2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres explained

The men's 400 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on 1, 2 and 4 October 2019.^[1] The winning margin was 0.67 seconds which as of 2024 is the greatest winning margin in the men's 400 metres at these championships since the retirement of Michael Johnson.

Summary

Kirani James had the pedigree -- a World Championship and an Olympic gold medal -- but those were back in 2011 and 2012. He finished second behind Wayde van Niekerk's world record at the last Olympics. Van Niekerk couldn't compete because he injured his knee in a celebrity rugby game and James was battling Graves' disease, the same ailment that affected Gail Devers. With a faster personal best, American champion Fred Kerley had been anticipated as USA's next golden boy until Michael Norman came on the scene with a relaxed, early season personal best that only equalled the #4 time in history. But Norman took himself out of the final, jogging home the second half of his semi-final. The other sub-44 qualifiers were Steven Gardiner, who had run his on this track in May and Akeem Bloomfield, who was the last time qualifier to get in. Gardiner led the qualifying, while Anthony Zambrano had to set a Colombian national record to get in.

In the final, James went out hard, passing Zambrano to his outside as they entered the backstretch. Inside of James, Machel Cedenio, James, Gardiner and Demish Gaye were running true to the stagger. James held that lead until midway through the final turn when he began to fade back as Gardiner was emerging slightly ahead. Coming onto the home straight, Gardiner held a 2 metre lead over James and Kerley, with Cedenio just slightly behind them. A further 2 metres back was Zambrano and Gaye. Down the stretch, Gardiner widened his lead, with Kerley the next best to chase. From far back, Zambrano was in another gear, speeding past Cedenio, James and a metre before the line, Kerley.^[2] Gardiner's win in 43.48 is the sixth fastest time in history. Zambrano's 44.15 set the South American record, beating Sanderlei Parrela's record from the World Championships 20 years earlier.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:^[3]

width=28%	Record	width=28%	Athlete	width=8%		width=19%	Location	width=17%	Date
World Record		43.03	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	14 August 2016
Championship Record		43.18	Sevilla, Spain	26 August 1999
World Leading		43.45	Torrance, United States	20 April 2019
African Record		43.03	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	14 August 2016
Asian Record		43.93	Beijing, China	23 August 2015
North, Central American and Caribbean Record		43.18	Seville, Spain	26 August 1999
South American Record		44.29
European Record		44.33	Rome, Italy	3 September 1987
Oceanian Record		44.38	Seoul, South Korea	26 September 1988

The following records were set at the competition:

Record		Athlete		Date
Malagasy	46.80	Todiasoa Rabearison		1 Oct 2019
Gibraltarian	47.41	Jessy Franco	Gibraltar
Colombian	44.55	Anthony Zambrano	Colombia	2 Oct 2019
Bahamian	43.48	Steven Gardiner		4 Oct 2019
South American	44.15	Anthony Zambrano	Colombia
Colombian

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 45.30.^[4]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:^[5]

Date	Time	Round
1 October	16:35	Heats
2 October	20:35	Semi-finals
4 October	22:20	Final

Results

Heats

The first three in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the semifinal.^[6]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	2			44.94	Q
2	4	7			45.00	Q
3	4	5			45.02	Q
4	6	7			45.08	Q
5	3	4			45.08	Q
6	4	3			45.10	Q,
7	2	8			45.14	Q,
8	3	3			45.19	Q
9	1	3			45.26	Q
10	6	6			45.32	Q
11	1	4			45.34	Q
12	6	5			45.40	Q
13	1	8			45.45	Q
14	3	7			45.47	Q
15	2	3			45.59	Q
16	6	8			45.62	q
17	1	5			45.65	q
18	5	3			45.68	Q
19	3	8			45.70	q
20	6	3			45.71	q
21	4	4			45.74	q
22	2	7			45.82	q
23	2	6			45.87
24	5	5			45.87	Q
25	4	2			45.91
26	5	6			45.93	Q
27	1	6			46.01
28	5	7			46.19
29	5	2			46.21
30	3	2			46.28
31	6	4			46.58
32	4	6			46.80
33	2	4			46.84
34	5	4			47.39
35	6	2			47.41
36	3	5			47.65
37	1	2			47.76
38	3	6			47.92
39	4	8			48.13
40	5	8			48.48
41	2	5			48.52
	1	7

Semi-finals

The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.^[7]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	6			44.13	Q,
2	2	5			44.23	Q,
3	1	4			44.25	Q
4	1	5			44.37	Q,
5	3	7			44.41	Q,
6	3	8			44.55	Q,
7	2	7			44.66	q,
8	3	6			44.77	q
9	1	7			44.85
10	2	9			45.00
11	2	8			45.00
12	1	6			45.03	=
13	3	5			45.13
14	3	9			45.15
15	2	3			45.17
16	1	9			45.24
17	1	8			45.26
18	1	2			45.34
19	2	4			45.44
20	2	2			45.54
21	3	2			45.55
22	3	4			45.94
23	1	3			46.11
	3	3

Final

The final was started on 4 October at 22:20.^[8]

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4			43.48
	8			44.15
	5			44.17
4	3			44.46
5	7			44.54
6	9			44.94
7	6			45.30
8	2			45.36

Notes and References

1. Web site: 400 Metres Men − Round 1 − Start List. IAAF. 30 September 2019. 30 September 2019.
2. Web site: Gardiner powers away to win dramatic 400 meters. 4 October 2019 . Reuters. 29 September 2020.
3. Web site: 100 Metres Men − Records. IAAF. 21 September 2019.
4. News: Competitions Entry Standards 2019 – IAAF World Championships – PDF title, Qualification Standards for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. iaaf.org. 2 August 2019.
5. Web site: 400 Metres Men − Timetable. IAAF. 21 September 2019.
6. Web site: Heats results.
7. Web site: Semi-finals results.
8. Web site: Final results.