| Final 17:40 | time | elctr | L | | 1. Charles Moore |  United States | 50.8s WR | 51.06s | 6 | | 2. Yuriy Lituyev |  Soviet Union | 51.3s | 51.51s | 1 | | 3. John Holland |  New Zealand | 52.2s | 52.26s | 3 | | 4. Anatoliy Julin | Soviet Union | 52.8s | 52.81s | 3 | | 5. Harry Whittle |  Great Britain | 53.1s | 53.36s | 5 | | 6. Armando Filiput |  Italy | 54.4s | 54.49s | 4 |
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| | Venue: Helsingin Olympiastadion 70,000. | | 40 competitors from 24 nations. |
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| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Yuriy Litujev | Soviet Union | 51.8s | | 2. John Holland | New Zealand | 52.0s | | 3. Anatoly Julin | Soviet Union | 52.1s | | 4. David Gracie | Great Britain | 52.4s | | 5. Roland Blackman | United States | 52.7s | | 6. Rune Larsson |  Sweden | 53.9s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Charles Moore | United States | 52.0s | | 2. Harry Whittle | Great Britain | 52.9s | | 3. Armando Filiput | Italy | 53.0s | | 4. Lee Yoder | United States | 53.0s | | 5. Antal Lippai |  Hungary | 53.0s | | 6. Timofey Lunev | Soviet Union | 53.1s |
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Moore had run 50.7 in the US Trials to become the second man to run
under 51 seconds. He enhanced his status as the man to beat by being
more than a second faster than anyone else in the first two rounds -
with 51.8 (51.95), then 50.8 (50.98). In the second round he coasted in,
accepting afterwards that he would otherwise have broken Hardin’s
world record of 50.6. For the first time three rounds were required to
arrive at six finalists, and the semi-finals were won by Lituyev - 51.8
(51.90) - and Moore 52.0 (52.08).
The field was level in the final until hurdle three, and Moore then
applied pressure, taking a slight lead over Lituyev, passing the fifth
hurdle in 23.1 (22.7 in the earlier 50.8), while the others tailed off. The
Russian was trying to run 13 strides between hurdles as far as possible,
while Moore was taking 15 paces between barriers. The American
began to move clear after the ninth barrier, where he held half a metre
advantage, and his much greater quarter-miling speed took him home
more than 3m clear.
| Quarter 1 | time | | 1. Charles Moore | United States | 50.8s | | 2. Anatoly Julin | Soviet Union | 52.4s | | 3. Armando Filiput | Italy | 53.0s | | 4. Robert Bart |  France | 53.0s | | 5. Sven-Olov Eriksson | Sweden | 53.8s | | 6. Hans Schwarz |  Switzerland | 54.0s |
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| Quarter 2 | time | | 1. John Holland | New Zealand | 52.2s | | 2. Lee Yoder | United States | 53.3s | | 3. David Gracie | Great Britain | 53.9s | | 4. Arvo Hilli |  Finland | 54.0s | | 5. Photios Cosmas |  Greece | 55.3s | | 6. Wilson Gomes Carneiro |  Brazil | 59.4s |
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| Quarter 3 | time | | 1. Yuriy Litujev | Soviet Union | 52.2s | | 2. Antal Lippai | Hungary | 52.7s | | 3. Harry Whittle | Great Britain | 52.8s | | 4. Lars Ylander | Sweden | 53.1s | | 5. Peter Wilkie |  South Africa | 54.5s | | 6. Kenneth Doubleday |  Australia | 60.2s |
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| Quarter 4 | time | | 1. Timofey Lunev | Soviet Union | 52.7s | | 2. Roland Blackmon | United States | 52.7s | | 3. Rune Larsson | Sweden | 53.3s | | 4. Angus Scott | Great Britain | 53.4s | | 5. Rainer Pelkonen | Finland | 53.9s | | 6. Eitaro Okano |  Japan | 54.4s |
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| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Charles Moore | United States | 51.8s | | 2. Lars Ylander | Sweden | 53.7s | | 3. Eitaro Okano | Japan | 54.2s | | 4. Rudolf Haidegger |  Austria | 54.8s | | 5. Jean Fonck |  Luxembourg | 57.8s |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Timofey Lunev | Soviet Union | 54.3s | | 2. Lee Yoder | United States | 55.2s | | 3. Kenneth Doubleday | Australia | 55.4s | | 4. Muhamad Shafi |  Pakistan | 56.1s | | 5. Ingi Thorsteinsson |  Iceland | 56.5s |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Anatoly Julin | Soviet Union | 53.6s | | 2. Photios Cosmas | Greece | 53.9s | | 3. Roland Blackmon | United States | 54.8s | | 4. Ragnar Graeffe | Finland | 55.0s | | 5. Jorn Gevert |  Chile | 56.1s | | 6. Emin Doybak |  Turkey | 56.6s |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Yuriy Lituyev | Soviet Union | 53.5s | | 2. Rainer Pelkonen | Finland | 54.2s | | 3. Robert Bart | France | 54.5s | | 4. Pedro Yoma | Chile | 56.8s | | 5. Paulino Ferrer |  Venezuela | 62.1s |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Peter Wilkie | South Africa | 54.5s | | 2. Arvo Hilli | Finland | 54.6s | | 3. Rune Larsson | Sweden | 55.9s | | 4. Moshin Mirza Khan | Pakistan | 56.3s |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. John Holland | New Zealand | 53.3s | | 2. Sven-Olov Eriksson | Sweden | 54.3s | | 3. Angus Scott | Great Britain | 54.9s | | 4. Kemal Horulu | Turkey | 55.2s | | 5. Karl Schmid | Switzerland | 57.5s |
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| Heat 7 | time | | 1. David Gracie | Great Britain | 54.2s | | 2. Wilson Gomes Carneiro | Brazil | 56.0s | | 3. Hans Schwarz | Switzerland | 56.3s | | 4. Fernando Fernandes |  Portugal | 56.8s | | 5. Dogan Acarbay | Turkey | 62.8s |
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| Heat 8 | time | | 1. Armando Filiput | Italy | 53.8s | | 2. Harry Whittle | Great Britain | 53.9s | | 3. Antal Lippai | Hungary | 54.0s | | 4. Amadeo Francis |  Puerto Rico | 54.0s | | 5. Jean Thureau | France | 56.7s |
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