# Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, were held at Olympiastadion on 2 and 3 August. The final was won by 0.1 seconds by American Jesse Owens, and teammate Ralph Metcalfe repeated as silver medalist. Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands won that nation's first medal in the men's 100 metres, a bronze.

## Background

This was the tenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Two finalists from 1932 returned: silver medalist Ralph Metcalfe and 6th-place finisher Takayoshi Yoshioka. The favorite, however, was Jesse Owens, particularly with compatriot Eulace Peacock injured and unable to make the team (Owens had come in third to Peacock and Metcalfe at the 1935 AAU meet).
Afghanistan, Colombia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Peru, and Yugoslavia were represented in the event for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first ten Olympic men's 100 metres events.

## Competition format

The event retained the four round format from 1920–1932: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats, of 4–6 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

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 10.2 | Jesse Owens | Chicago, USA | June 20, 1936 |
| Olympic Record | 10.3 | Eddie Tolan | Los Angeles, USA | August 1, 1932 |
| Olympic Record | 10.3 | Ralph Metcalfe | Los Angeles, USA | August 1, 1932 |
Jesse Owens equalled the standing Olympic record with 10.3 seconds in the final heat of the first round. He matched his own world record of 10.2 seconds, set two months earlier, in the quarterfinals but this result was not counted for records purposes due to wind assistance. His final run, also disqualified from record consideration due to wind, again matched the Olympic record of 10.3 seconds.

## Results
### Heats

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

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lennart Strandberg | Sweden | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Takayoshi Yoshioka | Japan | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Manfred Kersch | Germany | 10.8 | |
| 4 | Maurice Carlton | France | | |
| 5 | Aristidis Sakellariou | Greece | | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chris Berger | Netherlands | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Pat Dannaher | South Africa | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | Bernard Marchand | Switzerland | 11.2 | |
| 4 | Antonio Sande | Argentina | 11.2 | |
| 5 | Julije Bauer | Yugoslavia | 11.5 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wil van Beveren | Netherlands | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Eric Grimbeek | South Africa | 10.9 | Q |
| 3 | Ruudi Toomsalu | Estonia | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Antonio Salcedo | Philippines | | |
| 5 | José Domingo Sánchez | Colombia | | |
| 6 | Mohammad Khan | Afghanistan | | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gyula Gyenes | Hungary | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Monta Suzuki | Japan | 10.7 | Q |
| 3 | Palle Virtanen | Finland | 10.9 | |
| 4 | Paul Bronner | France | 11.1 | |
| 5 | Antonio Cuba | Peru | | |
| 6 | Elias Gutiérrez | Colombia | | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Howard McPhee | Canada | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | Lennart Lindgren | Sweden | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Robert Paul | France | 11.0 | |
| 4 | George Fahoum | Egypt | | |
| 5 | Poh Kimseng | Republic of China | | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marthinus Theunissen | South Africa | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Gerd Hornberger | Germany | 10.7 | Q |
| 3 | Tomás Beswick | Argentina | 10.9 | |
| 4 | Toivo Sariola | Finland | | |
| 5 | Sveinn Ingvarsson | Iceland | | |
| 6 | Oskar Ospelt | Liechtenstein | | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ralph Metcalfe | United States | 10.8 | Q |
| 2 | József Sir | Hungary | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Nemesio de Guzman | Philippines | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Fritz Seeger | Switzerland | | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Erich Borchmeyer | Germany | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Bruce Humber | Canada | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Gábor Gerő | Hungary | 11.3 | |
| 4 | Chen Kingkwan | Republic of China | | |
| 5 | Alfred Bencini | Malta | | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frank Wykoff | United States | 10.6 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Sweeney | Great Britain | 10.7 | Q |
| 3 | Antonio Fondevilla | Argentina | 11.0 | |
| 4 | Toivo Ahjopalo | Finland | | |
| 5 | Oswaldo Domingues | Brazil | | |
| 6 | Xaver Frick | Liechtenstein | | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tinus Osendarp | Netherlands | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Alan Pennington | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Lee Orr | Canada | 10.6 | |
| 4 | Robert Struckl | Austria | | |
| 5 | Eric Whiteside | India | | |

#### Heat 11

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Hänni | Switzerland | 10.7 | Q |
| 2 | Cyril Holmes | Great Britain | 10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Renos Frangoudis | Greece | 10.8 | |
| 4 | François Mersch | Luxembourg | 10.9 | |
| 5 | Liu Changchun | Republic of China | | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jesse Owens | United States | 10.3 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | Kichizo Sasaki | Japan | 11.0 | Q |
| 3 | José de Almeida | Brazil | 11.1 | |
| 4 | Dieudonné Devrindt | Belgium | | |
| 5 | Austin Cassar-Torreggiani | Malta | | |

### Quarterfinals

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

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lennart Strandberg | Sweden | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Tinus Osendarp | Netherlands | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Frank Wykoff | United States | 10.6 | Q |
| 4 | Gerd Hornberger | Germany | 10.7 | |
| 5 | Gyula Gyenes | Hungary | | |
| 6 | Cyril Holmes | Great Britain | | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

The wind assistance in this quarterfinal was too great for Owens's 10.2 seconds to count to match the world record or better the Olympic record.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jesse Owens | United States | 10.2 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Hänni | Switzerland | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | József Sir | Hungary | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | Takayoshi Yoshioka | Japan | 10.8 | |
| 5 | Eric Grimbeek | South Africa | 10.9 | |
| 6 | Lennart Lindgren | Sweden | 11.0 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ralph Metcalfe | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Alan Pennington | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Wil van Beveren | Netherlands | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | Marthinus Theunissen | South Africa | | |
| 5 | Bruce Humber | Canada | | |
| 6 | Kichizo Sasaki | Japan | | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Erich Borchmeyer | Germany | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Arthur Sweeney | Great Britain | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Howard McPhee | Canada | 10.6 | Q |
| 4 | Monta Suzuki | Japan | 10.8 | |
| 5 | Chris Berger | Netherlands | 11.0 | |
| 6 | Pat Dannaher | South Africa | | |

### Semifinals

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

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jesse Owens | United States | 10.4 | Q |
| 2 | Frank Wykoff | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 3 | Lennart Strandberg | Sweden | 10.5 | Q |
| 4 | Paul Hänni | Switzerland | 10.7 | |
| 5 | Wil van Beveren | Netherlands | 10.8 | |
| 6 | Alan Pennington | Great Britain | | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ralph Metcalfe | United States | 10.5 | Q |
| 2 | Tinus Osendarp | Netherlands | 10.6 | Q |
| 3 | Erich Borchmeyer | Germany | 10.7 | Q |
| 4 | Howard McPhee | Canada | 10.7 | |
| 5 | Arthur Sweeney | Great Britain | 10.7 | |
| 6 | József Sir | Hungary | 10.9 | |

### Final

Wind: +2.7 m/s
After 30 metres, Owens "had already decided the race in his favour." Metcalfe broke free for silver at 70 metres. Strandberg strained a ligament at the halfway mark.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Jesse Owens | United States | 10.3 |
| | Ralph Metcalfe | United States | 10.4 |
| | Tinus Osendarp | Netherlands | 10.5 |
| 4 | Frank Wykoff | United States | 10.6 |
| 5 | Erich Borchmeyer | Germany | 10.7 |
| 6 | Lennart Strandberg | Sweden | 10.9 |