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 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. The first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Jennifer Brenda "Jenny" Meadows is a retired British athlete. Her main event was the 800 metres, although she previously competed also over the 400 metres. She won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships, and a silver at the 2010 World Indoor Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, Meadows took silver outdoors in 2010 and gold indoors in 2011. She also had some international success as part of the Great Britain women's 4 x 400 metres relay squad.
David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS is a retired Kenyan middle-distance runner who is the world and Olympic record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha won gold medals in the 800 m at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where, at the former, he set the world record in the event with a time of 1:40.91. He is also a two-time World champion and two-time Diamond League champion in the 800 m. Rudisha is the first and only person to ever run 800 m under 1:41, and he holds the three fastest times ever run in this event, each being a world record when set.
Rabah Mahhamed Yousif Bkheit is a Sudanese-born British track and field athlete, who initially competed for Sudan before obtaining British citizenship.
Kirani Zeno James COG is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn the full set of three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is Grenada's first Olympic medalist. He holds the Grenadian national record in both the 200 metres and 400 metres.
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.
Adam Piotr Kszczot is a retired Polish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. His achievements include silver medals at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships in Athletics, gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships as well as silver and bronze at the 2014 and 2010 World Indoor Championships respectively. Kszczot won three gold medals in the 800 m at both the European Outdoor and Indoor Championships. He twice competed at the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, narrowly missing the final on both occasions.
Alysia Montaño is an American middle distance runner. She is a six-time USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 metres champion. She gained significant publicity for the 2014 race that she competed while 8 months pregnant.
Dmitriy Anatolyevich Bogdanov is a Russian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. His personal best times are 1:44.33 minutes in the 800 metres and 46.50 seconds in the 400 metres.
Yousef Ahmed Masrahi is a Saudi Arabian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres sprint. His personal best time for the event is 43.93 seconds, set in 2015, and is the Asian record.
The 16th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held between March 17 and 20, 2016 in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Liemarvin Bonevacia is a Dutch sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He won bronze medals in the event at the 2016 and 2024 European Athletics Championships, and the 2017 and 2021 European Indoor Championships. Bonevacia also earned five major medals for the 4 × 400 m relays, either men's or mixed, including silver medal in the men's relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Erik Sowinski is an American middle-distance runner, who specializes in the 800 metres. He won a bronze medal in the event at the 2016 World Indoor Championships, and he is a three-time national champion. He also formerly held the American indoor record in the 600 meters. Sowinski has garnered recognition for pacing other athletes to fast times, often in high-profile competitions.
Jakub Krzewina is a Polish track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. A frequent competitor for Poland in the 4×400 metres relay, he has won two medals at the European Athletics Championships and reached the final at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He was also a relay silver medallist with Europe at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup.
The men's 800 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12–15 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-eight athletes from 39 nations competed. The event was won by 0.46 seconds by David Rudisha of Kenya, the fourth man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the 800 metres. Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria took silver, the first medal for the nation in the 800 metres since 2000. The United States had an even longer medal-less streak broken, as Clayton Murphy's bronze was their first since 1992.
Łukasz Krawczuk is a Polish sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He has won two medals in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the European Athletics Championships.
Dylan Borlée is a Belgian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family.
