Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games – Women's 400 metres

Women's 400 metres at the 1979 Pan American Games
Venue	Estadio Sixto Escobar
Dates	11 & 12 July
Winning time	51.81
Medalists
Sharon Dabney    United States   June Griffith    Guyana   Patricia Jackson    United States
«1975 1983»

The women's 400 metres sprint competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place at the Estadio Sixto Escobar. ^{[1] [2]} The defending Pan American Games champion was Joyce Yakubowich of Canada.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

World record	Marita Koch  (GDR)	48.94	Prague, Czechoslovakia	August 31, 1978
Pan American Games record	Joyce Yakubowich  (CAN)	51.62	Mexico City, Mexico	1975

Results

All times shown are in seconds. ^[3]

KEY:

WR

World Record

GR

Pan American Record

Heats

^[4]

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	June Griffith	Guyana	52.83	Q
2	2	Sharon Dabney	United States	52.91	Q
3	1	Patricia Jackson	United States	53.13	Q
4	2	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	53.37	Q
5	2	Helen Blake	Jamaica	54.22	Q
6	2	Marita Payne	Canada	54.90	q
7	1	Micheline Racette	Canada	54.95	Q
8	1	Joece Felipe dos Santos	Brazil	56.39	q
9	1	Denise Muller	Virgin Islands	56.70
10	2	Tânia Miranda	Brazil	57.12
11	2	Marcela López	Argentina	57.65
12	2	Brenda Gordon	Virgin Islands	1:00.69
13	1	Eugenia Ponce	Honduras	1:04.14

Final

Held on 12 July

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Sharon Dabney	United States	51.81
	June Griffith	Guyana	51.81
	Patricia Jackson	United States	52.32
4	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	52.71
5	Micheline Racette	Canada	53.30
6	Helen Blake	Jamaica	53.41
7	Marita Payne	Canada	53.99
8	Joece Felipe dos Santos	Brazil	56.49

References

1. Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 197. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
2. Full results
3. Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979 (PDF) (in Spanish). 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 1981. p. 258. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
4. "Heats results". The Times-News. 12 July 1979. p. 20. Retrieved 30 December 2019.