# Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, England, we held at Wembley Stadium on 30 and 31 July. Sixty-three athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners by rules set at the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Harrison Dillard, in a photo finish. Lloyd LaBeach of Panama won his nation's first medal in the men's 100 metres, a bronze. This was the first time a photo finish camera was used at an Olympic Games. The photo finish equipment consisted of a photoelectric cell, called the Magic Eye, produced by Swiss watchmaker Omega and a slit photography camera produced by the British Race Finish Recording Company.

## Background

This was the eleventh time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. With a 12 year gap due to World War II, none of the athletes from the 1936 edition returned. Notable entrants and favorites were American Mel Patton and Panamanian Lloyd LaBeach. American Barney Ewell was a "top sprinter" but "felt to be slightly past his prime." The third member of the United States team was Harrison Dillard, a hurdles specialist who had also entered the 100 metres and came in third at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Bermuda, Burma, Guyana, Iraq, Jamaica, Pakistan, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first eleven Olympic men's 100 metres events.

## Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920–1936: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–7 athletes each, with the top 2 in each heat advancing to the quarterfinals. The 24 quarterfinalists were placed into 4 heats of 6 athletes. The top 3 in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 heats of 6 semifinalists, once again with the top 3 advancing to the 6-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 10.2 | Jesse Owens (USA) | Chicago, United States | 20 June 1936 |
| World record | 10.2 | Harold Davis (USA) | Compton, United States | 6 June 1941 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Eddie Tolan | Los Angeles, USA | August 1, 1932 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Ralph Metcalfe | Los Angeles, USA | August 1, 1932 |
| Olympic record | 10.3 | Jesse Owens | Berlin, Germany | August 2, 1936 |
Harrison Dillard of the United States matched the Olympic record in the final.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
| Date | Time | |
| Friday, 30 July 1948 | 15:00 17:30 | Round 1 Round 2 |
| Saturday, 31 July 1948 | 14:30 15:45 | Semifinals Finals |

## Results
### Round 1

The fastest two runners in each of the twelve heats advanced to the second round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Barney Ewell | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | Leslie Laing | Jamaica | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Angel García | Cuba | (11.25) | |
| 5 | Nestor Jacono | Malta | (11.54) | |
| – | Bogdan Lipski | Poland | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Patton | United States | 10.6 | Q |
| 2 | Ivan Hausen | Brazil | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | James O'Brien | Canada | 10.9 | |
| 4 | Fernando Lapuente | Argentina | (11.16) | |
| 5 | Hector Gosset | Belgium | (11.50) | |
| 6 | Gonzalo Rodríguez | Mexico | (11.97) | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lloyd La Beach | Panama | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Béla Goldoványi | Hungary | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Frank Mahoney | Bermuda | 11.8 | |
| – | George Rhoden | Jamaica | DNS | |
| – | Tomás Paquete | Portugal | DNS | |
| – | John De Saram | Ceylon | DNS | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Juan López | Uruguay | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Ken Jones | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Jan Meijer | Netherlands | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Máximo Reyes | Peru | (11.04) | |
| 5 | Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson | Iceland | (11.23) | |
| – | Kyros Marinis | Greece | DNS | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harrison Dillard | United States | 10.4 | Q |
| 2 | Haroldo da Silva | Brazil | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Bloch | Norway | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Pol Braekman | Belgium | (11.30) | |
| – | Ricardo Sáenz | Spain | DNS | |
| – | John O'Donnell | Ireland | DNS | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Haukur Clausen | Iceland | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Abram van Heerden | South Africa | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Carlos Silva | Chile | (11.08) | |
| 5 | Bernabe Lovina | Philippines | (11.32) | |
| 6 | Stanley Lines | Bermuda | (11.69) | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | René Valmy | France | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | György Csányi | Hungary | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Carlos Isaac | Argentina | (11.24) | |
| 5 | Sayed Moukhtar | Egypt | (11.71) | |
| 6 | Ali Salman | Iraq | (11.90) | |
| – | Jack Parry | Canada | DNS | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | John Bartram | Australia | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Basil McKenzie | Jamaica | 10.8 | |
| 4 | Hélio da Silva | Brazil | (11.09) | |
| 5 | Jo Zwaan | Netherlands | (11.09) | |
| – | Duncan White | Ceylon | DNS | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Raúl Mazorra | Cuba | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Örn Clausen | Iceland | (11.22) | |
| 5 | Raşit Öztaş | Turkey | (11.35) | |
| - | Perry Johnson | Bermuda | DSQ | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | George Lewis | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Ted Haggis | Canada | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Walter Pérez | Uruguay | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Santiago Ferrando | Peru | (11.19) | |
| 5 | Stefanos Petrakis | Greece | (11.62) | |
| – | Joseph Stéphan | France | DNS | |

