2022 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres explained

Event:Men's 400 metres
Competition:2022 World Championships
Venue:Hayward Field
Dates:17 July (heats)
20 July (semi-finals)
22 July (final)
Competitors:48
Nations:31
Win Value:44.29
Gold:Michael Norman
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Kirani James
Silvernoc:GRN
Bronze:Matthew Hudson-Smith
Bronzenoc:GBR
Prev:2019
Next:2023

The men's 400 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene from 17 to 22 July 2022.[1] The winning margin was 0.19 seconds.

Summary

The semi-final took every athlete who broke 45 seconds into the final. By contrast, in 2015, sixteen athletes broke 45 in the semi-final round. 2015 was the second World Championships for two of the finalists, both former champions, Kirani James and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk. After what should have been a career-ending knee injury, it was remarkable for van Niekerk to get this far, each race an experiment to see how fast he could still go. The 2022 world leader was Michael Norman at 43.56. In two previous major championships, 2019 and the Olympics, Norman had failed to win, so he had something to prove here too.

Norman went out fast, but James was marginally faster through the entire first half of the race. Christopher Taylor, Matthew Hudson-Smith and van Niekerk were just a tick back. James maintained his slight edge through the turn, when they hit the straight, Norman accelerated, putting a gap on van Niekerk and Hudson-Smith, but James didn't go away. Norman battled, gaining a slight advantage, then widening it to a full meter by the finish. Two meters back, Hudson-Smith had gained the advantage over van Niekerk whose form broke down the last 25 meters. Coming from dead last off the turn, Champion Allison blazed by van Niekerk but came up short to catch Hudson-Smith for bronze.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

width=25% align=centerRecordwidth=25% align=centerAthlete & width=10% align=centerwidth=25% align=centerLocationwidth=15% align=centerDate
World record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016
Championship record43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999
World Leading43.56Eugene, United States25 June 2022
African Record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016
Asian Record43.93Beijing, China23 August 2015
North, Central American and Caribbean record43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999
South American Record43.93Tokyo, Japan2 August 2021
European Record44.33Rome, Italy3 September 1987
Oceanian record44.38Seoul, South Korea26 September 1988

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 44.90.[3]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:

DateTimeRound
17 July 11:05 Heats
20 July 19:15 Semi-finals
22 July 19:35 Final

Results

Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the heats.[4]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 44.87 Q,
2 1 45.18 Q
3 5 45.29 Q
4 2 45.37 Q
5 1 45.46 Q
6 6 45.49 Q
7 4 45.56 Q
8 5 45.61 Q
9 1 45.62 Q,
10 2 45.68 Q
11 2 45.69 Q
12 4 45.70 Q
13 2 45.72 q
14 3 45.81 Q
15 3 45.82 Q
16 6 45.82 Q
17 6 45.87 Q
18 5 45.88 q
19 1 45.90 q
20 4 45.93 Q
21 5 45.99 q
22 4 46.00 q,
23 6 46.01 q
24 1 46.07
25 3 46.18 Q
26 2 46.27
27 6 46.34
28 3 46.42
29 5 46.46
30 2 46.47
31 4 46.49
32 2 46.57
33 4 46.60
34 3 46.60
35 4 46.85
36 1 46.87
37 3 47.36
38 6 47.53
39 5 48.40
40 6 51.44
41 3 53.32

Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify to the final.[5]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 44.30 Q
2 1 44.38 Q
3 3 44.71 Q
4 2 44.74 Q
5 3 44.75 Q
6 3 44.78 q
7 2 44.94 Q
8 1 44.97 q,
9 2 45.02
10 3 45.08
11 1 45.24
12 3 45.26
13 2 45.28
14 1 45.41
15 3 45.50
16 3 45.63
17 2 45.71
18 1 45.75
19 2 45.80
20 2 46.01
21 3 46.04
22 1 46.19
23 1 46.21
2

Final

The final took place on 22 July at 19:35.[6]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
44.29
44.48
44.66
4 44.77
5 44.97
6 45.29
7 45.30
8 46.13

Notes and References

  1. https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/men/400-metres Timetable
  2. Web site: 400 Metres Men − Records. IAAF. 9 July 2022.
  3. News: Competitions Entry Standards 2022 – IAAF World Championships – PDF title, Qualification Standards for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022. iaaf.org. 9 July 2022.
  4. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-400-M-h----.RS4.pdf Heats Summary
  5. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-400-M-sf----.SL2.pdf Semi-finals Start List
  6. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-400-M-f----.RS6.pdf Final Results