2011 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles explained

The Women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 29, 30 and September 1.

Kaliese Spencer had the fastest time of the year before the competition and led in the Diamond League rankings. Fellow Jamaican Melaine Walker (the reigning world and Olympic champion) was also present, as was Lashinda Demus, the runner-up in 2009. Czech athlete Zuzana Hejnová was the second fastest entrant and was second in the rankings in the Diamond League. The three medallists from the 2010 European Championships – Natalya Antyukh, Vania Stambolova, and Perri Shakes-Drayton – were the other athletes in contention for a medal.^{[1] [2]}

Lashinda Demus in lane 3, broke quickly from the start, quickly making up the stagger on lane 4 Zuzana Hejnová. In lane 8, defending champion Melaine Walker was also out fast. Demus maintained her advantage as Kaliese Spencer made a run at her, but Spencer faltered. The stretch run was the top two finishers from the previous championship, but the medals were reversed as Demus set a new National Record for the United States and the number three all time mark in the event.^[3]

Medalists

width=200 bgcolor=gold	Gold	width=200 bgcolor=silver	Silver	width=200 bgcolor=CC9966	Bronze
Lashinda Demus	Melaine Walker	Natalya Antyukh

Records

World record		52.34	Tula, Russia	8 August 2003
Championship record		52.42	Berlin, Germany	20 August 2009
World leading		52.79	London, Great Britain	5 August 2011
African record		52.90	Sevilla, Spain	25 August 1999
Asian record		53.96	Beijing, China	9 September 1993
			Guangzhou, China	22 November 2001
North, Central American and Caribbean record		52.42	Berlin, Germany	20 August 2009
South American record		55.84	Belém, Brazil	24 May 2009
European record		52.34	Tula, Russia	8 August 2003
Oceanian record		53.17	Seoul, South Korea	28 September 1988

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
August 29, 2011	12:20	Heats
August 30, 2011	19:00	Semifinals
September 1, 2011	21:15	Final

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5			54.86	Q
2	5			54.88	Q
3	1			54.93	Q
3	3			54.93	Q
5	1			55.08	Q
6	1			55.11	Q
7	2			55.12	Q
8	4			55.29	Q
9	2			55.39	Q
10	2			55.40	Q, PB
10	2			55.40	Q
12	1			55.78	Q, SB
13	3			55.90	Q
14	4			55.96	Q
15	3			55.99	Q
16	3			56.08	Q
17	5			56.13	Q, PB
18	4			56.18	Q
19	4			56.23	Q, SB
20	5			56.28	Q
21	1			56.31	q
22	2			56.32	q, NR
23	2			56.60	q
24	5			56.66	q
25	5			56.71
26	4			56.76
27	1			57.05
28	3			57.21
29	3			57.22
30	2			57.25	PB
31	4			57.51
32	5			58.54	NR
33	3			58.78
34	1			58.80
35	4			59.52
36	5
37	4
38	3				PB

Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3			53.82	Q
2	2			54.51	Q
3	1			54.72	Q
4	3			54.76	Q
5	2			54.97	Q
6	1			55.02	Q
6	1			55.02	q
8	2			55.06	q
9	3			55.07
10	1			55.09
11	1			55.29	PB
12	2			55.44
13	3			55.55
14	3			55.82
15	1			55.89
16	1			55.97
17	2			56.41
18	3			56.49
19	2			56.58
20	3			56.68
21	2			56.87
22	1			57.02
23	2			57.06
24	3			57.70

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	3			52.47	WL, NR
	8			52.73	SB
	5			53.85
4	2			54.01
5	1			54.18	SB
6	6			54.23
7	4			54.23
8	7			55.17

External links

• 400 metres hurdles results at IAAF website

Notes and References

1. Martin, David (2011-08-23). Women's 400m Hurdles – PREVIEW . IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-08-25.
2. http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=2011/sex=W/all=n/legal=A/disc=400H/detail.html 400 Metres Hurdles 2011
3. Web site: 100 Metres - women - senior - outdoor - 2021.