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 Maldives competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. The delegation's participation in the Athens Olympics marked the Maldives' fifth appearance at the Summer Olympics since their debut at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Four athletes competed across two sports; Sultan Saeed and Shifana Ali in track and field, and Hassan Mubah and Aminath Rouya Hussain in swimming. None of the track or swimming athletes advanced past the first round in their events, and no Maldivian has won a medal in any events. Sultan Saeed bore the Maldives' flag during the parade of nations of the opening ceremony.
Stéphan Buckland is a retired Mauritian track and field athlete who competed in the 100 and 200 metres.
Saint Kitts and Nevis first participated at the Olympic Games in 1996, and have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since then. The country has never won an Olympic medal and has not competed at the Winter Olympic Games.
Richard "Torpedo" Thompson is a sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago who specializes in the 100 metres. His personal best of 9.82 seconds, set in June 2014, was one of the top ten fastest of all time, and a national record. In the 200 meters, he has the fourth fastest time by a Trinidad and Tobago athlete.
Louis Steven Fabrice Coiffic is a Mauritian sprinter specializing in the 100 metres and 200 metres, who competed in the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 African Championships in Athletics. Coiffic is the third fastest 200m sprinter in Mauritius with a time of 20.89 seconds behind Stephan Buckland's 20.06 seconds and Eric Milazar's 20.66 seconds achieved respectively in Paris, France and La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
Zharnel Hughes is an Anguilla-born British sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great Britain in the Olympic Games, World Athletics and European Athletics events, and for England at the Commonwealth Games, since 2015. A double Commonwealth Games, double European Championships gold medalist as part of the 4 x 100 metres relay, Hughes has twice been European champion individually; over 100 metres in 2018, and 200 metres in 2022. In 2023, he broke both British sprint records, before winning his first global individual medal, a bronze in the 100 metres at the 2023 World championships.
Ewa Nikola Swoboda is a Polish track and field sprinter who specialises in the short sprints. She is a World Indoor Championships silver medallist, two-time European Championships silver medallist, European Indoor Championships gold and two-time silver medallist, and European Games gold and silver medallist. Swoboda is a two-time Olympian and competed at the 2016 and 2024 Summer Olympics.
Michael Arthur Norman Jr. is an American sprinter. He previously held the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays, is tied on sixth on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4×100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal bests of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world record holder for the indoor 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was the Diamond League champion in 2018 and 2023 and the world number one ranked runner in the men's 100 m for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Noah Lyles is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the American record, and makes him the third fastest of all-time in the event. He is a one-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion.
Matthew Boling is an American track and field athlete specializing in the sprints and long jump. He won four gold medals at the 2019 Pan American U20 Championships in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and 4 × 400 m relay, and helped set world under-20 records in both of the relay races for the United States. He also ran in the semi-final for the American 4 × 400 m relay team at the 2018 World U20 Championships that went on to earn silver in the final. Boling would later go on to win a gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in the mixed 4 x 400 m relay, and would help set a world record for the event in the process.
Sha'Carri Richardson is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. Richardson rose to fame in 2019 as a freshman at Louisiana State University, running 10.75 seconds to break the 100 m collegiate record at the NCAA Division I Championships. This winning time made her one of the ten fastest women in history at 19 years old.
Favour Chukwuka Ofili is a Nigerian track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x100 meters relay races. Ofili made her Olympic debut for women’s 200m on 4th August, 2024 at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 200m, She remains in top 3 overall for both preliminary and semi-final rounds, finishes 6th in her Olympic-Final debut as a first-time Olympian.
Erriyon Knighton is an American sprinter specializing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. At the age of 18, he won the bronze medal in the 200 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, becoming the youngest ever individual sprint medalist in Championships history. He is the 2023 U.S. Champion in the 200 meters and the 2023 World Championships silver medalist.
Joseph Fahnbulleh is a Liberian-American sprinter. An Olympic finalist, Fahnbulleh is a double NCAA champion and finished fourth at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the 200 meters race.
Letsile Tebogo is a sprinter from Botswana. He won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 200 metres event, with his win earning the first-ever Olympic gold medal for Botswana. He also won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships in the 100 m and followed it up with a bronze medal in the 200 m five days later.
Julien Alfred is a Saint Lucian sprinter. She won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100 metres event, setting a new national record of 10.72s in the final. Her medal was the first-ever Olympic medal for Saint Lucia. She then won a silver in the 200 metres. Alfred also won the gold medal in the 60 metres at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Blessing Akwasi Afrifah is an Israeli track and field athlete who specializes in the sprints. He was the 200 metres champion at both the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, and at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships. Afrifah represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men's 200 metres, and finished 16th.
