| Event: | Men's 400 metres |
| Competition: | European Athletics Championships |
The men's 400 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.
The winning margin was 0.63 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 400 metres has been won by more than 0.6 seconds at these championships since the introduction of fully automatic timing, although the winning margin in the 1938 European Athletics Championships was a hand-timed 0.8 seconds.
| Gold | Karl Honz | |
| Silver | David Jenkins | |
| Bronze | Bernd Herrmann |
4 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | align=left | 45.04 | CR | ||||
| align=left | align=left | | 45.67 | ||||
| align=left | align=left | 45.78 | |||||
| 4 | align=left | align=left |  | 45.84 | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | | 45.87 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left |  | 46.12 | |||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | | 46.15 | |||
| 8 | align=left | align=left |  | 46.90 |
3 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | 46.24 | Q | |||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 46.28 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 46.29 | Q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | | 46.51 | Q | ||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | 46.62 | ||||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | 46.64 | ||||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | | 46.68 | |||
| 8 | align=left | align=left | | 47.30 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | | 45.93 | Q | ||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 46.36 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 46.39 | Q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 46.40 | Q | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left |  | 46.43 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | 47.04 | ||||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | 47.24 | ||||
| 8 | align=left | align=left | 47.40 |
2 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | 45.92 | Q | |||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 46.00 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 46.11 | Q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 46.38 | Q | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | | 46.63 | q | ||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | | 46.78 | q | ||
| 7 | align=left | align=left |  | 47.35 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | 46.30 | Q | |||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 46.38 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | 46.44 | Q | |||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 46.46 | Q | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | 46.68 | q | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | | 47.01 | q | ||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | | 48.71 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | | 46.50 | Q | ||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 46.60 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 46.97 | Q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 46.98 | Q | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left | 47.41 | ||||
| 6 | align=left | align=left |  | 47.80 |
According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 11 countries participated in the event.
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