The pre-meet favourites were Lueg, who had equalled the world record
of 3:43.0 in the German championships, and the top two men of 1951,
Bannister, and El Mabrouk. The large entry meant that an extra round
was needed to arrive at a 12-man final. All the preliminary races were
tactical affairs, the athletes mindful of the extra round, with Åberg
(3:51.14) the fastest in round 1 and Denis Johansson (3:49.59) of
Finland the quickest in the semi-finals.
Lamers set a fast pace in the final, seemingly to help his compatriot
Lueg, but after passing 400m in 57.8 he slowed to 2:01.4 at 800m.
Lueg moved ahead at 900m, and led by 2m at the bell (2:48.0). Piling
on the pressure, Lueg led by 3m as the athletes came off the final curve,
with the surprising Barthel in second, just ahead of McMillen on the
inside and Bannister and El Mabrouk on the outside. Barthel quickly
moved away from the others and caught Lueg with just under 50m to
go. McMillen passed Lueg with 20m to go and finished 0.11 down on
the Luxembourg star, who was as surprised as the crowd by his win.
Barthel later broke down in tears of happiness on the victory stand after
winning his country’s only major championship gold medal in athletics
history (but also see the 1900 Marathon).