[1] Despite the presence of previous world record holder Vasili Kuznetsov, the competition quickly became a battle between UCLA training partners Rafer Johnson and Yang Chuan-kwang, known as C.K.

The second day began with Yang speeding to a 180-point advantage in the 110 hurdles.

Johnson did not break, finishing a mere 1.2 seconds behind Yang to claim the gold medal.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows: The best scores in each event are highlighted in yellow.

These scores were split between six competitors, with the gold medallist Rafer Johnson achieving the best result in the shot put by 104 points.