| | | Final | time | +time | L | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Mel Patton |  USA | 21.1s |  | 2 | 21.3 | 23 |  | 2. Barney Ewell |  USA | 21.1s | +0.05 | 4 |  | 30 |  | 3. Lloyd LaBeach |  PAN | 21.2s | +0.20 | 3 |  | 26 |  | 4. Herb McKenley |  JAM | 21.3?s | +0.24 | 1 |  | 26 |  | 5. Cliff Bourland |  USA | 21.3?s | +0.27 | 5 |  | 27 |  | 6. Les Laing |  JAM | 21.8?s | +0.72 | 6 |  | 23 | 
 | | Venue: Empire Stadium, London. |  |  | 
 | 
 |  |  | First 3 from each 2 semi-finals progressed to Final. | 
 | | Semi 1 | time | +time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Herb McKenley |  JAM | 21.4s |  | 21.4 | 26 |  | 2. Mel Patton |  USA | 21.6s | +0.26s |  | 23 |  | 3. Barney Ewell |  USA | 21.8s | +0.56s |  | 30 |  | 4. Aroldo da Silva |  BRA |  | +0.82s |  | 18 |  | 5. Abram van Heerden |  RSA |  | +0.85s |  | 20 |  | 6. Paul Vallé |  GBR |  | +1.09s |  | 21 | 
 | Semi 2 | time | +time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Cliff Bourland |  USA | 21.5s | &s | 21.6 | 27 |  | 2. Lloyd LaBeach |  PAN | 21.6s | +0.19s |  | 26 |  | 3. Les Laing |  JAM | 21.6s | +0.20s |  | 23 |  | 4. John Treloar |  AUS |  | +0.39s |  | 20 |  | 5. Alastair McCorquodale |  GBR |  | +0.59s |  | 22 |  | 6. Rafael Fortún |  CUB |  | +0.91s |  | 28 | 
 |  | 
 |  |  | First 3 from each 4 quarter-finals progressed to Semi-Finals. | 
 | | Quarter 1 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Herb McKenley |  JAM | 21.3s | 21.6 | 26 |  | 2. Barney Ewell |  USA | 21.8s |  | 30 |  | 3. Paul Vallé |  GBR | 22.1s |  | 21 |  | 4. Jan Lammers |  NED |  |  | 21 |  | 5. Julien Lebas |  FRA |  |  | 24 |  | 6. Rosalvo Ramos |  BRA |  |  | 34 | 
 | Quarter 2 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Cliff Bourland |  USA | 21.3s |  | 27 |  | 2. John Treloar |  AUS | 21.5s |  | 20 |  | 3. Aroldo da Silva |  BRA | 22.0s |  | 18 |  | 4. Gerardo Bönnhoff |  ARG |  |  | 22 |  | 5. Dennis Shore |  RSA |  |  | 33 |  | 6. John De Saram |  SRI |  |  | 19 | 
 | Quarter 3 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Lloyd LaBeach |  PAN | 21.7s |  | 26 |  | 2. Les Laing |  JAM | 21.8s |  | 23 |  | 3. Abram van Heerden |  RSA | 22.9s |  | 20 |  | 4. John Fairgrieve |  GBR | &s |  | 22 |  | 5. Santiago Ferrando |  PER | &s |  | 20 | 
 | Quarter 4 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Mel Patton |  USA | 21.4s |  | 23 |  | 2. Alastair McCorquodale |  GBR | 21.8s |  | 22 |  | 3. Rafael Fortún |  CUB | 22.0s |  | 28 |  | 4. Ivan Hausen |  BRA | 22.3s |  | 20 |  | 5. Ted Haggis |  CAN |  |  |  |  | 6. Muhammad Sharif Butt |  PAK |  |  | 22 | 
 |  | 
 | | Heat 1 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Herb McKenley |  JAM | 21.3s | 21.4 | 26 |  | 2. Ted Haggis |  CAN | 22.2s |  |  |  | 3. Haukur Clausen |  ISL | 22.2s |  | 19 |  | 4. Stanley Lines |  BER | &s |  |  | 
