Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Men's 440 yards
# Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Men's 440 yards

The men's 440 yards at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as part of the athletics programme was held at the Perry Lakes Stadium on Monday 26 November and Thursday 29 November 1962.

33 runners competed in six heats in the initial round, with the top two runners from each heat qualifying for the semifinals. There were two semifinals, and only the top three from each heat advanced to the final.

The event was won by Jamaica George Kerr in 46.7 seconds, who also won silver 880 yards earlier in the meet. Kerr finished 0.1 seconds ahead of Englishman Robbie Brightwell and Amos Omolo from Uganda who won bronze. Kerr's winning time in the final set a new Australian all comers record. One of England's finalist hopes Barry Jackson suffered a muscle injury 15 yards from the finish in the second semi final and unable to complete the race.

## Records

| World record | Glenn Davis (USA) | 45.7 | Berkeley, California, United States | 14 June 1958 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Commonwealth record | | | | |
| Games record | Milkha Singh (IND) | 46.6 | Cardiff, Wales | 24 July 1958 |

## Round 1

### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Robbie Brightwell | England | 47.5 | Q |
| 2 | Bill Crothers | Canada | 48.4 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Quiggan | Australia | 49.4 | |
| 4 | Eustace Gill | British Honduras | 50.5 | |
| 5 | John Kaputin | Papua New Guinea | 51.4 | |
| 6 | Arap Kiptalam Keter | Kenya | 52.3 | |

### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | George Kerr | Jamaica | 47.5 | Q |
| 2 | Brian Waters | Australia | 47.9 | Q |
| 3 | Nick Overhead | England | 48.4 | |
| 4 | Karu Selvaratnam | Malaya | 50.3 | |
| 5 | Damian Midi | Papua New Guinea | 52.9 | |
| 6 | Nasser Ahmed | Aden | 56.3 | |

### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Amos Omolo | Uganda | 47.1 | Q |
| 2 | James Addy | Ghana | 47.8 | Q |
| 3 | Adrian Metcalfe | England | 48.3 | |
| 4 | John Randall | Australia | 48.7 | |
| 5 | Wilson Kiprugut | Kenya | 49.0 | |
| 6 | Ken Peters | Hong Kong | 49.0 | |

### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Malcolm Spence | Jamaica | 47.0 | Q |
| 2 | Barry Jackson | England | 47.5 | Q |
| 3 | Gadi Ado | Uganda | 48.5 | |
| 4 | Victor Asirvatham | Malaya | 49.4 | |
| | William Chai Ah-Lim | Sarawak | | DNS |

### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Kimaru Songok | Kenya | 47.6 | Q |
| 2 | Mel Spence | Jamaica | 47.9 | Q |
| 3 | Ebenezer Quartey | Ghana | 48.4 | |
| 4 | Peter Harraghy | Isle of Man | 56.1 | |
| | William Lee | Sarawak | | DNS |

### Heat 6

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ken Roche | Australia | 48.4 | Q |
| 2 | Barry Robinson | New Zealand | 48.6 | Q |
| 3 | Laurie Khan | Jamaica | 48.8 | |
| 4 | Brobbey Mensah | Ghana | 49.2 | |
| 5 | Mohamed Abdul Rahiman | Malaya | 51.2 | |

## Semifinals

### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Robbie Brightwell | England | 47.4 | Q |
| 2 | Malcolm Spence | Jamaica | 47.8 | Q |
| 3 | Ken Roche | Australia | 47.9 | Q |
| 4 | Kimaru Songok | Kenya | 48.5 | |
| 5 | James Addy | Ghana | 48.6 | |
| 6 | Barry Robinson | New Zealand | 49.4 | |

### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | George Kerr | Jamaica | 46.9 | Q |
| 2 | Amos Omolo | Uganda | 46.9 | Q |
| 3 | Mel Spence | Jamaica | 47.2 | Q |
| 4 | Brian Waters | Australia | 47.8 | |
| 5 | Bill Crothers | Canada | 48.2 | |
| | Barry Jackson | England | | DNF |

## Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | George Kerr | Jamaica | 46.7 | ACR |
| | Robbie Brightwell | England | 46.8 | |
| | Amos Omolo | Uganda | 46.8 | |
| 4 | Ken Roche | Australia | 47.7 | |
| 5 | Malcolm Spence | Jamaica | 47.7 | |
| 6 | Mel Spence | Jamaica | 47.8 | |
