The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440-yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the 'quarter-mile'—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete.
The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the year of the competition.
The women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 31 July and 4 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 39 athletes from 25 nations competed.
Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres hurdles and 400 metres. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist in the 400 m hurdles with the current European record of 52.03 seconds, becoming the third-fastest woman of all time and the first Dutch Olympic medallist at the event. Bol is also the 2022 World Championships silver medallist and 2022 European champion. In the 400 m, she is the 2022 World Indoor silver medallist, the 2022 European champion, a two-time European Indoor champion from 2021 and 2023, and the world indoor record holder with a time of 49.26 seconds set on 19 February 2023 in Apeldoorn, beating the longest-standing at the time track world record. At all these events except the Tokyo Games, she also won medals in the 4 x 400 m relays, either women's or mixed.
Anna Cockrell is an American track and field athlete competing in sprinting and hurdling. She is a two-time medalist at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and she represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Kasarani Stadium on 19, 21 and 22 August.
The women's 400 metres at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Kasarani Stadium 18 and 21 August.
The men's 110 metres hurdles at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Kasarani Stadium on 20 and 21 August.
The women's 100 metres hurdles at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Kasarani Stadium on 20 and 21 August.
The women's 100 metres hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero on 4–6 August 2022.
The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia on 3, 4 and 5 August 2022.
The women's 400 metres at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia on 2, 3 and 4 August 2022.
The women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships was held at the Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia on 2, 3 and 4 August 2022.