#### Heat 11

The tailwind of 3.3 m/s made this heat ineligible for records purposes.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Isidoor Van De Wiele | Belgium | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Nuno Morais | Portugal | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Alberto Labarthe | Chile | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Muhammad Sharif Butt | Pakistan | (11.23) | |
| 5 | Charles Thompson | Guyana | Unknown | |
| – | Joe Kelly | Ireland | DNS | |
| – | Dennis Shore | South Africa | DNS | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mario Fayos | Uruguay | 11.0 | Q |
| 2 | Eric Prabhakar | India | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | László Bartha | Hungary | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Jan Kleyn | Netherlands | (11.36) | |
| 5 | Kemal Aksur | Turkey | (11.45) | |
| 6 | Maung Sein Pe | Burma | (11.78) | |
| - | Étienne Bally | France | DNF | |

### Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harrison Dillard | United States | 10.4 | Q |
| 2 | Juan López | Uruguay | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Ken Jones | Great Britain | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | Ivan Hausen | Brazil | (10.93) | |
| 5 | Ted Haggis | Canada | (10.97) | |
| 6 | António Morais | Portugal | (11.32) | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Barney Ewell | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Morris Curotta | Australia | 10.8 | Q |
| 4 | George Lewis | Trinidad and Tobago | (11.04) | |
| 5 | Béla Goldoványi | Hungary | (11.11) | |
| 6 | Haukur Clausen | Iceland | (11.18) | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Patton | United States | 10.4 | Q |
| 2 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | John Bartram | Australia | 10.6 | Q |
| 4 | René Valmy | France | (10.82) | |
| 5 | Mario Fayos | Uruguay | (11.08) | |
| 6 | Isidoor Van De Wiele | Belgium | (11.10) | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lloyd La Beach | Panama | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | John Treloar | Australia | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | 10.6 | Q |
| 4 | Haroldo da Silva | Brazil | (11.04) | |
| 5 | Gerardo Bönnhoff | Argentina | (11.09) | |
| 6 | Eric Prabhakar | India | (11.26) | |

### Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harrison Dillard | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Barney Ewell | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | John Bartram | Australia | (10.98) | |
| 5 | Juan López | Uruguay | (11.05) | |
| 6 | Morris Curotta | Australia | (11.15) | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mel Patton | United States | 10.4 | Q |
| 2 | Lloyd LaBeach | Panama | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 4 | John Treloar | Australia | (10.74) | |
| 5 | Rafael Fortún | Cuba | (10.82) | |
| 6 | Ken Jones | Great Britain | (11.01) | |

### Final

Patton "got off to a disastrous start and was not a factor." Dillard led the entire way. Official hand-timed results are known (and provided in the Official Report) only for the top three in each heat; unofficial auto-timed results are shown in parentheses.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time (hand) | Notes |
| | Harrison Dillard | United States | 10.3 | =OR |
| | Barney Ewell | United States | 10.4 | |
| | Lloyd LaBeach | Panama | 10.6 | |
| 4 | Alastair McCorquodale | Great Britain | (10.61) | |
| 5 | Mel Patton | United States | (10.67) | |
| 6 | McDonald Bailey | Great Britain | (10.81) | |