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.
Marc Burns is an athlete from Trinidad and Tobago specializing in the 100 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay.
Usain St. Leo Bolt is a Jamaican retired sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Kerron Stewart is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres and 200 metres. She is the 2008 Jamaican national champion in the 100 m clocking 10.80s. She defeated World Champion Veronica Campbell-Brown in the process and now is the 2008 Summer Olympics silver medalist after she tied with Sherone Simpson in a time of 10.98s. She also earned a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics with a time of 22.00s. She was born in Kingston and retired after the 2018 season.
Kirani James is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011, and the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and 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 and only Olympic medalist.
Anyika Onuora is a British retired sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres, and also the 4×100 metres relay and 4x400 metres relay.
Eilidh Doyle is a retired British track and field athlete. Originally running as Eilidh Child, she specialised in the 400 metres hurdles outdoors, and the 400 metres flat indoors, as well as the 4 x 400 metres relay on both surfaces. She represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Individually, she is the 2014 European Champion and a three-time Commonwealth silver medalist in the 400 metres hurdles.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo is a Bahamian track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Zoe Buckman is an Australian runner who has competed nationally and internationally in the 400 metre, 800 metre, 1,500 metre and 5,000 metre events. She ran for the University of Oregon. She has also competed at the Junior World Championships, the Australian National Championships, the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the 2013 IAAF World Athletics Championships where she was a finalist in the Women's 1500 metres, the 2016 Olympics, the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Michelle "Shelly" Jenneke is an Australian hurdler and model. She won a silver medal for the 100 m hurdles at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and the 100 m hurdles at the 2016 Australian Athletics Championships to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games. In 2012, she received worldwide media attention after her pre-race warm-up dance went viral on the internet and was featured in the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Warren Weir is a retired Jamaican sprinter, who specialized in the 200 metres. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2012 London Olympics, helping Jamaica sweep the medals. In 2013 at the Moscow World Championships, Warren Weir won the silver medal equalling his personal best. He finished behind Usain Bolt who set a World Leading time. His personal best is 19.79 seconds set at the National Stadium in his home country Kingston, Jamaica. He has since equalled his personal best in Moscow, in the World Championship final. He trained with the Glen Mills-coached Racers Track Club, alongside Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.
Christine Day is a Jamaican sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented Jamaica at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the individual 400m and in the 4x400 metre relay. Day was eliminated in the semifinals of the individual 400m but she and teammates Rosemarie Whyte, Shericka Williams and Novlene Williams-Mills won bronze in the relay.
David Verburg is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters. He holds gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay from the 2016 Olympics; the 2013 and 2015 World Championships; and the 2014 Indoor World Championships.
Stephenie Ann McPherson is a Jamaican track and field athlete, who specializes in the 400 metres. She has won a bronze medal in the event at the 2013 World Championships, and then placed in the finals of both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and all four following World Championships between 2015 and 2022, consecutively. McPherson earned also a bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. She added medals in the 4 x 400 metres relays, taking a silver at the 2016 Olympics, a gold in 2015 in Beijing, and a bronze in 2019.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4 × 400 m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah СD OD is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic champion, the fastest woman alive in the 100 m, and the second fastest alive in the 200 m.
Nicholas Kiplagat Bett was a Kenyan track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. His personal best for the event is 47.79 seconds. He was a world champion in the event, having won in 2015, and a two-time bronze medallist at the African Championships in Athletics. He died in a road accident in Kenya at the age of 28.
Dominique Blake is a Jamaican track and field athlete. Blake won a gold medal at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games and was accidentally awarded a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was banned for 4+1⁄2 years after testing positive for methylhexanamine and returned to athletic competition in 2017.
