Roger Anthony BlackMBE is an English former athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4 × 400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race. Each runner carries a relay baton. Before 2018, the baton had to be passed within a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a 10-metre acceleration zone. With a rule change effective November 1, 2017, that zone was modified to include the acceleration zone as part of the passing zone, making the entire zone 30 metres in length. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left the zone. The zone is usually marked in yellow, frequently using lines, triangles or chevrons. While the rule book specifies the exact positioning of the marks, the colours and style are only "recommended". While most legacy tracks will still have the older markings, the rule change still uses existing marks. Not all governing body jurisdictions have adopted the rule change.
The 2nd European Athletics Championships was a continental athletics competition for European athletes which was held in two places in 1938. The men's event took place in Paris, France between 3–5 September while the women's events were in Vienna, Germany on 17 and 18 September. A total of 32 events were contested at the two competitions, containing 23 events for men and 9 for women. This was the first time that events for women were held and the only occasion on which the competition was held in two separate locations.
The 7th European Athletics Championships were held from 12–16 September 1962 in the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Just before the meet, the IAAF council approved the use glass fibre poles for pole vaulting. As a consequence, competitors were able to use them during the meet if they wished.
Marcello Luigi Fiasconaro is an Italian-South African athlete, who set a world record in the 800 m in 1973.
Pierfrancesco Pavoni is a retired sprinter from Italy.
The men's 400 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea took place between 24 and 28 September 1988. Seventy-five athletes from 55 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at three since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.06 seconds by Steve Lewis of the United States, the second in what would ultimately be seven consecutive American victories stretching from 1984 to 2008. As of May 2024, this remains the narrowest winning margin in the event since the introduction of fully automatic timing. The United States swept the podium in the event for the third time, having previously done so in 1904 and 1968.
The men's 200 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 72 competitors from 59 nations, with ten qualifying heats (72), five quarterfinal races (40) and two semifinals (16), before the final (8) took off on Wednesday September 28, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Joe DeLoach of the United States, beating his teammate and defending champion Carl Lewis by 0.04 seconds in the final. The defeat ended Lewis's hopes of repeating his 1984 quadruple, despite running the final under his own Olympic record time. It was the United States' 14th victory in the men's 200 metres. Lewis was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event, matching Andy Stanfield for the best result to that point. Robson da Silva earned Brazil's first medal in the event with his bronze.
Matteo Galvan is an Italian athlete who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. His career highlight so far is the 2009 European Indoor Championships, where he placed sixth in the 400 metres and won a gold medal in the relay.
Karsten Warholm is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, three-time world champion and world record holder in the latter event.
Matthew Hudson-Smith is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. He holds, as of August 2024, the British and European record, running a personal best of 43.44 seconds for the distance at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was the 2018 European Champion in 400 metres, and a member of the gold-winning teams in the 4 x 400 metre relay at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, with Great Britain and 2014 Commonwealth Games with England.
The men's 400 metres at the 2014 European Athletics Championships took place at the Letzigrund on 12, 13, and 15 August.
The men's 100 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 10 and 11 August 1971.
The men's 800 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 3 and 4 September 1974.
The men's 200 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 31 August, and 1 September 1978.
Markku Juhani Kukkoaho is a Finnish former sprinter. Kukkoaho placed fourth in men's 400 metres at the 1971 and 1974 European Championships and sixth at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where he set the still-standing Finnish national record of 45.49 seconds. He won bronze at the 1974 European Championships in the 4 × 400 metres relay as part of the Finnish team.
Dylan Borlée is a Belgian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs Jr. is an Italian track and field sprinter and former long jumper. He is the 2020 Olympic 100 metres champion, the 2022 60 metres world champion, the 2022 and 2024 European 100 metres champion, and a member of the gold medal-winning 4 × 100 m relay team at the 2020 Olympics. He currently holds the 100 metres European record, the 60 metres European record, and is the first person to ever qualify for and win the men's 100 metres Olympic final for Italy.
The men's 400 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on 1, 2 and 4 October 2019. The winning margin was 0.67 seconds which as of 2024 is the greatest winning margin in the men's 400 metres at these championships since the retirement of Michael Johnson.
