| Final | time |   |  | 1. Eddie Tolan |   United States | 21.12s | Or |  | 2. George Simpson |   United States | 21.4s |   |  | 3. Ralph Metcalfe |   United States | 21.5s |   |  | 4. Arthur Jonath |   Germany | 21.5s |   |  | 5. Carlos Bianchi Luti |   Argentina | 21.6s |   |  | 6. William Walters |   South Africa | 21.9s |   |   
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|   |  | Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 100,000. 25 competitors from 13 nations. |   
                   
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 |   |  | First 3 from each Semi advanced to Final. |   
| Semi 1 | time |   |  | 1. Ralph Metcalfe |   United States | 21.5s |   |  | 2. George Simpson |   United States | 21.5s |   |  | 3. Carlos Bianchi Luti |   Argentina | 21.6s |   |  | 4. Daniel Joubert |   South Africa | 21.7s |   |  | 5. Erich Borchmeyer |   Germany | 21.8s |   |  | 6. Birchall Pearson |   Canada | 21.9s |   |   
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| Semi 2 | time |   |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |   Germany | 21.5s |   |  | 2. William Walters |   South Africa | 21.7s |   |  | 3. Eddie Tolan |   United States | 21.7s |   |  | 4. Harold Wright |   Canada | 21.8s |   |  | 5. Allan John Elliot |   New Zealand | 21.9s |   |  | 6. Roberto Genta |   Argentina | 22.0s |   |   
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| Quarter 1 | time |   |  | 1. Ralph Metcalfe |   United States | 21.5s | Or |  | 2. William Walters |   South Africa | 21.5s |   |  | 3. Erich Borchmeyer |   Germany | 21.6s |   |  | 4. Itaro Nakajima |   Japan | 21.9s |   |  | 5. Christian Davis Berger |   Netherlands | 22.0s |   |   
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| Quarter 2 | time |   |  | 1. Eddie Tolan |   United States | 21.5s | =OR |  | 2. Birchall Pearson |   Canada | 21.7s |   |  | 3. Roberto Genta |   Argentina | 21.8s |   |  | 4. Fritz Hendrix |   Germany | 21.9s |   |  | 5. Stanley Charles Fuller |   Great Britain | 22.0s |   |   
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| Quarter 3 | time |   |  | 1. Carlos Bianchi |   Argentina | 21.4s | Or |  | 2. George Simpson |   United States | 21.5s |   |  | 3. Daniel Joubert |   South Africa | 21.7s |   |  | 4. Takayoshi Yoshioka |   Japan | 21.8s |   |  | 5. Stuart Alexander Black |   New Zealand | 22.0s |   |   
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| Quarter 4 | time |   |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |   Germany | 21.4s |   |  | 2. Harold Wright |   Canada | 21.7s |   |  | 3. Allan John Elliot |   New Zealand | 21.8s |   |  | 4. Stanley Eric Engelhart |   Great Britain | 21.9s |   |  | 5. Teiichi Nishi |   Japan | 22.1s |   |   
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| Heat 1 | time |   |  | 1. Erich Borchmeyer |   Germany | 22.1s |   |  | 2. Takayoshi Yoshioka |   Japan | 22.3s |   |  | 3. Stanley Eric Engelhart |   Great Britain |   |   |   
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| Heat 2 | time |   |  | 1. William Walters |   South Africa | 21.9s |   |  | 2. Eddie Tolan |   United States | 22.0s |   |  | 3. Stanley Charles Fuller |   Great Britain | 22.4s |   |  | 4. Enrique Sánchez |   Mexico | 22.8s |   |   
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| Heat 3 | time |   |  | 1. Harold Wright |   Canada | 22.8s |   |  | 2. Ralph Metcalfe |   United States | 22.9s |   |  | 3. Stuart Alexander Black |   New Zealand | 23.1s |   |  | 4. Liu Changchun |   China | 23.4s |   |   
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| Heat 4 | time |   |  | 1. Itaro Nakajima |   Japan | 22.2s |   |  | 2. Fritz Hendrix |   Germany | 22.9s |   |   
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| Heat 5 | time |   |  | 1. Roberto Genta |   Argentina | 25.3s |   |  | 2. Chris Berger |   Netherlands | 26.1s |   |  | 3. George Simpson |   United States | 29.0s |   |   
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| Heat 6 | time |   |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |   Germany | 21.9s |   |  | 2. Allan John Elliot |   New Zealand | 22.2s |   |  | 3. Carlos Bianchi |   Argentina | 22.3s |   |  | 4. Andrej Engel |   Czechoslovakia | 22.3s |   |  | 5. Everardo Múzquiz |   Mexico | 23.0s |   |   
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| Heat 7 | time |   |  | 1. Birchall Pearson |   Canada | 22.3s |   |  | 2. Daniel Joubert |   South Africa | 22.3s |   |  | 3. Teiichi Nishi |   Japan | 22.4s |   |  | 4. Ronald Alfred Vernieux |   India | 22.8s |   |   
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