1962 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres

Women's 400 metres at the European Athletics Championships
Venue	JNA Stadium
Location	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Dates	12 September 1962 (round 1) 13 September 1962 (semi-finals) 14 September 1962 (final)
Competitors	18 from 13 nations
Winning time	53.4 s WR
Medalists
Mariya Itkina    Soviet Union   Joy Grieveson    Great Britain   Tilly van der Zwaard    Netherlands
←  1958 1966  →

The women's 400 metres at the 1962 European Athletics Championships was held in three rounds at the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on 12, 13, and 14 September 1962. ^[1] It was the second time that the event was contested at the European Athletics Championships.

Eighteen athletes of thirteen nations competed in round 1, thirteen athletes of nine nations continued in the semi-finals, and six athletes from six nations advanced to the final. That final race was won by Mariya Itkina of the Soviet Union in 53.4 seconds, equalling her own world record, with Joy Grieveson of Great Britain and Tilly van der Zwaard of the Netherlands finishing in second and third place respectively.

Background

Records before the 1962 European Athletics Championships ^[2]

Record	Time	Athlete (nation)	Location	Date
World record	53.4  h	Mariya Itkina  (URS)	Krasnodar, Soviet Union	12 September 1959
European record
Championship record	53.7  h		Stockholm, Sweden	21 August 1958

Results

Round 1

Eighteen athletes from thirteen nations competed in four heats of round 1 on 12 September. The three fastest athletes in each heat qualified (Q) for the semi-finals. In the first heat, Evelyne Lebret of France and Libuše Králíčková of Czechoslovakia didn't qualify for the semi-finals, but they set national records (NR) of 56.2 s and 56.3 s respectively. In the third heat, all four athletes advanced to the semi-finals, because Nadja Simic of Yugoslavia and Pam Piercy of Great Britain tied in third place both finishing in 56.5 s.

Results of the first heat of round 1

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Yekaterina Parlyuk	Soviet Union	54.9 h	Q
2	Maeve Kyle	Ireland	55.1 h	Q
3	Vera Kummerfeld	West Germany	55.7 h	Q
4	Evelyne Lebret	France	56.2 h	NR
5	Libuše Králíčková	Czechoslovakia	56.3 h	NR

Results of the second heat of round 1

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Joy Grieveson	Great Britain	54.8 h	Q
2	Bärbel Reinnagel	East Germany	55.5 h	Q
3	Janina Hasse	Poland	55.7 h	Q
4	Vera Mukhanova	Soviet Union	55.8 h
5	Tsvetana Isaeva	Bulgaria	57.1 h

Results of the third heat of round 1

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	54.4 h	Q
2	Tilly van der Zwaard	Netherlands	55.4 h	Q
3	Nadja Simic	Yugoslavia	56.5 h	Q
3	Pam Piercy	Great Britain	56.5 h	Q

Results of the fourth heat of round 1

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jean Sorrell	Great Britain	55.5 h	Q
2	Helga Henning	West Germany	55.7 h	Q
3	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	55.8 h	Q
4	Delma Savorelli	Italy	56.9 h

Semi-finals

Thirteen athletes from nine nations competed in two heats of the semi-finals on 13 September. The three fastest athletes in heat qualified for the final (Q). In the first heat, Tilly van der Zwaard of the Netherlands set a national record (NR) of 54.6 s. In the second heat, Joy Grieveson of Great Britain and Helga Henning of West Germany set a national records (NR) of 54.2 s and 54.7 s respectively, both qualifying for the final, and Antónia Munkácsi of Hungary and Nadja Simic of Yugoslavia set national records (NR) of 55.3 s and 56.4 s respectively, but they didn't make it to the next round.

Results of the first heat of the semi-finals

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	54.3 h	Q
2	Tilly van der Zwaard	Netherlands	54.6 h	NR, Q
3	Maeve Kyle	Ireland	55.4 h	Q
4	Bärbel Reinnagel	East Germany	55.7 h
5	Janina Hasse	Poland	56.1 h
6	Pam Piercy	Great Britain	57.4 h

Results of the second heat of the semi-finals

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Joy Grieveson	Great Britain	54.2 h	NR, Q
2	Yekaterina Parlyuk	Soviet Union	54.3 h	Q
3	Helga Henning	West Germany	54.7 h	NR, Q
4	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	55.3 h	NR
5	Vera Kummerfeld	West Germany	55.6 h
6	Nadja Simic	Yugoslavia	56.4 h	NR
7	Jean Sorrell	Great Britain	56.9 h

Final

Six athletes from six different nations competed in the final on 14 September. The gold medal was won by Mariya Itkina of the Soviet Union who equalled her world record (WR) of 53.4 s, silver went to Joy Grieveson of Great Britain in a national record (NR) of 53.9 s, and bronze to Tilly van der Zwaard of the Netherlands in a national record (NR) of 54.4 s. Outside the medals, Helga Henning of West Germany also set a national record (NR) of 54.6 s.

Results of the final

Rank	Name	Nation	Time	Notes
	Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	53.4 h	= WR
	Joy Grieveson	Great Britain	53.9 h	NR
	Tilly van der Zwaard	Netherlands	54.4 h	NR
4	Helga Henning	West Germany	54.6 h	NR
5	Yekaterina Parlyuk	Soviet Union	54.9 h
6	Maeve Kyle	Ireland	57.5 h

References

1. "European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK" (PDF). European Athletics. pp. 391–397. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
2. "World Record Progression of 400 Metres – Female – Senior", World Athletics. Retrieved 27 March 2025.