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.
Allyson Michelle Felix is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 meters later in her career. At 200 meters, Felix is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2005–2009), a two-time Olympic silver medalist, and the 2011 world bronze medalist. At 400 meters, she is the 2015 world champion, 2011 world silver medalist, 2016 Olympic silver medalist, 2017 world bronze medalist, and 2020 Olympic bronze medalist. Across the short distances, Felix is a ten-time U.S. national champion.
Sanya Richards-Ross is a retired Jamaican-born American track and field athlete who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being the 2012 Olympic champion, 2009 world champion, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, and 2005 world silver medalist. With her victory in 2012, she became the second American woman to win the 400 meters at the Olympic Games and the first American woman to earn multiple global 400-meter titles. At this distance, Richards-Ross is also a six-time U.S. national champion.
Angella ("Sandie") Richards is a Jamaican track and field athlete. She was a bronze medalist in the 4x400 m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Danny Everett is an American former track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He won bronze medals in the 400m at the 1988 Olympic Games and at the 1991 World Championships, and won gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1987 World Championships and the 1988 Olympic Games. His 400m best of 43.81 seconds when winning the 1992 US Olympic trials, moved him to second on the world all-time list and still ranks him 17th on the world all-time list. As of August 2024, his time of 43.81 remains the track record for New Orleans.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. The first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Kathryn Jane Cook is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze medallist, including at 400 metres in Los Angeles 1984. Her other individual achievements include winning the 200m at the 1981 Universiade, finishing second in the 100m at the 1981 World Cup, and winning a bronze medal in the 200m at the 1983 World Championships. She is also three-times a winner of the British Athletics Writers' Association Female Athlete of the Year Award (1980–82).
Jillian Cheryl Richardson-Briscoe is a Canadian athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. She is a three-time Olympian. In 1988, she equalled Marita Payne's Canadian 400 metres record of 49.91 secs. The record still stands. She was inducted into the Athletics Canada Hall of Fame in 2017.
Diane Lynn Dixon is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. She was born in Brooklyn, New York. She has an Olympic gold medal for running with the American 4x400 meters relay team at the 1984 Olympics, running in the preliminary rounds.
Denean Elizabeth Howard-Hill is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Sherri Frances Howard is a former American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. She is the older sister of 1988 relay teammate Denean Howard.
Lillie Mae Leatherwood is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
These are the official results of the Women's 200m metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The final was held on August 9, 1984, and was won by 0.23 seconds by Valerie Brisco-Hooks.
Francena Lynette McCorory is a retired American track and field athlete, known primarily for running the 400 meters. She was the 2011 World bronze medalist in the 400 meters and was a member of the gold medal-winning 2012 and 2016 United States Olympic 4 x 400 m relay teams. She was the IAAF 400 meter Indoor World Champion in 2014. McCorory retired in 2021.
Afia Neliah Charles is a sprinter from Antigua and Barbuda who specializes in the 400 metre dash.
Ashley Spencer is an American track and field athlete who competes in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. In the 400m hurdles, she is the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. In the 400m, she is the 2012 World Junior Champion and the 2016 World Indoor silver medalist. She is coached by 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Tonya Buford-Bailey.
Angela Mary Gilmour is an English former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres and the 4 x 400 metres relay. In the relay, she represented Great Britain at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, while at the Commonwealth Games, she won a silver medal in Edinburgh 1986 and a gold medal in Auckland 1990.
Vernon Larnard Norwood is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters.
Kendall Ellis is an American sprinter. Ellis won gold in the 4x400 m relay and bronze in the Mixed 4x400 metres at the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in the 400 meters at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, winning gold medals as a part of prelim 4×400 m relays. As a junior, Ellis took gold in the 4×400 m relay and bronze in the 400 meters at the 2015 Pan American Junior Championships.
Dominique Blake is a Jamaican track and field athlete. Blake won a gold medal at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games and was accidentally awarded a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was banned for 4+1⁄2 years after testing positive for methylhexanamine and returned to athletic competition in 2017.
United States 
