2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres explained

Event:	Men's 400 metres
Competition:	2015 World Championships
Venue:	Beijing National Stadium
Dates:	23 August (heats) 24 August (semifinals) 26 August (final)
Competitors:	44
Nations:	27
Win Value:	43.48
Gold:	Wayde van Niekerk
Goldnoc:	RSA
Silver:	LaShawn Merritt
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Kirani James
Bronzenoc:	GRN
Prev:	2013
Next:	2017

The men's 400 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 23, 24 and 26 August.^[1] ^[2] The winning margin was 0.17 seconds.

Summary

Since 2008, all of the major gold medals had been won by either reigning Olympic champion Kirani James or defending champion LaShawn Merritt. In the final, both were out ahead, along with Wayde van Niekerk and Isaac Makwala, Africans with none of those credentials. Through the final turn, van Niekerk took sole possession of the lead, Makwala passed James to hit the home stretch with a slight advantage in second. Far off the pace was Luguelín Santos. Down the home stretch, Makwala was unable to hold his position and was passed by a burst from James. James was unable to hold that burst, Merritt cruised past James but was unable to make any headway on van Niekerk's lead.^[3] Merritt made a desperate lean that actually cost him time but was well beaten, Santos followed Merritt down the home stretch to take fourth beating the National Record he set in the semi-final round.^[4] van Niekerk's 43.48 improved upon his own African Record, putting him at number 4 on the all-time list. For the first time in history, three men broke 44 seconds. Merritt set the fastest non-winning time of all time at 43.65 seconds. In fact, places 2, 3 and 4 were all the fastest ever in that position.^[5]

Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:^[6]

The following records were established during the competition:
World record	43.18	Sevilla, Spain	26 August 1999
Championship record	43.18	Sevilla, Spain	26 August 1999
World Leading	43.72	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland	5 July 2015
African Record	43.72	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland	5 July 2015
Asian Record	44.27	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland	5 July 2015
NACAC record	43.18	Seville, Spain	26 August 1999
South American Record	44.29	Seville, Spain	26 August 1999
European Record	44.33	Rome, Italy	3 September 1987
Oceanian record	44.38	Seoul, South Korea	26 September 1988
Asian Record	43.93	Beijing, China	23 August 2015
World Leading	43.48	Beijing, China	26 August 2015
African Record	43.48	Beijing, China	26 August 2015

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
23 August 2015	11:10	Heats
24 August 2015	20:05	Semifinals
26 August 2015	21:25	Final

Results

KEY:	bgcolor=ccffcc align=center	Q	Qualified	bgcolor=ddffdd align=center	q	Fastest non-qualifiers	NR	National record	PB	Personal best	SB	Seasonal best

Heats

Qualification: Best 3 (Q) and next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.^[7]

Rank	Heat	Time	Notes
1	2	43.93	,
2	2	43.93	,
3	2	44.19
4	6	44.42
5	1	44.43
6	2	44.45	,
7	3	44.51
8	1	44.54
8	6	44.54	,
10	4	44.56
11	4	44.62
12	6	44.65	,
13	1	44.67	,
14	6	44.68
15	1	44.69	,
16	2	44.72	,
17	3	44.83
18	4	44.97
19	3	45.01	,
20	3	45.07
21	3	45.08
22	2	45.16
23	4	45.17
24	5	45.24
25	1	45.25
25	6	45.25
27	5	45.26
28	1	45.28
28	1	45.28
30	4	45.36
31	6	45.42
32	4	45.49
33	5	45.53
34	5	45.55
35	6	45.59
36	5	45.64
37	3	45.65
38	3	45.79
39	4	45.88
40	5	46.02
41	1	46.27
42	3	46.42
43	5	46.50
44	5	46.52
	2

Semifinals

Qualification: Best 2 (Q) and next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.^[8]

Rank	Heat	Time	Notes
1	2	44.11
2	1	44.16
3	1	44.26	,
4	3	44.31
5	3	44.34	,
6	2	44.40
7	2	44.54	,
8	3	44.64
9	2	44.70
10	1	44.71
11	1	44.74
12	3	44.77
12	2	44.77
14	3	44.85
15	2	44.86
16	1	44.98
16	2	44.98
18	1	45.07
18	1	45.07
20	3	45.29
21	2	45.41
22	1	45.42
23	3	45.43
24	3	45.65

Final

The final was held at 21:25.^[9]

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
	6	43.48	,
	8	43.65
	5	43.78
4	7	44.11
5	4	44.63
6	3	44.68
7	2	45.06
8	9	45.15

Notes and References

Web site: Beijing 2015: Timetable . https://web.archive.org/web/20141201205133/http://www.iaafbeijing2015.com/special/iaaf_sch_en/ . dead . 1 December 2014 . 10 August 2015 . 10 August 2015 . Beijing 2015 .
Web site: Start list . 26 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150928092132/http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-400-M-h----.SL2.pdf . 28 September 2015 . dead .
Web site: World Championships 2015: Wayde van Niekerk wins 400m gold and is taken to hospital with exhaustion. 26 August 2015. Daily Telegraph. 27 August 2015.
Web site: World Championships: Wayde van Niekerk wins superb 400m. 26 August 2015. BBC Sport. 27 August 2015.
Web site: Wayde van Niekerk wins men's 400m final at world championships. 26 August 2015. Guardian. 27 August 2015.
Web site: Records & Lists – 400 meters. IAAF. 17 August 2015.
Web site: Heats results . 24 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150928084443/http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-400-M-h----.RS4.pdf . 28 September 2015 . dead .
Web site: Semifinals results . 24 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150928091358/http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-400-M-sf----.RS4.pdf . 28 September 2015 . dead .
http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/4875/AT-400-M-f----.RS6.pdf Final results