2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres at the 2019 World Championships
The home straight.
Venue	Khalifa International Stadium
Dates	1 October (heats) 2 October (semi-finals) 4 October (final)
Competitors	42 from 31 nations
Winning time	43.48
Medalists
Steven Gardiner    Bahamas   Anthony Zambrano    Colombia   Fred Kerley    United States
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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. ^[1] 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.

Summary

Kirani James had the pedigree -- a World Championship and an Olympic gold medal -- but those were back in 2011 and 2012. He finished second behind Wayde van Niekerk's world record at the last Olympics. Van Niekerk couldn't compete because he injured his knee in a celebrity rugby game and James was battling Graves' disease, the same ailment that affected Gail Devers. With a faster personal best, American champion Fred Kerley had been anticipated as USA's next golden boy until Michael Norman came on the scene with a relaxed, early season personal best that only equalled the #4 time in history. But Norman took himself out of the final, jogging home the second half of his semi-final. The other sub-44 qualifiers were Steven Gardiner, who had run his on this track in May and Akeem Bloomfield, who was the last time qualifier to get in. Gardiner led the qualifying, while Anthony Zambrano had to set a Colombian national record to get in.

In the final, James went out hard, passing Zambrano to his outside as they entered the backstretch. Inside of James, Machel Cedenio, James, Gardiner and Demish Gaye were running true to the stagger. James held that lead until midway through the final turn when he began to fade back as Gardiner was emerging slightly ahead. Coming onto the home straight, Gardiner held a 2 metre lead over James and Kerley, with Cedenio just slightly behind them. A further 2 metres back was Zambrano and Gaye. Down the stretch, Gardiner widened his lead, with Kerley the next best to chase. From far back, Zambrano was in another gear, speeding past Cedenio, James and a metre before the line, Kerley. ^[2]

Gardiner's win in 43.48 is the sixth fastest time in history. Zambrano's 44.15 set the South American record, beating Sanderlei Parrela's record from the World Championships 20 years earlier.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows: ^[3]

Record	Athlete	Perf.	Location	Date
World Record	Wayde van Niekerk  (RSA)	43.03	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	14 August 2016
Championship Record	Michael Johnson  (USA)	43.18	Sevilla, Spain	26 August 1999
World Leading	Michael Norman  (USA)	43.45	Torrance, United States	20 April 2019
African Record	Wayde van Niekerk  (RSA)	43.03	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	14 August 2016
Asian Record	Youssef Ahmad Masrahi  (KSA)	43.93	Beijing, China	23 August 2015
North, Central American and Caribbean Record	Michael Johnson  (USA)	43.18	Seville, Spain	26 August 1999
South American Record	Sanderlei Claro Parrela  (BRA)	44.29
European Record	Thomas Schönlebe  (GDR)	44.33	Rome, Italy	3 September 1987
Oceanian Record	Darren Clark  (AUS)	44.38	Seoul, South Korea	26 September 1988

The following records were set at the competition:

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date
Malagasy	46.80	Todiasoa Rabearison	MAD	1 Oct 2019
Gibraltarian	47.41	Jessy Franco	GIB
Colombian	44.55	Anthony Zambrano	COL	2 Oct 2019
Bahamian	43.48	Steven Gardiner	BAH	4 Oct 2019
South American	44.15	Anthony Zambrano	COL
Colombian

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 45.30. ^[4]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows: ^[5]

Date	Time	Round
1 October	16:35	Heats
2 October	20:35	Semi-finals
4 October	22:20	Final

