Irina Anatolyevna Privalova is a Russian Olympic gold medallist athlete. Her Summer Olympics debut was in 1992 in the sprint events, where she won two medals— a bronze in the 100 m and running the anchor leg in the 4x100 team, a silver — and came fourth in the 200, representing the Unified Team. With three European individual championships and three individual world medals, Irina Privalova had been a formidable competitor during most of the 1990s but had not yet won an outdoor international event gold medal.
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.
Allen Kenneth Johnson is an American former hurdling athlete who won the gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a four-time world champion.
Derrick Ralph Adkins is a former American track and field athlete who specialized in the 400-meter hurdles. He was an Olympic gold medalist in that event at the 1996 Summer Olympics and World Champion at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. He was the fastest man in the world in the 1994 and 1996 seasons, and holds a personal record of 47.54 seconds. Adkins was a two-time national champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Vania Stambolova is a Bulgarian athlete. She competes in the 400 m hurdles and the 400 m event. At the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships she won a silver medal over 400 m. She also won a gold medal at the 2006 European Championships. At present, Stambolova is the highest paid female athlete in Bulgaria.
Brigitte Heike Meissner is a retired German athlete. She competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles, but also spent two seasons specializing in the 800 metres. Notable achievements include a silver medal at the 2002 European Championships, medals in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1994 European Championships and the 1997 World Indoor Championships and a fourth place at the 1995 World Championships.
Melaine Walker O.D is a Jamaican 400 metres hurdler. She was born in Kingston. Walker is the former Olympic 400 m hurdles champion. She held the Olympic record of 52.64, set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and her time of 52.42 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin was the second fastest time in history at the time.
Zuzana Hejnová is a retired Czech athlete who specialised in the 400 metres hurdles. She won the silver medal in the event at the 2012 London Olympics. Hejnová is a two-time World Champion, having claimed titles at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships in Athletics. She won bronze at the 2012 European Championships and silver for the 400 metres at the 2017 European Indoor Championships.
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.
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.
Karsten Warholm is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, three-time world champion and world record holder in the latter event.
Iliya Dzhivondov is a retired Bulgarian athlete who competed in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. He won the surprise 400 metres gold at the 2000 European Indoor Championships. He also competed in both events at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but failed to advance from the heats in either.
Omar McLeod is a Jamaican professional hurdler and sprinter competing in the 60 m hurdles and 110 m hurdles. In the latter event, he is the 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 World champion. He was NCAA indoor champion in the 60 m hurdles in 2014 and 2015 and outdoor champion in the 110 m hurdles in 2015; he turned professional after the 2015 collegiate season, forgoing his two remaining years of collegiate eligibility. His personal best in the 110 m hurdles ranks him equal 7th on the world all-time list.
Sage Walker is a Canadian athlete specializing in the 400 metres hurdles. Competing internationally for Canada, she is the reigning Pan American champion in the 400 m hurdles, having also won Pan American medals in 2015 and 2019 as part of Canada's relay team.
Ayomide Temilade Oluwatoyosi Folorunso is an Italian athlete specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. She competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Rai Benjamin is an American hurdler and sprinter specializing in the 400 m and 400 m hurdles. He is the second fastest man in history in the 400 m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.17 s. He won a silver medal at his first Olympic Games in 2021 and won the 400 m hurdles race at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Benjamin also won silver medals and at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in the men's 400 m hurdles, and gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay in 2019 and 2021.
Line Kloster is a Norwegian athlete specialising in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles. She reached the semifinal of the 2013 European Indoor Championships where she set a new national indoor record of 52.78 narrowly missing the final.
The World Athletics Rankings are an individual athlete ranking system for the sport of athletics, managed by World Athletics. It is used to establish the number one athlete within an athletics event and to partially determine qualification into the World Athletics Championships and the athletics at the Summer Olympics. The rankings are published weekly by World Athletics on Wednesday. WA President Sebastian Coe said the goal of this system is so athletes and fans "have a clear understanding of the hierarchy of competitions from national through to area and up to global events, allowing them to follow a logical season-long path to the pinnacle of athletics' top two competitions".
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.
Trevor Bassitt is an American track and field athlete.
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