The women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Sydney, Australia, at International Athletic Centre on 22 and 23 August.
| Gold | Ulrike Urbansky | |
| Silver | Vicki Jamison | |
| Bronze | Tanya Jarrett |
23 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | align=left | 56.65 | |||||
| align=left | align=left | 57.57 | |||||
| align=left | align=left | | 57.91 | ||||
| 4 | align=left | align=left |  | 58.52 | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left |  | 58.53 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left |  | 58.80 | |||
| 7 | align=left | align=left |  | 58.90 | |||
| 8 | align=left | align=left |  | 59.40 |
22 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | | 58.36 | Q | ||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 58.45 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 58.48 | q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 62.28 | ||||
| 5 | align=left | align=left |  | 63.56 | |||
| align=left | align=left | DNF | |||||
| align=left | align=left |  | DNF |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | 56.96 | Q | |||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | 57.49 | Q | |||
| 3 | align=left | align=left | | 58.40 | q | ||
| 4 | align=left | align=left |  | 59.20 | |||
| 5 | align=left | align=left |  | 59.50 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left |  | 60.35 | |||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | | 60.57 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | align=left | align=left | | 59.01 | Q | ||
| 2 | align=left | align=left | | 59.03 | Q | ||
| 3 | align=left | align=left |  | 60.08 | |||
| 4 | align=left | align=left | 60.82 | ||||
| 5 | align=left | Ana Costa | align=left | 62.00 | |||
| 6 | align=left | align=left | 62.48 | ||||
| 7 | align=left | align=left | | 62.56 |
According to an unofficial count, 21 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.