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.
James Stephen Baulch is a retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter. He won the 400 metres gold medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships. As a member of British 4 × 400 metres relay teams, he won a gold medal at the 1997 World Championships, and silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games where he won an individual silver and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay.
Petra Schersing is a retired East German sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. She represented sports club SC Chemie Halle and was coached by Harold Werner. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, she won a silver medal in the 400 metres and a bronze medal in the 4×400 metres relay.
Leslie Djhone is a French track and field athlete who competes in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay.
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 team who had finished first.
Dmitrijs Miļkevičs is a former Latvian track athlete who competed in 400 metres and 800 metres.
David Gillick is an Irish international track and field athlete. He began his education in Our Lady's Boys School and attended St Benildus College secondary school in Kilmacud. He studied at Dublin Institute of Technology before moving to Loughborough University in the United Kingdom to train as a full-time athlete with coach Nick Dakin. Gillick specialises in the 400 metres and he won the European Indoor Championship in 2005 and 2007, as well as the Irish National Outdoor Championship in 2006 and 2007. He set the Irish Indoor record of 45.52 seconds in the 2007 final. The time also beat the Irish outdoor record of 45.58 and was within the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard for the 2008 Games. On 4 July 2009 he ran 44.77 seconds in a race in Madrid to set a new national record. He is also the 2009 Irish national 200 m champion.
Robert Lathouwers is a former Dutch athlete who mainly focused on the 400 and 800 metres.
Michael Bingham is an American-born British 400 metres track and field athlete. The silver medalist in the individual 400 metres at the 2010 European Championships, his most notable successes came as a long-time member of the Great Britain and England 4 x 400 metre relay squads. A European indoor, European outdoor and Commonwealth Games champion in the long relay, Bingham won medals at every major indoor and outdoor championships available to him, winning Olympic bronze in 2008, World outdoor silver and World indoor silver (twice), in addition to the gold medals at European and Commonwealth Games level.
Pavel Maslák is a Czech sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He is the only athlete in history who has managed to win the 400 m title at the World Indoor Championships at three consecutive championships. Maslák is the first Czech to have run 400 metres under 45 seconds outdoor and under 46 seconds indoor.
Liemarvin Bonevacia is a Dutch sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He won bronze medals in the event at the 2016 European Athletics Championships, and the 2017 and 2021 European Indoor Championships. Bonevacia earned also five major medals for the 4 × 400 m relays, either men's or mixed, including silver medal in the men's relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Stella Jongmans is a retired Dutch athlete who specialised in the 800 metres. She won the gold at the 1995 Summer Universiade and silver at the 1996 European Indoor Championships. In addition, she represented The Netherlands at two Olympic Games, in 1992 and 1996.
Selina Rutz-Büchel is a Swiss middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. She holds a personal best of 1:57.95 minutes for the event, which she set in 2015 in Paris.
Yasmani Copello Escobar is a Cuban-born track and field hurdler who represents Turkey internationally. His personal best for the 400 metres hurdles is 47.81 seconds, set in the final of the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin.
Kevin Widmer is a retired Swiss athlete who competed in sprinting events. He represented his country at the 1996 Summer Olympics, as well as three outdoor and two indoor World Championships. Widmer is of Vietnamese descent and currently works as an athletics coach.
Ellen Buchleitner is a German former track and field athlete who was a middle-distance specialist. Representing East Germany, she won a silver medal in the 800 metres at the 1989 European Indoor Championships and a bronze medal in the 800m at the 1989 World Indoor Championships, before going on to win a silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 1990 European Championships. She won three East German national titles.
Rai Benjamin is an American professional 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. Benjamin won silver medals at his first Olympic Games in 2021 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.
Ricky Petrucciani is a Swiss sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. He won a gold medal at the 2021 European U23 Championships and a silver medal at the 2022 European Championships in the 400m category. He also reached the semifinals of the 2020 Olympics.
Alexander Doom is a Belgian sprinter specializing in the 400 metres. In 2024, he became the first male athlete to win the individual 400 metres and 4×400 metres relay at the same World Athletics Indoor Championships He has won several medals in international competitions with the Belgian 4 × 400 metres relay team and holds a personal best of 44.92 over the 400 metres.
Mathias Hove Johansen is a Norwegian sprinter. He represents IL Skjalg, and was the 200 metres Norwegian Athletics Championships winner in 2019 and 2020.
