| Final 17:05 | time | | 1. George Rhoden |  JAM | 45.9s | | 2. Herbert McKenley | JAM | 45.9s | | 3. Oliver Matson |  USA | 46.8s | | 4. Karl-Friedrich Haas |  FRG | 47.0s | | 5. Arthur Wint | JAM | 47.0s | | 6. Malvin Whitfield | USA | 47.1s |
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| | Venue: Helsingin Olympiastadion. Capp.: 70,000. | | 71 competitors from -- nations. |
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| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Arthur Wint | JAM | 46.3s | | 2. Karl-Fiedrich Haas |  GER | 46.4s | | 3. Malvin Whitfield | USA | 46.4s | | 4. Gerrad Cole | USA | 46.8s | | 5. Ardalion Ignatjev |  URS | 47.4s | | 6. James Lavery |  CAN | 47.7s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Herbert McKenley | JAM | 46.4s | | 2. George Rhoden | JAM | 46.5s | | 3. Oliver Matson | USA | 46.7s | | 4. Hans Geister | GER | 46.7s | | 5. John Carroll | CAN | 47.4s | | -. Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt |  SWE | |
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| Quarter 1 | time | | 1. Arthur Wint | JAM | 46.9s | | 2. James Lavery | CAN | 47.5s | | 3. Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt | SWE | 47.8s | | 4. Guillermo Gutierrez |  VEN | 48.6s | | 5. Leslie Lewis |  GBR | 49.0s | | 6. Hans Schneider |  SUI | 49.2s |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | 1. George Rhoden | JAM | 47.2s | | 2. Oliver Matson | USA | 47.4s | | 3. Karl-Fiedrich Haas | GER | 47.4s | | 4. Morris Curotta |  AUS | 48.8s | | 5. Rolf Back |  FIN | 51.1s | | -. Gerard Mach |  POL | |
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| Quarter 3 | time | | 1. Malvin Whitfield | USA | 47.6s | | 2. Hans Geister | GER | 47.7s | | 3. John Carroll | CAN | 47.7s | | 4. Louis van Biljon |  SAF | 48.5s | | 5. Jacques Degats |  FRA | 48.8s | | 6. Alan Dick | GBR | 49.0s |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | 1. Herbert McKenley | JAM | 47.4s | | 2. Gerrard Cole | USA | 47.7s | | 3. Aradalion Ignatjev | URS | 48.0s | | 4. Yves Camus | FRA | 48.1s | | 5. Terence Higgins | GBR | 49.1s | | -. Yury Litujev | URS | 48.8s |
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Heats - Thursday 24.07 15:20 |
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Karl-Fiedrich Haas | GER | 47.5s | | 2. Leslie Lewis | GBR | 47.8s | | 3. Edwin Carr | AUS | 48.0s | | 4. Zoltan Adamik |  HUN | 48.5s | | 5. Evelio Planas del Rio |  CUB | 49.4s | | 6. Abdul Rehman |  PAK | 51.2s |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Ardalion Ignatjev | URS | 48.1s | | 2. Rolf Back | FIN | 48.5s | | 3. Rubert Bl¶ch |  AUT | 49.6s | | 4. Gerard Rasquin |  LUX | 50.0s | | 5. John Anderton | SAF | 50.3s | | 6. Pongamat Amatayakul |  THA | 52.9s |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Arthur Wint | JAM | 47.3s | | 2. John Carroll | CAN | 48.0s | | 3. Egon Solymosi | HUN | 49.2s | | 4. Josef Steger | SUI | 49.-s | | 5. Jaako Suikkari | FIN | 50.9s | | 6. Aurang Zeb | PAK | 51.0s |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Lars-Erik Wolfbrandt | SWE | 48.4s | | 2. Terence Higgins | GBR | 48.7s | | 3. Junkichi Matoba |  JPN | 49.4s | | 4. Vasilios Syllis |  GRE | 49.7s | | 5. Dogan Acarbay |  TUR | 50.7s | | 6. Ivan Jacob |  IND | 51.3s |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. H Mckenley | JAM | 48.0s | | 2. Louis van Biljon | SAF | 48.1s | | 3. Roger Moens |  BEL | 48.6s | | 4. Ferenc Bánhalmi | HUN | 49.4s | | 5. Aryeh Gill |  ISR | 50.2s | | 6. Ernst von Gunten | SUI | 50.7s | | -. Tage Ekfeldt | SWE | DQ |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Malvin Whitfield | USA | 48.6s | | 2. Guillermo Gutierrez | VEN | 48.7s | | 3. Gianni Rocca |  ITA | 49.2s | | 4. Gosta Brännström | SWE | 50.1s | | 5. Javier Sousa |  MEX | 50.3s | | 6. Emin Doybak | TUR | 51.1s | | 7. Fernado Casimiro |  POR | 52.2s |
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| Heat 7 | time | | 1. Jacques Degats | FRA | 48.5s | | 2. Morris Curotta | AUS | 48.7s | | 3. Vincenzo Lombardo | ITA | 49.3s | | 4. Rudolf Haidegger | AUT | 49.9s | | 5. Albert Lowagie | BEL | 50.1s |
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| Heat 8 | time | | 1. Hans Geister | GER | 47.9s | | 2. Yves Camus | FRA | 48.0s | | 3. Milan Filo |  TCH | 48.7s | | 4. Gudmundur Lárusson |  ISL | 49.7s | | 5. Sompop Svadanandana | THA | 53.6s | | 6. Jeremias Stokes |  GUA | 53.6s |
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| Heat 9 | time | | 1. Gerrard Cole | USA | 48.3s | | 2. Alan Dick | GBR | 48.7s | | 3. Edmund Pilags | URS | 49.2s | | 4. Angel Garcia Delgado | CUB | 49.2s | | 5. Antoine Uytterhoeven | BEL | 50.0s | | 6. Jean Hamilius | LUX | 50.3s |
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| Heat 10 | time | | 1. George Rhoden | JAM | 48.1s | | 2. Gerard Mach | POL | 48.5s | | 3. Paul Dolan |  IRL | 48.5s | | 4. Jean-Pierre Goudeau | FRA | 48.8s | | 5. Douglas Clement | CAN | 50.0s |
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| Heat 11 | time | | 1. James Lavery | CAN | 48.4s | | 2. Yury Litujev | URS | 48.8s | | 3. Francisco Rivera Paniagua |  PUR | 49.3s | | 4. Antonio Siddi | ITA | 50.9s |
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| Heat 12 | time | | 1. Oliver Matson | USA | 48.1s | | 2. Hans Schneider | SUI | 48.7s | | 3. Argemiro Roque |  BRA | 48.9s | | 4. Schalk Booysen | SAF | 49.0s | | 5. Jiri David | TCH | 49.1s | | 6. Fred Hammer | LUX | 49.6s | | 7. Osvald Mildh | FIN | 50.2s |
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