| Final | time | L | age | | 1. Charley Paddock |  United States | 10.8s | 3 | 19 | | 2. Morris Kirksey | United States | 10.8s | 1 | 24 | | 3. Harry Edward |  Great Britain | 11.0s | 6 | 22 | | 4. Jackson Scholz | United States | 11.0s | 5 | 23 | | 5. Émile Ali-Khan |  France | 11.1s | 4 | 17 | | 6. Loren Murchison | United States | 11.2s | 2 | 21 |
| World Record* and Olympic Record: 10.6s Donald Lippincott, United States Stockholm (SWE) July 6, 1912 | | This was the only officially ratified world record in 1920, but there have been at least four runs in 10.5 seconds at that time. |
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Paddock appeared initially in 1916 when taking the California Schools
100 and 220y titles at the age of 15. He emerged internationally in 1919
when running 10.8/21.6 to win the Inter-Allied 100 and 200m titles.
Of the finalists, only Ali-Khan and Kirksey had failed to run 10.8 in
the preliminaries. Paddock was instructed to move his fingers behind
the line at the start, and Murchison began to rise expecting the athletes
to be recalled to the line. Instead, the gun was fired, and Murchison was
left some 4m behind the field. Scholz led at halfway by 60cm, with
Paddock fourth, a metre behind. The powerful (1.73/75kg) Paddock
closed quickly and edged Kirksey by 30cm. Edward was placed third,
but photos clearly show Scholz about 15cm ahead of the Briton less
than 2m from the line.
| | | First 3 from each Semi advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. Harry Edward | Great Britain | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.9s | Q | | 3. Morris Kirksey | United States | 11.0s | Q | | 4. Jack Oosterlaak |  South Africa | | | | 5. Félix Mendizábal |  Spain | | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. Charley Paddock | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Émile Ali-Khan | France | 10.8s | Q | | 3. Loren Murchison | United States | 11.0s | Q | | 4. Paul Brochart |  Belgium | | | | 5. William Hill | Great Britain | | |
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| Quarter 1 | time | | | 1. William Hill | Great Britain | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Mario Riccoboni |  Italy | 11.2s | Q | | 3. Marcel Gustin | Belgium | | | | 4. Ichiro Kaga |  Japan | | | | 5. Paul Hammer |  Luxembourg | | | | 6. Jan de Vries |  Netherlands | | |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | | 1. René Mourlon | France | 11.2s | Q | | 2. August Sørensen |  Denmark | 11.3s | Q | | 3. Erik Lindvall |  Sweden | | | | 4. Ahmed Khairy |  Egypt | | | | 5. Purma Bannerjee |  India | | |
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| Quarter 3 | time | | | 1. Loren Murchison | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Jacobus Bukes | South Africa | 10.9s | Q | | 3. Albert Heijnneman | Netherlands | 11.0s | | | 4. Vojtěch Plzák |  Czechoslovakia | | |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | | 1. William Hunt |  Australia | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Félix Mendizábal | Spain | 11.2s | Q | | 3. Francis Irvine | South Africa | | | | 4. Bjarne Guldager |  Norway | | | | 5. Nils Sandström | Sweden | | |
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| Quarter 5 | time | | | 1. Vittorio Zucca | Italy | 11.4s | Q | | 2. Cor Wezepoel | Netherlands | 11.5s | Q | | 3. Leonard Dixon | South Africa | | | | 4. August Waibel |  Switzerland | | | | 5. Alexandre Servais | Luxembourg | | |
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| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Morris Kirksey | United States | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Josef Imbach | Switzerland | 11.0s | Q | | 3. René Lorain | France | | | | 4. Johan Johansen | Norway | | | | 5. Jaime Camps | Spain | | | | 6. Giovanni Orlandi | Italy | | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Paul Brochart | Belgium | 11.4s | Q | | 2. René Tirard | France | 11.7s | Q | | 3. Diego Ordóñez | Spain | | | | 4. Jean Colbach | Luxembourg | s | | | 5. Eduard Hašek | Czechoslovakia | | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Charley Paddock | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Harry Edward | Great Britain | 10.9s | Q | | 3. Carlos Botín | Spain | 11.2s | | | 4. Shinichi Yamaoka | Japan | | | | 5. Edmond Médécin |  MON | | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Émile Ali-Khan | France | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Victor d'Arcy | Great Britain | 11.1s | Q | | 3. Rolf Stenersen | Norway | | | | 4. Dimitrios Karabatis |  Greece | | | | 5. Sven Malm | Sweden | | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Alexander Ponton |  Canada | 11.1s | Q | | 3. Giorgio Croci | Italy | 11.2s | | | 4. Harry van Rappard | Netherlands | | | | 5. Reinhold Saulmann |  Estonia | | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Jack Oosterlaak | South Africa | 11.0s | Q | | 2. George Davidson |  New Zealand | 11.1s | Q | | 3. Agne Holmström | Sweden | | | | 4. Fritiof Andersen | Denmark | | | | 5. Jean Lefèvre | Belgium | | |
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| Heat 7 | time | | | 1. Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Marinus Sørensen | Denmark | 11.2s | Q | | 3. Cyril Coaffee | Canada | | | | 4. Julien Lehouck | Belgium | | | | 5. Asle Bækkedal | Norway | | |
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| Heat 8 | time | | | 1. Harry Edward | Great Britain | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Loren Murchison | United States | 10.9s | Q | | 3. René Mourlon | France | 11.0s | | | 4. William Hunt | Australia | 11.2s | | | 5. Mario Riccobono | Italy | | |
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| Heat 9 | time | | | 1. William Hill | Great Britain | 11.0s | Q | | 2. Félix Mendizábal | Spain | | Q | | 3. Willie Bukes | South Africa | | | | 4. August Sørensen | Denmark | | | | 5. Vittorio Zucca | Italy | | |
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| Heat 10 | time | | | 1. Charley Paddock | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Émile Ali-Khan | France | 10.9s | Q | | 3. George Davidson | New Zealand | | | | 4. Harold Abrahams | Great Britain | | | | 5. Cor Wezepoel | Netherlands | | |
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| Heat 11 | time | | | 1. Jackson Scholz | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Jack Oosterlaak | South Africa | 11.0s | Q | | 3. Josef Imbach | Switzerland | 11.1s | | | 4. René Tirard | France | 11.2s | | | 5. Alexander Ponton | Canada | 11.4s | |
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| Heat 12 | time | | | 1. Morris Kirksey | United States | 10.8s | Q | | 2. Paul Brochart | Belgium | | Q | | 3. Victor d'Arcy | Great Britain | | | | 4. Marinus Sørensen | Denmark | | |
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