1938 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 1938 European Athletics Championships was held in Paris, France, at Stade Olympique de Colombes on 3 and 4 September 1938.

Medalists

Gold	Godfrey Brown Great Britain
Silver	Karl Baumgarten Netherlands
Bronze	Erich Linnhoff Germany

Results

Final

4 September

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Godfrey Brown	Great Britain	47.4	CR
	Karl Baumgarten	Netherlands	48.2
	Erich Linnhoff	Germany	48.8
4	János Görkói	Hungary	48.9
5	Aarne Tammisto	Finland	49.1
6	Bertil von Wachenfeldt	Sweden	50.0

Heats

3 September

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Godfrey Brown	Great Britain	48.4	Q
2	János Görkói	Hungary	49.2	Q
3	Carl-Henrik Gustafsson	Sweden	49.8
4	Ottavio Missoni	Italy	50.3
5	Georges Meyer	Switzerland	50.3
6	Abdyl Këllezi	Albania	55.0

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Erich Linnhoff	Germany	49.2	Q
2	Bertil von Wachenfeldt	Sweden	49.7	Q
3	Pierre Smet	Belgium	50.4
4	Jean Cerutti	France	50.6
5	Feri Pleteršek	Yugoslavia	52.3
	József Vadas	Hungary	DQ

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Aarne Tammisto	Finland	48.3	Q
2	Karl Baumgarten	Netherlands	48.3	Q
3	John Horsfall	Great Britain	49.5
4	Joseph Bertolino	France	49.5
5	Charles Stein	Luxembourg	NT

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 17 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.

• Albania (1)
• Belgium (1)
• Finland (1)
• France (2)
• Germany (1)
• Hungary (2)
• Italy (1)
• Luxembourg (1)
• Netherlands (1)
• Sweden (2)
• Switzerland (1)
• Great Britain (2)
• Yugoslavia (1)