2012 African Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres explained

The women's 400 metres at the 2012 African Championships in Athletics was held at the Stade Charles de Gaulle on 27, 28 and 29 June.

Medalists

Standing records prior to the 2012 African Championships in Athletics
World record	47.60	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985
African record	49.10	Atlanta, United States	29 July 1996
Championship record	49.83	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	2 May 2008
Broken records during the 2012 African Championships in Athletics
Championship record	49.54	Porto Novo, Benin	29 June 2012

First 4 in each heat (Q) and 4 best performers (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Note
1	2	8	50.42	Q
2	2	3	51.39	Q
3	1	4	52.06	Q
4	4	6	52.11	Q
5	2	2	52.38	Q
6	2	7	52.57	Q
7	1	3	52.63	Q
8	5	1	52.65	Q
9	4	8	53.11	Q
10	1	5	53.47	Q
11	3	3	53.58	Q
11	4	2	53.58	Q
13	1	8	53.65	Q
14	5	8	54.05	Q
15	1	6	54.31	q
16	2	4	54.49	q
17	1	7	54.60	q
18	3	4	54.65	Q
19	1	2	54.67	q
20	3	7	54.91	Q
21	5	3	54.98	Q
22	4	3	54.99	Q
23	2	6	55.37
24	4	5	55.62
25	3	2	55.77	Q
26	3	1	57.01
27	3	8	57.36
28	5	6	57.74	Q
29	5	4	58.65
30	2	5
	5	5
	5	7
	3	5
	3	6
	4	4
	4	7
	5	2

First 2 in each heat (Q) and 2 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Note
1	2	5	51.25	Q
2	1	4	51.71	Q
3	3	6	52.12	Q
4	3	5	52.35	Q
5	1	5	52.36	Q
6	1	6	52.51	q
7	3	8	52.61	q
8	1	8	52.85
9	2	6	52.91	Q
10	2	4	52.93
11	3	3	53.60
12	2	8	53.75
13	1	3	54.09
14	2	3	54.84
15	3	7	54.91
16	2	2	55.19
17	1	1	55.20
18	2	7	55.47
19	3	4	55.58
20	1	7	55.82
21	3	2	55.85
22	2	1	56.64
23	3	1	57.47
24	1	2	57.64