Lillian Barbara Board, was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.
Shirley Frances Babashoff is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Babashoff set six world records and earned a total of nine Olympic medals in her career. She won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and she won the 1975 world championship in both the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle. During her career, she set 37 national records and for some time held all national freestyle records from the 100-meter to 800-meter event.
Kirsten Emmelmann is a German former track and field athlete who represented East Germany in the 1980s in the 400 meter sprint. Her biggest success came as a member of the 4 × 400 meter relay: in 1987 she was world champion, and at the 1988 Summer Olympics her team was third. Her biggest individual success came at the World athletics championship in 1987 when she was third.
Rita Wilden, née Jahn is a German athlete, who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Inge Bödding, née Eckhoff is a retired German athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Christa Czekay, née Elsler was a West German sprinter who specialized in the 200 and 400 metres.
Marilyn Fay Neufville is a retired sprint runner who was active between 1967 and 1971. Neufville broke the world record in the 400 m and won four gold medals and one bronze in various regional championships. Born in Jamaica, she emigrated at eight years old to Great Britain.
Antje Gleichfeld is a retired German middle-distance runner.
Brenda Taylor is an American track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 meter hurdles. She reached the final of the event at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She also competed at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and won a medal at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships in the 4×400-meter relay.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Barbara Ann Marshall is an American former swimmer for the University of North Carolina, and a 1972 Munich Olympic 200-meter and 4x100-meter freestyle relay competitor. Notably in late August 1974, in a dual meet against American rival East Germany in Concord, California, Marshall swam on an American 4x100 meter freestyle relay team that set a world record in the event.
Dalilah Muhammad is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2016 Rio Olympics champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, becoming at the latter the then-second-fastest woman of all time in the event with her personal best of 51.58 seconds. Muhammad was second at both the 2013 and 2017 World Championships to take her first gold in 2019, setting the former world record of 52.16 s. She was the second female 400 m hurdler in history, after Sally Gunnell, to have won the Olympic, World titles and broken the world record. At both the 2019 World Championships and Tokyo Games, she also took gold as part of women's 4 × 400 metres relay team.
Nicole Duclos is a French former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres. She broke the world record for the event in 1969, running 51.72 seconds to become European champion in 1969. She also shared in a world record in the 4×400 metres relay. She represented France at the 1972 Summer Olympics and was a three-time national champion.
Éliane Jacq was a French athlete who specialised in the 400 meters.
Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles and is the world record holder in that event. She has won gold in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as the 2022 World Athletics Championships. She set a world record time of 50.37 seconds at the 2024 Summer Olympics on August 8, 2024, breaking her own old world record of 50.65 seconds. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event; setting four world records during 13 months, she was the first woman to break the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the 400 m hurdles. She won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. At all four competitions, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.
Martina Steuk is a German former track and field athlete who represented East Germany. She competed in the 800 metres and occasionally the 400 metres.
Judith Ayaa was a Ugandan sprinter. After establishing herself as a multiple gold medallist at the East and Central African Championships in several events, Ayaa won a bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. She was the first Ugandan woman to win a medal at a Commonwealth Games.
Mavis Laing is an American former track and field sprinter and pentathlete. Her highest level honour was a gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games, where she anchored the American women's 4 × 400 meters relay team to victory, alongside Cheryl Toussaint, Esther Stroy and Gwen Norman. It was the first time the event had been held at the competition.
Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and sprinting. She specialises in the 400 metres hurdles, where she is the 2023 World Champion, and in the 400 metres, where she is the 2024 World Indoor Champion and the short track world record holder. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.
