The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
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. 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, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Sunday Bada was a Nigerian sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres event. He won three medals at the World Indoor Championships, including a gold medal in 1997. His personal best time was 44.63 seconds, and with 45.51 seconds indoor he holds the African indoor record. He set a national record in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2000 Olympics, where the Nigerian team also won gold medals after the disqualification of the US.
The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Isaac Makwala is a Botswana sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres.
Jereem Richards is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 metres events. He won the bronze medal in the 200 m at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and gold for the 400 m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Richards took 200m titles at both the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the men's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2012 World Indoor Championships and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
Chidi Anthony Okezie is a US-born sprinter of Nigerian and Jamaican descent. Okezie is competing internationally for Nigeria. He is a two-time African Championships bronze medallist in the 400 metres.
Karsten Warholm is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and the world record holder in the latter event.
Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the record in the Olympic finals. He also holds the world-best time in the 300 metres.
Patience Okon George is a Nigerian sprinter. She competed in the 400 metres event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China and also at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. George is a two-time African Championships bronze medallist in the individual 400 metres event. She is also a three-time Nigerian national champion in the 400 metres.
Thapelo Phora is a South African sprinter. He competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In 2019, he won the silver medal in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2019 African Games held in Rabat, Morocco. He also won the silver medal in the men's 400 metres.
Alessandro Sibilio is an Italian sprinter and hurdler, who competes in the 400 metres hurdles and 400 metres. He won a gold medal at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 400 m hurdles.
Sokwakhana Zazini is a South African athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. He won gold medals at the 2017 World U18 Championships and the 2018 World U20 Championships. In 2019, he won a silver medal at the Universiade.
Leungo Scotch is a Botswana sprinter.
Ditiro Nzamani is a sprinter from Botswana specialising in the 400 metres. He represented his country at the 2019 World Championships without advancing from the first round. Earlier that year he won a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2019 African Games.
The following table is an overview of national records in the 400 metres.
