2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres explained

Event:	Women's 400 metres
Competition:	2017 World Championships
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Dates:	6 August (heats) 7 August (semifinal) 9 August (final)
Competitors:	49
Nations:	32
Gold:	Phyllis Francis
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Salwa Eid Naser
Silvernoc:	BHR
Bronze:	Allyson Felix
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	2015
Next:	2019

The women's 400 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on and 9 August.^[1]

Summary

In wet conditions, Shaunae Miller-Uibo took an early lead, which she maintained coming onto the home stretch, with Allyson Felix in second and Phyllis Francis and Salwa Eid Naser gaining on both of them.^[2] Miller-Uibo stumbled and slowed to a jog, being passed by Francis, Felix, and Nasser. Francis continued on to win while Nasser, breaking her own national record, dipped past Felix on the line.^{[3] [4]}

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:^[5]

Record		Athlete		Date	Location
World	47.60	Marita Koch		6 Oct 1985	Canberra, Australia
Championship	47.99	Jarmila Kratochvílová			Helsinki, Finland
World leading	49.65	Allyson Felix	United States	9 Jul 2017	London, Great Britain
African	49.10	Falilat Ogunkoya		29 Jul 1996	Atlanta, United States
Asian	49.81	Ma Yuqin		11 Sep 1993	Beijing, China
NACAC	48.70	Sanya Richards-Ross	United States	16 Sep 2006	Athens, Greece
South American	49.64	Ximena Restrepo	Colombia	5 Aug 1992	Barcelona, Spain
European	47.60	Marita Koch		6 Oct 1985	Canberra, Australia
Oceanian	48.63	Cathy Freeman	Australia	29 Jul 1996	Atlanta, United States

The following records were set at the competition:^[6]

Record		Athlete		Date
Sierra Leonean	53.20	Maggie Barrie	Sierra Leone	6 Aug 2017
Bahraini	50.57	Salwa Eid Naser	Bahrain	6 Aug 2017
	50.08			7 Aug 2017
	50.06			9 Aug 2017

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 52.10.^[7]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), is as follows:^[8]

Date	Time	Round
6 August	11:55	Heats
7 August	20:55	Semifinals
9 August	21:50	Final

Results

Heats

The first round took place on 6 August in six heats as follows:^[9]

Heat	1	2	3	4	5	6
Start time	11:54	12:03	12:12	12:21	12:30	12:39
Photo finish	link	link	link	link	link	link

The first three in each heat ( 

Q ) and the next six fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals. The overall results were as follows:^[10]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	3			50.57	,
2	4	9			50.94
3	2	3			50.97
4	4	4			51.00
5	3	2			51.09	,
6	6	4			51.14
7	3	4			51.26
8	2	7			51.27
9	6	2			51.37	,
10	3	6			51.37	,
11	3	8			51.41
12	5	8			51.43
13	6	3			51.57	,
14	2	9			51.58
15	2	6			51.64
16	3	3			51.72	,
17	5	9			51.83
18	5	4			51.88
19	6	7			51.88
20	3	5			51.98
21	5	2			52.01
22	3	7			52.06
23	6	6			52.13
24	6	5			52.18
25	2	4			52.20
26	5	7			52.22
27	5	5			52.26
28	4	8			52.26
29	1	1			52.44
30	4	5			52.48
31	6	9			52.50
32	2	5			52.55
33	4	6			52.55
34	6	8			52.58
35	1	2			52.61
36	5	6			52.70
37	1	6			52.70
38	3	9			52.78
39	2	2			52.79
40	1	9			53.00
41	1	4			53.20
42	4	2			53.26
43	2	8			53.50
44	1	8			53.62
45	4	7			53.72
46	1	5			53.97
47	1	7			54.02
48	5	3			54.04
49	1	3			54.74

Semifinals

The semifinals took place on 7 August in three heats as follows:^[11]

Heat	1	2	3
Start time	20:55	21:03	21:11
Photo finish	link	link	link

The first two in each heat ( 

Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:^[12]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	7			50.08	,
2	2	4			50.12
3	1	5			50.36
4	3	5			50.37
5	1	7			50.56	,
6	3	4			50.60	,
7	2	9			50.67
8	2	5			50.70
9	1	6			50.71
10	3	7			50.87
11	3	6			51.28
12	1	8			51.57
13	2	2			51.57
14	3	3			51.77
15	3	2			51.81
16	3	8			51.81
17	1	3			52.01
18	1	2			52.09
19	2	8			52.10
20	3	9			52.23
21	1	4			52.60
22	2	3			53.07
23	2	6			53.27
24	1	9			54.50

Final

The final took place on 9 August at 21:50. The results were as follows: (photo finish)^[13]

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	6			49.92
	4			50.06
	5			50.08
4	7			50.49
5	2			50.76
6	8			50.86
7	9			51.15
8	3			51.48

Notes and References

1. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/5151/AT-400-W-h----.SL2.pdf Start list
2. Web site: Phyllis Francis wins gold after Shaunae Miller-Uibo suffers 400m heartache . 10 August 2017 . The Guardian . 10 August 2017.
3. Web site: What Happened Today at the 2017 World Track & Field Championships. Runner's World. 11 August 2017. 9 August 2017.
4. Web site: Phyllis Francis Shocks Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Allyson Felix In World 400 Win. FloTrack. 11 August 2017. 9 August 2017.
5. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Records. IAAF. 31 July 2017.
6. Web site: Records Set - Final. IAAF. 14 August 2017.
7. Web site: Qualification System and Entry Standards. IAAF. 9 August 2017.
8. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Timetable. IAAF. 9 August 2017.
9. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Heats − Results. IAAF. 9 Aug 2017.
10. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Heats − Summary. IAAF. 9 Aug 2017.
11. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Semi-Final − Results. IAAF. 9 Aug 2017.
12. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Semi-Final − Summary. IAAF. 9 Aug 2017.
13. Web site: 400 Metres Women − Final − Results. IAAF. 9 Aug 2017.