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 Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed to IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1987. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019.
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race. Each runner carries a relay baton. Before 2018, the baton had to be passed within a 20 m changeover box, preceded by a 10-metre acceleration zone. With a rule change effective November 1, 2017, that zone was modified to include the acceleration zone as part of the passing zone, making the entire zone 30 metres in length. The outgoing runner cannot touch the baton until it has entered the zone, and the incoming runner cannot touch it after it has left the zone. The zone is usually marked in yellow, frequently using lines, triangles or chevrons. While the rule book specifies the exact positioning of the marks, the colours and style are only "recommended". While most legacy tracks will still have the older markings, the rule change still uses existing marks. Not all governing body jurisdictions have adopted the rule change.
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. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, 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 was a formerly run British and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
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.
David Oliver, is a retired American hurdling athlete. As a professional athlete, he competed in the 110 meter hurdles event outdoor and the 60 meter hurdles event indoors. He is the former 110 meter hurdles champion winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow in 2013 with a time of 13 seconds. He won the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympic Games and won another bronze at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Amine Laâlou is a Moroccan track and field athlete, who specializes in middle-distance running. He has represented his country at the Summer Olympics on two occasions; in 2004 and 2008. He began his career as an 800 metres specialist and made his global debut at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. He won medals at smaller international competitions, including the 2004 Pan Arab Games and 2005 Mediterranean Games. He reached his first global final at the 2007 World Championships, taking sixth, and was a semi-finalist at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The 4 × 400 metres relay races at the 2000 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held on 29 and 30 September. The top two teams in each of the initial five heats automatically qualified for the semi-final. The next six fastest teams from across the heats also qualified. The top three teams in each of the semi-finals automatically qualified for the final. The next two fastest team from the semi-finals also qualified.
Michael Rodgers is an American professional track and field sprinter who specializes in the 100 m and the 60 m. He won the gold medal in the 100m relay in Doha 2019. He is also the Pan-Am Games Champion.
Michael Mathieu is a retired Bahamian sprinter from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4×400 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, running second leg and recording a 44.0 split, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was also a part of second place relay team at the 2007 World Championships. He won the bronze medal in the 4x400 metres relay in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Adam Piotr Kszczot is a retired Polish middle-distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. His achievements include a gold medal at the 2018 World Indoor Championships as well as silver medals at the 2014 World Indoor Championships, 2015 and 2017 World Championships in addition to multiple medals on European level. He twice competed at the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, narrowly missing the final on both occasions.
Marcin Przemysław Lewandowski is a Polish professional soldier and middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres and 1500 metres.
Ricardo Chambers is a Jamaican track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres.
Deon Kristofer Lendore was a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won medals at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships. Lendore died in a car collision in Texas, United States, on 10 January 2022.
Erik Sowinski is an American middle-distance runner. He competed in the 800 metres event at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and 2015 World Championships. He holds the former American indoor record in the 600 meters.
Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He has a personal best of 1:42.54 minutes for the event. He represented Kenya at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics and was a gold medallist in the 4×800 metres relay at the 2014 IAAF World Relays. At the 2020 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal, finishing behind his countryman Emmanuel Korir.
Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the former world champion in the 100 meters. He was a double gold medallist at the World Championships in Athletics in 2019, winning gold medals in both the 100 m and 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal records of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world indoor record holder for the 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was IAAF Diamond League champion in 2018 and the world number one ranked runner in the 100 m for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Noah Lyles is an American professional track and field sprinter competing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is the 2019 world champion, the 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, and the 2022 world champion in the 200 m. Lyles holds personal bests of 9.86 seconds for the 100 meters and 19.31 seconds for the 200 meters, and is the American record holder in the 200-meter dash.
