| Final | time | electr | L | | 1. Glenn Davis |  United States | 50.1s =OR | 50.29s | 4 | | 2. Eddie Southern | United States | 50.8s | 50.94s | 2 | | 3. Josh Culbreath | United States | 51.6s | 51.74s | 1 | | 4. Yuriy Lituyev |  Soviet Union | 51.7s | 51.91s | 5 | | 5. David Lean |  Australia | 51.8s | 51.93s | 6 | | 6. Gert Potgieter |  South Africa | 56.0s | | 3 |
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| | | Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground 120,000. | | 28 competitors from 18 nations. |
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| Semi 1 | time | | 1. Edward Southern | United States | 50.1s | | 2. Glenn Davis | United States | 50.7s | | 3. Gerhardus Potgieter | South Africa | 51.3s | | 4. Guy Cury |  France | 53.1s | | 5. Anatoly Yulin | Soviet Union | 51.7s | | 6. Ross Parker | Australia | 52.6s |
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| Semi 2 | time | | 1. Joshua Culbreath | United States | 50.9s | | 2. David Lean | Australia | 51.4s | | 3. Yuriy Lituyev | Soviet Union | 51.8s | | 4. Ilie Savel |  Romania | 52.0s | | 5. Harry Kane |  Great Britain | 52.7s | | 6. Ioannis Cambadellis |  Greece | 53.8s |
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Before 1956 Southern had two races at one-lap hurdling under his belt,
two more than Davis. In the US Trials Davis ran 49.5, with Southern
just behind at 49.7. The US third-string - Culbreath - was fastest in the
heats with 50.9 (51.07), and six others ran under 52 seconds. Southern
and Davis were drawn in the same semi-final, and Southern’s pattern
was 15 strides between hurdles rather than his usual 13 (to hurdle
seven). It worked well, as he looked very easy in running the third
fastest time ever of 50.1 (50.26). Davis struggled, and was only fourth
at the eighth hurdle. He kicked hard and finished in a good 50.7
(50.78). Culbreath was a convincing winner of the other semi-final
with 50.9 (50.97).
Southern led in the final, passing the fifth hurdle in 22.7 with Davis
two yards behind. Davis made a big effort round the curve, and was a
metre up on Southern at the eighth hurdle. He built on this lead and was
more than 2m up at the last hurdle, with Potgieter 3m behind just ahead
of Culbreath. The South African hit the last barrier and fell, and the
USA had another clean sweep. Davis’s time was equal third-fastest
ever on hand timing.
| Heat 1 | time | | 1. Glen Davis | United States | 51.3s | | 2. David Lean | Australia | 51.4s | | 3. Keiji Ogushi |  Japan | 53.2s | | 4. Ovidio de Jesus |  Puerto Rico | 54.0s | | 5. Pablo Somblingo |  Philippines | 54.5s |
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| Heat 2 | time | | 1. Edward Southern | United States | 51.3s | | 2. Harry Kane | Great Britain | 51.8s | | 3. Geoffrey Goodacre | Australia | 52.5s | | 4. Kalim Khawaja |  Pakistan | 55.1s | | 5. Jagdev Singh |  India | 55.2s |
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| Heat 3 | time | | 1. Joshua Culbreath | United States | 50.9s | | 2. Guy Cury | France | 51.6s | | 3. Jaime Aparicio |  Colombia | 52.0s | | 4. Thomas Farrell | Great Britain | 52.7s | | 5. Muhamad Yaqub | Pakistan | 53.1s | | 6. Tsai Cheng-Fu |  Taiwan | 54.6s |
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| Heat 4 | time | | 1. Ross Parker | Australia | 53.5s | | 2. Ioannis Cambadellis | Greece | 53.7s | | 3. Amadeo Francis | Puerto Rico | 54.3s |
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| Heat 5 | time | | 1. Yuriy Lituyev | Soviet Union | 51.6s | | 2. Gerhardus Potgieter | South Africa | 52.0s | | 3. Osvald Mildth |  Finland | 52.1s | | 4. Alexandre Yankoff | France | 53.1s | | 5. Marcel Lambrechts |  Belgium | 54.0s |
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| Heat 6 | time | | 1. Anatoly Yulin | Soviet Union | 51.7s | | 2. Ilie Savel | Romania | 52.2s | | 3. Robert Shaw | Great Britain | 52.5s | | 4. Ulysses Laurindo dos Santos |  Brazil | 53.8s |
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