Results

Heats

The first three in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the semifinal. ^[6]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	2	Kirani James	Grenada	44.94	Q
2	4	7	Michael Norman	United States	45.00	Q
3	4	5	Demish Gaye	Jamaica	45.02	Q
4	6	7	Emmanuel Korir	Kenya	45.08	Q
5	3	4	Davide Re	Italy	45.08	Q
6	4	3	Leungo Scotch	Botswana	45.10	Q, PB
7	2	8	Julian Walsh	Japan	45.14	Q, PB
8	3	3	Fred Kerley	United States	45.19	Q
9	1	3	Machel Cedenio	Trinidad and Tobago	45.26	Q
10	6	6	Jonathan Sacoor	Belgium	45.32	Q
11	1	4	Akeem Bloomfield	Jamaica	45.34	Q
12	6	5	Rabah Yousif	Great Britain & N.I.	45.40	Q
13	1	8	Thapelo Phora	South Africa	45.45	Q
14	3	7	Abbas Abubakar Abbas	Bahrain	45.47	Q
15	2	3	Vernon Norwood	United States	45.59	Q
16	6	8	Jhon Perlaza	Colombia	45.62	q
17	1	5	Alphas Kishoyian	Kenya	45.65	q
18	5	3	Steven Gardiner	Bahamas	45.68	Q
19	3	8	Mazen Al-Yassin	Saudi Arabia	45.70	q
20	6	3	Nathan Strother	United States	45.71	q
21	4	4	Yousef Karam	Kuwait	45.74	q
22	2	7	Steven Solomon	Australia	45.82	q
23	2	6	Derrick Mokaleng	South Africa	45.87
24	5	5	Philip Osei	Canada	45.87	Q
25	4	2	Alonzo Russell	Bahamas	45.91
26	5	6	Anthony Zambrano	Colombia	45.93	Q
27	1	6	Lucas Carvalho	Brazil	46.01
28	5	7	Ditiro Nzamani	Botswana	46.19
29	5	2	Rusheen McDonald	Jamaica	46.21
30	3	2	Mikhail Litvin	Kazakhstan	46.28
31	6	4	Taha Hussein Yaseen	Iraq	46.58
32	4	6	Todiasoa Rabearison	Madagascar	46.80	NR
33	2	4	Luka Janežič	Slovenia	46.84
34	5	4	Brandon Parris	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	47.39
35	6	2	Jessy Franco	Gibraltar	47.41	NR
36	3	5	Bachir Mahamat	Chad	47.65
37	1	2	Abdalelah Haroun	Qatar	47.76	SB
38	3	6	Jovan Stojoski	North Macedonia	47.92
39	4	8	Moussa Zaroumeye	Niger	48.13
40	5	8	Mohammad Jahir Rayhan	Bangladesh	48.48
41	2	5	Tikie Terry Mael	Vanuatu	48.52	PB
	1	7	Matthew Hudson-Smith	Great Britain & N.I.	DNF

Semi-finals

The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final. ^[7]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	6	Steven Gardiner	Bahamas	44.13	Q, SB
2	2	5	Kirani James	Grenada	44.23	Q, SB
3	1	4	Fred Kerley	United States	44.25	Q
4	1	5	Emmanuel Korir	Kenya	44.37	Q, SB
5	3	7	Machel Cedenio	Trinidad and Tobago	44.41	Q, SB
6	3	8	Anthony Zambrano	Colombia	44.55	Q, NR
7	2	7	Demish Gaye	Jamaica	44.66	q, SB
8	3	6	Akeem Bloomfield	Jamaica	44.77	q
9	1	7	Davide Re	Italy	44.85
10	2	9	Vernon Norwood	United States	45.00
11	2	8	Leungo Scotch	Botswana	45.00	PB
12	1	6	Jonathan Sacoor	Belgium	45.03	=PB
13	3	5	Julian Walsh	Japan	45.13	PB
14	3	9	Rabah Yousif	Great Britain & N.I.	45.15	PB
15	2	3	Jhon Perlaza	Colombia	45.17
16	1	9	Thapelo Phora	South Africa	45.24
17	1	8	Abbas Abubakar Abbas	Bahrain	45.26
18	1	2	Nathan Strother	United States	45.34
19	2	4	Philip Osei	Canada	45.44
20	2	2	Steven Solomon	Australia	45.54	SB
21	3	2	Alphas Kishoyian	Kenya	45.55
22	3	4	Michael Norman	United States	45.94
23	1	3	Mazen Al-Yassin	Saudi Arabia	46.11
	3	3	Yousef Karam	Kuwait	DNF

Final

The final was started on 4 October at 22:20. ^[8]

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Steven Gardiner	Bahamas	43.48	NR
	8	Anthony Zambrano	Colombia	44.15	AR
	5	Fred Kerley	United States	44.17
4	3	Demish Gaye	Jamaica	44.46	PB
5	7	Kirani James	Grenada	44.54
6	9	Emmanuel Korir	Kenya	44.94
7	6	Machel Cedenio	Trinidad and Tobago	45.30
8	2	Akeem Bloomfield	Jamaica	45.36

References

1. "400 Metres Men − Round 1 − Start List" (PDF). IAAF. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
2. "Gardiner powers away to win dramatic 400 meters". Reuters. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
3. "100 Metres Men − Records". IAAF . Retrieved 21 September 2019.
4. "Competitions Entry Standards 2019 – IAAF World Championships – PDF title, Qualification Standards for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019". iaaf.org. 2 August 2019.
5. "400 Metres Men − Timetable". IAAF . Retrieved 21 September 2019.
6. "Heats results" (PDF).
7. "Semi-finals results" (PDF).
8. "Final results" (PDF).