| | | Final | time |  |  | 1. Eddie Tolan |  United States | 21.12s | Or |  | 2. George Simpson |  United States | 21.4s |  |  | 3. Ralph Metcalfe |  United States | 21.5s |  |  | 4. Arthur Jonath |  Germany | 21.5s |  |  | 5. Carlos Bianchi Luti |  Argentina | 21.6s |  |  | 6. William Walters |  South Africa | 21.9s |  | 
 | |  |  | Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 100,000. 25 competitors from 13 nations. | 
 | 
 |
 |  |  | First 3 from each Semi advanced to Final. | 
 | | Semi 1 | time |  |  | 1. Ralph Metcalfe |  United States | 21.5s |  |  | 2. George Simpson |  United States | 21.5s |  |  | 3. Carlos Bianchi Luti |  Argentina | 21.6s |  |  | 4. Daniel Joubert |  South Africa | 21.7s |  |  | 5. Erich Borchmeyer |  Germany | 21.8s |  |  | 6. Birchall Pearson |  Canada | 21.9s |  | 
 |  | | Semi 2 | time |  |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |  Germany | 21.5s |  |  | 2. William Walters |  South Africa | 21.7s |  |  | 3. Eddie Tolan |  United States | 21.7s |  |  | 4. Harold Wright |  Canada | 21.8s |  |  | 5. Allan John Elliot |  New Zealand | 21.9s |  |  | 6. Roberto Genta |  Argentina | 22.0s |  | 
 | 
 | | Quarter 1 | time |  |  | 1. Ralph Metcalfe |  United States | 21.5s | Or |  | 2. William Walters |  South Africa | 21.5s |  |  | 3. Erich Borchmeyer |  Germany | 21.6s |  |  | 4. Itaro Nakajima |  Japan | 21.9s |  |  | 5. Christian Davis Berger |  Netherlands | 22.0s |  | 
 |  | | Quarter 2 | time |  |  | 1. Eddie Tolan |  United States | 21.5s | =OR |  | 2. Birchall Pearson |  Canada | 21.7s |  |  | 3. Roberto Genta |  Argentina | 21.8s |  |  | 4. Fritz Hendrix |  Germany | 21.9s |  |  | 5. Stanley Charles Fuller |  Great Britain | 22.0s |  | 
 | 
 | | Quarter 3 | time |  |  | 1. Carlos Bianchi |  Argentina | 21.4s | Or |  | 2. George Simpson |  United States | 21.5s |  |  | 3. Daniel Joubert |  South Africa | 21.7s |  |  | 4. Takayoshi Yoshioka |  Japan | 21.8s |  |  | 5. Stuart Alexander Black |  New Zealand | 22.0s |  | 
 |  | | Quarter 4 | time |  |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |  Germany | 21.4s |  |  | 2. Harold Wright |  Canada | 21.7s |  |  | 3. Allan John Elliot |  New Zealand | 21.8s |  |  | 4. Stanley Eric Engelhart |  Great Britain | 21.9s |  |  | 5. Teiichi Nishi |  Japan | 22.1s |  | 
 | 
 | | Heat 1 | time |  |  | 1. Erich Borchmeyer |  Germany | 22.1s |  |  | 2. Takayoshi Yoshioka |  Japan | 22.3s |  |  | 3. Stanley Eric Engelhart |  Great Britain |  |  | 
 |  | | Heat 2 | time |  |  | 1. William Walters |  South Africa | 21.9s |  |  | 2. Eddie Tolan |  United States | 22.0s |  |  | 3. Stanley Charles Fuller |  Great Britain | 22.4s |  |  | 4. Enrique Sánchez |  Mexico | 22.8s |  | 
 | 
 | | Heat 3 | time |  |  | 1. Harold Wright |  Canada | 22.8s |  |  | 2. Ralph Metcalfe |  United States | 22.9s |  |  | 3. Stuart Alexander Black |  New Zealand | 23.1s |  |  | 4. Liu Changchun |  China | 23.4s |  | 
 |  | | Heat 4 | time |  |  | 1. Itaro Nakajima |  Japan | 22.2s |  |  | 2. Fritz Hendrix |  Germany | 22.9s |  | 
 | 
 | | Heat 5 | time |  |  | 1. Roberto Genta |  Argentina | 25.3s |  |  | 2. Chris Berger |  Netherlands | 26.1s |  |  | 3. George Simpson |  United States | 29.0s |  | 
 |  | | Heat 6 | time |  |  | 1. Arthur Jonath |  Germany | 21.9s |  |  | 2. Allan John Elliot |  New Zealand | 22.2s |  |  | 3. Carlos Bianchi |  Argentina | 22.3s |  |  | 4. Andrej Engel |  Czechoslovakia | 22.3s |  |  | 5. Everardo Múzquiz |  Mexico | 23.0s |  | 
 | 
 | | Heat 7 | time |  |  | 1. Birchall Pearson |  Canada | 22.3s |  |  | 2. Daniel Joubert |  South Africa | 22.3s |  |  | 3. Teiichi Nishi |  Japan | 22.4s |  |  | 4. Ronald Alfred Vernieux |  India | 22.8s |  | 
 |  |  | 
 |