 | Heat 2 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Paul Vallé |  GBR | 22.3s |  | 21 |  | 2. John De Saram |  SRI | 23.1s |  | 19 |  | 3. Bernabe Lovina |  PHI | 23.2s |  | 27 |  | 4. Stefanos Petrakis |  GRE | &s |  | 23 | 
 | Heat 3 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Rafael Fortún |  CUB | 21.9s |  | 28 |  | 2. Dennis Shore |  RSA | 22.1s |  | 33 |  | 3. Nuno Morais |  POR | 22.6s |  | 25 | 
 | Heat 4 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Barney Ewell |  USA | 21.6s |  | 30 |  | 2. Abram van Heerden |  RSA | 21.8s |  | 20 |  | 3. Angel García |  CUB | 22.2s |  | 28 |  | 4. Fernand Linssen |  BEL |  |  | 19 |  | 5. Hazzard Dill |  BER |  |  | 29 |  | 6. Ali Salman |  IRQ |  |  |  | 
 | Heat 5 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Julien Lebas |  FRA | 22.0s |  | 24 |  | 2. Rosalvo Ramos |  BRA | 22.2s |  | 34 |  | 3. Basil McKenzie |  JAM | 22.4s |  |  | 
 | Heat 6 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Mel Patton |  USA | 21.6s |  | 23 |  | 2. Les Laing |  JAM | 21.8s |  | 23 |  | 3. Guillermo Geary |  ARG | 23.0s |  | 22 |  | 4. Duncan White |  SRI | &s |  | 30 | 
 | Heat 7 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Gerardo Bönnhoff |  ARG | 22.2s |  | 22 |  | 2. John Fairgrieve |  GBR | 22.2s |  | 22 |  | 3. Raúl Mazorra |  CUB | 23.0s |  | 19 |  | 4. Kemal Aksur |  TUR | &s |  | 24 |  | 5. Guillermo Rodríguez |  MEX | &s |  |  | 
 | Heat 8 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Cliff Bourland |  USA | 21.3s | 21.7 | 27 |  | 2. Aroldo da Silva |  BRA | 21.9s |  | 18 |  | 3. Georgie Lewis |  TTO | 22.4s |  | 31 |  | 4. Walter Pérez |  URU |  |  | 23 |  | 5. Peter Bloch |  NOR |  |  | 25 | 
 | Heat 9 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. John Treloar |  AUS | 21.7s | 21.8 | 20 |  | 2. Muhammad Sharif Butt |  PAK | 22.8s |  | 22 |  | 3. Raşit Öztaş |  TUR | 23.0s |  |  |  | 4. Perry Johnson |  BER |  |  |  | 
 | Heat 10 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Alastair McCorquodale |  GBR | 22.3s | 22.3 | 22 |  | 2. Santiago Ferrando |  PER | 22.5s |  | 20 |  | 3. Fernand Bourgaux |  BEL | 22.9s |  | 28 |  | 4. Bally Étienne |  FRA |  |  | 25 | 
 | Heat 11 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Juan López |  URU | 22.1s | 22.2 | 22 |  | 2. Ivan Hausen |  BRA | 22.2s |  | 20 |  | 3. Gabe Scholten |  NED | 22.2s |  | 27 |  | 4. Maung Sein Pe |  MYA | &s |  |  | 
 | Heat 12 | time | t.a. | Y |  | 1. Lloyd LaBeach |  PAN | 21.4s | 21.7 | 26 |  | 2. Jan Lammers |  NED | 22.0s |  | 21 |  | 3. Don Pettie |  CAN | 22.0s |  |  |  | 4. Mario Fayos |  URU | &s |  | 21 |  | 5. Joseph Stéphan |  FRA | &s |  | 20 | 
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