| Final 16:30 | time | electr | 400m | 800m | 1200m | | 1. Joseph Bartel |  Luxembourg | 3:45.2OR | 3:45.28 | 58.2s | 2:02.3 | 3:03.2 | | 2. Robert McMillen |  United States | 3:45.2OR | 3:45.39 | 59.6s | 2:02.4 | 3:03.9 | | 3. Werner Lueg |  UT Germany | 3:45.4 | 3:45.67 | 58.1s | 2:01.5 | 3:03.0 | | 4. Roger Bannister |  Great Britain | 3:46.0 | 3:46.30 | 58.2s | 2:01.8 | 3:03.6 | | 5. Patrick El Mabrouk |  France | 3:46.0 | 3:46.35 | 58.4s | 2:01.6 | 3:03.8 | | 6. Rolf Lamers | UT Germany | 3:46.8 | 3:47.18 | 57.8s | 2:01.4 | 3:03.4 | | 7. Olle Ã…berg |  Sweden | 3:47.0 | 3:47.20 | 58.6s | 2:02.3 | 3:04.1 | | 8. Ingvar Ericsson | Sweden | 3:47.6 | 3:46.70 | 58.5s | 2:02.4 | 3:03.9 | | 9. Donald Macmillan |  Australia | 3:49.6 | | 10.Denis Johansson |  Finland | 3:49.8 | | 11.Audun Boysen |  Norway | 3:51.4 | | 12.Warren Druetzler | United States | 3:56.0 |
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| | Venue: Helsingin Olympiastadion 70,000. | | 52 competitors from 26 nations. |
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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 Ã…berg
(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).
| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Denis Johansson | Finland | 3:49.4 | | 2. Werner Lueg | UT Germany | 3:49.8 | | 3. Donald Macmillan | Australia | 3:50.8 | | 4. Warren Druetzler | United States | 3:50.8 | | 5. Patrick El Mabrouk | France | 3:51.0 | | 6. Audun Boysen | Norway | 3:51.0 | | 7. Vaclav Cevona |  Czechoslovakia | 3:51.4 | | 8. Sture Landqvist | Sweden | 3:51.4 | | 9. William Nankeville | Great Britain | 3:52.0 | | 10.William Parnell |  Canada | 3:52.4 | | 11.Mikhail Velsv©b©l |  Soviet Union | 3:52.6 | | 12.George Hoskins |  New Zealand | 3:53.0 |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Joseph Barthel | Luxembourg | 3:50.4 | | 2. Olle Aberg | Sweden | 3:50.6 | | 3. Ingvar Ericsson | Sweden | 3:50.6 | | 4. Robert Mcmillen | United States | 3:50.6 | | 5. Roger Bannister | Great Britain | 3:50.6 | | 6. Rolf Lamers | UT Germany | 3:50.8 | | 7. Stanislav Jungwirth | Czechoslovakia | 3:51.0 | | 8. Vilmos T¶lgyesi |  Hungary | 3:53.2 | | 9. Frans Herman |  Belgium | 3:53.8 | | 10.Gunther Dohrow | UT Germany | 3:55.2 | | 11.Nikolay Belokurov | Soviet Union | 3:55.6 | | 12.John Ross | Canada | 4:00.6 |
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Heats - Thursday 24.07 17:10 |
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Joseph Barthel | Luxembourg | 3:51.6 | | 2. Gunther Dohrow | UT Germany | 3:51.8 | | 3. Ingvar Ericsson | Sweden | 3:52.0 | | 4. Donald Macmillan | Australia | 3:52.0 | | 5. Sandor Iharos | Hungary | 3:56.0 | | 6. Edmund Dlugoborski |  Poland | 3:57.8 | | 7. Filemon Camacho |  Venezuela | 4:18.0 | | 8. Pierre Gillet | France | 4:26.6 | | -. Hans Harting |  Netherlands | DNF |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Warren Druetzler | United States | 3:51.4 | | 2. Sture Landqvist | Sweden | 3:52.2 | | 3. Stanislav Jungwirth | Czechoslovakia | 3:52.4 | | 4. Mikhail Velsv©b©l | Soviet Union | 3:52.6 | | 5. Aulis Pystynen | Finland | 3:53.0 | | 6. Leonard Eyre | Great Britain | 3:53.2 | | 7. Fred L¼thy |  Switzerland | 3:56.4 | | 8. Turhan G¶ker |  Turkey | 4:00.6 |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. George Hoskins | New Zealand | 3:56.2 | | 2. Frans Herman | Belgium | 3:56.2 | | 3. William Nankeville | Great Britain | 3:56.4 | | 4. Nikolay Belokurov | Soviet Union | 3:56.4 | | 5. Urpo Vähäranta | Finland | 3:56.8 | | 6. Javier Montez | United States | 3:58.2 | | 7. Stefan Lewandowski | Poland | 4:00.8 |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Olle Ã…berg | Sweden | 3:51.0 | | 2. Denis Johansson | Finland | 3:51.2 | | 3. Rolf Lamers | UT Germany | 3:52.4 | | 4. William Parnell | Canada | 3:53.4 | | 5. Fritz Prossinag |  Austria | 3:54.2 | | 6. Arnold Jennings |  South Africa | 3:55.4 | | 7. Daniel Janssens | Belgium | 3:55.8 | | 8. Cahit Önel | Turkey | 3:58.4 | | -. Willem Slijkhuis | Netherlands | DNF |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Patrick El Mabrouk | France | 3:55.8 | | 2. Robert Mcmillen | United States | 3:55.8 | | 3. Rogger Bannister | Great Britain | 3:56.0 | | 4. Vilmos Tölgyesi | Hungary | 3:56.0 | | 5. John Landy | Australia | 3:57.0 | | 6. Andrija Otenhajmer |  Yugoslavia | 3:57.8 | | 7. Maurice Marshal | New Zealand | 4:01.0 | | 8. Nikolay Kutshurin | Soviet Union | 4:03.6 | | 9. Vasillios Mavroidis |  Greece | 4:07.8 |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Werner Lueg | UT Germany | 3:52.0 | | 2. Vaclav Cevona | Czechoslovakia | 3:53.4 | | 3. Audun Boysen | Norway | 3:55.0 | | 4. John Ross | Canada | 3:55.2 | | 5. Jean Vernier | France | 3:56.8 | | 6. Edmund Potrzebowski | Poland | 3:56.8 | | 7. Sandor Garai | Hungary | 4:01.2 | | 8. Ekrem Kocak | Turkey | 4:01.4 | | 9. William Fahmy Hanna |  Egypt | 4:11.2 | | 10.Stit Leangtanom |  Thailand | 4:32.6 |
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