Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Men's 880 yards
# Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Men's 880 yards

The men's 880 yards at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as part of the athletics programme was held at the Perry Lakes Stadium on Saturday 24 November 1962 and Monday 26 November.

The top two runners in each of the six heats qualified for the semifinals. There were two semifinals, and only the top three from each heat advanced to the final.

The event was won by the world recorder holder and the 800 metres Olympic champion, New Zealander Peter Snell in 1:47.6 seconds, setting a new Games record time. Snell won by 0.2 seconds ahead of the Olympic bronze medallist, Jamaican George Kerr and Tony Blue of Australia who won the bronze.

## Records

| World record | Peter Snell (NZL) | 1:45.1 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 3 February 1962 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Commonwealth record | | | | |
| Games record | Herb Elliott (AUS) | 1:49.3 | Cardiff, Wales | 22 July 1958 |

The following records were established during the competition:

| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 26 November | Final | Peter Snell | New Zealand | 1:47.6 | GR |

## Heats

### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Snell | New Zealand | 1:50.7 | Q |
| 2 | Sid Purkis | England | 1:50.9 | Q |
| 3 | Kiptalam Keter | Kenya | 1:51.4 | |
| 4 | David Griffiths | Aden | 1:54.8 | |
| 5 | Abdul Wahab Mohamed Salleh | Sarawak | 2:04.9 | |
| 6 | Hylke van der Wal | Canada | | DNS |

### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | John Wenk | Scotland | 1:51.2 | Q |
| 2 | Mike Fleet | England | 1:51.5 | Q |
| 3 | Gary Philpott | New Zealand | 1:52.6 | |
| 4 | Stephen Chelimo | Kenya | 1:54.2 | |
| 5 | Daria Mohammed | Aden | 2:01.6 | |
| 6 | Frederick Owusu | Ghana | | DNS |

### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Francis | Kenya | 1:50.6 | Q |
| 2 | Tony Harris | Wales | 1:51.3 | Q |
| 3 | Robert Setti | England | 1:52.2 | |
| 4 | Patrick Field | Hong Kong | 1:57.6 | |
| 5 | Eustace Gill | British Honduras | 2:08.0 | |

### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | John Davies | New Zealand | 1:51.1 | Q |
| 2 | George Kerr | Jamaica | 1:51.3 | Q |
| 3 | Stan Taylor | England | 1:52.4 | |
| 4 | Ramasamy Subramaniam | Malaya | 1:59.9 | |
| 5 | Colin McLachlan | Isle of Man | 2:00.0 | |

### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Terry Sullivan | Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1:52.7 | Q |
| 2 | Keith Wheeler | Australia | 1:52.8 | Q |
| 3 | Don Bertoia | Canada | 1:53.3 | |
| 4 | Cyril Cure | Mauritius | 1:58.6 | |
| 5 | Peter Harraghy | Isle of Man | 2:02.8 | |

### Heat 6

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Bill Crothers | Canada | 1:51.4 | Q |
| 2 | Tony Blue | Australia | 1:52.0 | Q |
| 3 | Mel Spence | Jamaica | 1:52.3 | |
| 4 | Jacob Ndhlovu | Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1:54.3 | |
| 5 | Mohamed Abdul Rahiman | Malaya | 1:59.7 | |

## Semifinals

### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | George Kerr | Jamaica | 1:50.4 | Q |
| 2 | Tony Blue | Australia | 1:50.7 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Francis | Kenya | 1:51.0 | Q |
| 4 | John Davies | New Zealand | 1:51.5 | |
| 5 | Terry Sullivan | Rhodesia and Nyasaland | 1:51.7 | |
| 6 | Sid Purkis | England | 1:54.1 | |

### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Snell | New Zealand | 1:50.5 | Q |
| 2 | Tony Harris | Wales | 1:51.2 | Q |
| 3 | Mike Fleet | England | 1:51.2 | Q |
| 4 | Keith Wheeler | Australia | 1:51.3 | |
| 5 | Bill Crothers | Canada | 1:52.3 | |
| 6 | John Wenk | Scotland | 1:52.3 | |

## Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 6 | Peter Snell | New Zealand | 1:47.6 | GR |
| | 4 | George Kerr | Jamaica | 1:47.8 | |
| | 3 | Tony Blue | Australia | 1:49.0 | |
| 4 | 1 | Peter Francis | Kenya | 1:49.9 | |
| 5 | 2 | Mike Fleet | England | 1:50.0 | |
| 6 | 5 | Tony Harris | Wales | 1:52.3 | |
