | |
| 5 | Rudolf Rauch | Austria | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Slip Carr | Australia | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Eric Liddell | Great Britain | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Jackson | France | Unknown | |
| 4 | Sean Lavan | Ireland | Unknown | |
| 5 | John MacKechenneay | Canada | Unknown | |
| 6 | Juan Junquera | Spain | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Sasago Tani | Japan | Unknown | |
| 4 | Valéry Théard | Haiti | Unknown | |
| 5 | Roy Norman | Australia | Unknown | |
| 6 | Konstantinos Pantelidis | Greece | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | Bayes Norton | United States | 22.3 | Q |
| 3 | Maurice Degrelle | France | 22.4 | |
| 4 | Ferenc Gerő | Hungary | 22.4 | |
| 5 | Laurence Armstrong | Canada | Unknown | |
| 6 | Félix Escobar | Argentina | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 22.0 | Q |
| 2 | André Mourlon | France | 22.1 | Q |
| 3 | Lajos Kurunczy | Hungary | Unknown | |
| 4 | Thomas Matthewman | Great Britain | Unknown | |
| 5 | Bill Lowe | Ireland | Unknown | |
| 6 | Marinus van den Berge | Netherlands | Unknown | |

#### Quarterfinal 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Hill | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Howard Kinsman | South Africa | Unknown | Q |
| 3 | Paul Brochart | Belgium | Unknown | |
| 4 | George Hester | Canada | Unknown | |
| 5 | Henricus Broos | Netherlands | Unknown | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held on 9 July. The first three runners from each semifinal qualified for the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | George Hill | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 21.9 | Q |
| 4 | Slip Carr | Australia | 22.1 | |
| 5 | Wilfred Nichol | Great Britain | 22.4 | |
| 6 | Arthur Porritt | New Zealand | 22.6 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charley Paddock | United States | 21.8 | Q |
| 2 | Eric Liddell | Great Britain | 21.8 | Q |
| 3 | Bayes Norton | United States | 22.1 | Q |
| 4 | André Mourlon | France | 22.2 | |
| 5 | Howard Kinsman | South Africa | 22.3 | |
| 6 | Cyril Coaffee | Canada | 22.4 | |

### Final

The final was held on 9 July.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Jackson Scholz | United States | 21.6 | =OR |
| | 6 | Charley Paddock | United States | 21.7 | |
| | 5 | Eric Liddell | Great Britain | 21.9 | |
| 4 | 1 | George Hill | United States | 22.0 | |
| 5 | 3 | Bayes Norton | United States | 22.0 | |
| 6 | 2 | Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 22.3 | |