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.
Christian Haas is a retired West German sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.
Sebastian Ernst is a German sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres. His personal best time is 20.36 seconds, achieved during the heats at the 2004 Summer Olympics. This ranks him third among German 200m sprinters, only behind Tobias Unger and Frank Emmelmann. Ernst has represented the sports team TV Wattenscheid 01 and Schalke 04 domestically.
Thomas Goller is a retired German hurdler. He was banned from competing for two years for doping.
Ariane Friedrich is a German high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the German outdoor record holder in the event with a best of 2.06 m, although this is 1 cm less than the indoor record held by Heike Henkel.
Nataliya Pyhyda is a Ukrainian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. Her personal best times are 22.82 seconds (2008) and 50.62 seconds (2015), respectively.
Antje Möldner-Schmidt is a retired German track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance running and the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Phara Anacharsis is a French athlete who specializes in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles.
Carolin Nytra, also known as Carolin Dietrich, is a German athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles. With a personal best time of 12.57 seconds, she became the seventh fastest German ever over this distance at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne on 8 July 2010.
Carline Muir is a Canadian sprinter, who specialized in the 400 metres. She won the bronze medal for the 400 metres, and ultimately, led her national team to claim the sprint relay title at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia. She is also a three-time junior national champion, a two-time silver medalist at the Canadian Track and Field Championships.
Laura Marie Müller is a German sprinter. She competed in the 4×400 meters relay at the 2016 European Athletics Championships. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she competed in the women's 4x400 meter relay.
Esther Akinsulie is a Canadian athlete specializing in the 400-metre sprint. She graduated from Carleton University with a degree in psychology.
Alica Schmidt is a German runner. She was part of the national team that came second in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships, and third in the same discipline at the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships. She was previously a fitness coach of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Schmidt was part of the German relay squad at the 2020 Summer Olympics, though she did not compete.
The following table is an overview of all national records in the 400 metres.
Germany 
