1928 United States Olympic trials (track and field)

Official world records were set in the men's meet by Morgan Taylor in the 400 m hurdles and by Ed Hamm in the long jump.

[1]: 9–10, 63–69 [6]: 116 The 400 meters final was run in a storm, accounting for the very slow winning time of 51.6 seconds; both Barbuti and Snider had won their semi-finals in 48.0.

[2]: 99–100, 139 The 400 meter hurdles final was run before the storm arrived; Morgan Taylor, the 1924 Olympic champion, set a new world record (52.0) but still only narrowly defeated Cuhel.

[4][10] Defending AAU champion Fait Elkins, who entered the trials as a clear favorite, was also left out of the Olympic team; he injured himself in the first event (100 meters) and had to withdraw.

[1]: 69 [4] An appeal by Elkins to be selected in spite of his injury was not upheld; he performed poorly in a test two weeks after the trials, and the selectors felt he had not recovered sufficiently.

[1]: 63  Defending AAU champion Charley Borah retained his title in the 200 meters; Paddock and Scholz, who placed behind him, had both been among the world's top sprinters for almost a decade and qualified for their third Olympic Games.

[1]: 65 [note 2] In the 1500 meters, defending champion Ray Conger finished fast to set an American record of 3:55.0, with Robinson and Carter following; Orval Martin, who had been in the lead for much of the way, stumbled at the very end and dropped to fourth place.

McGinnis also qualified in the pole vault – a double that has never been repeated since – after defeating Jack Williams in a jump-off for the final Olympic spot.

[1]: 67 [19] Reigning Olympic champion Barnes won from Droegemueller and Carr in a competition with a deep high-quality field; the United States was the world's leading pole vault power.

[1]: 67, 75 NCAA champion Ed Hamm dominated the long jump, improving Hubbard's world record of 25 ft 10+7⁄8 in (7.89 m) by a fraction of an inch.

[2]: 139  Between 1911 and 1933 McDonald won the AAU weight throw championship ten times; Matt McGrath, who placed second, was a seven-time champion.

[26]: 131  Women's middle distance races were a rarity in the United States, and the three Americans selected were not expected to make any impact in Amsterdam; MacDonald's sixth place in the Olympic final (2:22.6e) was a surprise.

[2]: 154  The high jump title was decided in a jump-off; Wiley, who went on to win bronze in Amsterdam, defeated newcomer Shiley by clearing 4 ft 11+3⁄4 in (1.52 m) a second time.

[1]: 70 [26]: 142 Cartwright won two more national titles in the 50-yard dash and the long jump; she might have scored even more points, but meeting rules limited her to only three events.

[26]: 131–132  Lillian Copeland of Pasadena Athletic Club, who won silver in the discus in Amsterdam, equaled her own American record for the eight-pound (3.63 kg) shot.

[31][32] In the end, the American team in the 10,000 meters consisted of the trials top two (Joie Ray and John Romig) and 5000-meter runner Macauley Smith, with no fourth entrant.

The New York Athletic Club sponsored the trips of decathlete Fait Elkins, sprinter Roland Locke, hurdler Weems Baskin and hammer thrower Matt McGrath to Europe.

[11][35] Locke, who held the 220 yards world record, would have qualified in the 200 meters if Charley Paddock had not been cleared of accusations of professionalism; at the time, only amateur athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics.

[37][38] Sprinter Frank Hussey and hurdlers Hugo Leistner and Clyde Blanchard travelled to Amsterdam as stowaways aboard the U.S. team's ship, the SS President Roosevelt; like the other rejected athletes, they were not allowed to run at the Olympics but could take part in other European meets.