Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an opponent. Human physiology dictates that a runner's near-top speed cannot be maintained for more than 30–35 seconds due to the depletion of phosphocreatine stores in muscles, and perhaps secondarily to excessive metabolic acidosis as a result of anaerobic glycolysis.
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.
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.
Yuliya Sergeyevna Pechonkina, née Nosova is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 400 metres hurdles and 4 × 400 metres relay. She was previously married to former sprinter Evgeny Pechonkin.
The 1989 Asian Athletics Championships was the eighth edition of the international outdoor athletics competition between Asian nations, organised by the Asian Athletics Association. The six-day competition was held from 14–19 November at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India. It featured 40 events, 22 for men and 18 for women, with the steeplechase, pole vault, triple jump and hammer throw competitions being for men only. China comfortably topped the medal table, winning over half the events with 21 golds among a total of 42. The host nation, India, was clear runner-up with eight golds and 22 medals, while Japan was the only other nation to breach double figures. A total of 19 nations reached the medal table.
Frida Svensson is a Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented Sweden at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics on three occasions, qualifying for the semifinals in both Tokyo 1991 and Stuttgart 1993. She also reached the semifinals of the women's 400 metres hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Matthew John "Matt" Elias is a retired Welsh athlete who specialised in the 400 metres sprint and 400 metres hurdles. During his international career he represented Great Britain. In 2003 he won a gold medal at the European Championships and at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he finished 5th in the 4 × 400 m relay, He is also a part of Super Schools.
Mateo Galvan is a Mexican Footballer who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. His career highlight so far is the 2009 European Indoor Championships, where he placed sixth in the 400 metres and won a gold medal in the relay.
Mark David Hylton is a former British 400 metres sprinter. Hylton won a silver medal in the relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
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.
Julien Watrin is a Belgian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. In 2023, he won his first individual major senior medal, with silver at the European Indoor Championships. Watrin earned several major medals with national men's 4 × 400 m relays, including bronzes at the 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships.
Suziann Reid is an American-Jamaican former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 400-meter dash. She set a personal record of 50.74 seconds for the distance in 1999. She was a silver medalist with the American women's 4 × 400-meter relay team at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. She was part of the World Championship team twice more, in 2001 and 2005, and helped the United States to silver at the 2002 IAAF World Cup and gold at the 2001 Goodwill Games.
Jonathan Sacoor is a Belgian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres.
Namibia competed at the 2019 African Games held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. Early on 56 athletes were scheduled to represent Namibia in 10 sports. This later grew to 68 athletes in 13 sports. In total two gold medals, two silver medals and four bronze medals were won and the country finished in 16th place in the medal table, shared with Angola. Most medals were won in cycling.
The West African Athletics Championships is an international athletics competition between West African nations, organised by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).
Jona Efoloko is a British sprinter. A former European youth (U18) and World Junior (U20) champion in 200 metres, In 2022, he was part of the Great Britain relay team that won European and Commonwealth gold, and World Championship bronze, in the men's 4 x 100 metres relay.
Guðbjörg Jóna Bjarnadóttir is an Icelandic sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She won the gold medal in the 200m at the 2018 Youth Olympics Games. Bjarnadóttir claimed gold in the 100 m and bronze in the 200 m at the 2018 European Under-18 Championships.
Jonas Raess is a Swiss long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 metres at the 2020 Olympics. Additionally, he earned a gold medal at the 2019 Universiade. Currently, he holds the national title for the 5000 metres and national records for the indoor and outdoor 3000 metres as well as the indoor 5000 metres.
Charlie Dobson is a British sprinter, who came second in the 200 metres event at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships. He was part of the British team that won the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
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