There were six first-round heats, but four of them contained only one
team. Sweden ran 43.6 in a solo effort, 0.1 quicker than the USA,
Germany ran 43.6 for an easy win over Austria, and Hungary clocked
43.7 just edging France (43.8). The heat winners ran in three semi-
finals: in the first the USA crossed the line in 42.2, well ahead of
Britain (43.0), but were disqualified for passing the baton outside the
changeover zone. Sweden then beat Hungary with a world’s best 42.5
(to 42.9 for Hungary), while Germany won the last heat in an official
world record of 42.3, well ahead of Canada (43.5).
In the final the first leg was even between Sweden and Britain,
Möller doing particularly well to hold Applegarth who had led the
200m final at halfway, with Germany a metre behind. Luther ran an
excellent leg for Sweden, gaining one-and-a-half metres on Macintosh,
but Sweden’s changeover was so bad that Britain led by a metre after
the exchange. Behind them Kern had started off too early and received
the baton outside the zone, which caused Germany’s eventual disqual-
ification. Britain led Sweden by half a metre at the last exchange, with
Germany two further metres behind. Rau, probably the best European
of his era over 100m, ran a superb leg, failing to catch d’Arcy by cen-
timetres.
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GER
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