2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres hurdles explained

Event:Men's 400 metres hurdles
Competition:2019 World Championships
Venue:Khalifa International Stadium
Dates:27 September (heats)
28 September (semi-finals)
30 September (final)
Competitors:39
Nations:31
Win Value:47.42
Gold:Karsten Warholm
Goldnoc:NOR
Silver:Rai Benjamin
Silvernoc:USA
Bronze:Abderrahman Samba
Bronzenoc:QAT
Prev:2017
Next:2022

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 27 to 30 September 2019.[1]

Summary

Coming into these Championships, only four men had ever run under 47 seconds. While world record holder Kevin Young never officially retired, now at 53 he's largely been a spectator for a couple of decades. The other three have accomplished the feat in less than a year, two this season in the same race. And all three were in Doha setting up a highly anticipated confrontation.

It took 48.93 to make the final. Abdelmalik Lahoulou set the Algerian national record and Alison dos Santos a personal best to get there.

In the final, Rai Benjamin in lane 7 appeared to get a better start, making up the stagger on Lahoulou to his outside, but that may have been deceptive. Down the backstretch, defending champion Karsten Warholm started to take charge. All alone in lane 9, the third of the big 3 Abderrahman Samba, was getting passed by. Through the turn, Warholm held his advantage over Benjamin which revealed to be a full stride coming off the turn. Kyron McMaster looked to be in third place. Benjamin made a run at Warholm down the stretch but stretched for the final hurdle, landing awkwardly and losing momentum and his last opportunity to try to catch Warholm. In front of a home crowd, Samba was able to get past McMaster to take the bronze.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

World record46.78Barcelona, Spain6 August 1992
Championship record47.18Stuttgart, Germany19 August 1993
World leading46.92Zürich, Switzerland29 August 2019
African record47.10Zürich, Switzerland7 August 1991
Asian record46.98Paris, France30 June 2018
North, Central American and Caribbean record46.78Barcelona, Spain6 August 1992
South American record47.84Helsinki, Finland7 August 2005
European record46.92Zürich, Switzerland29 August 2019
Oceanian record48.28Atlanta, United States31 July 1996

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 49.30.[3]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:[4]

DateTimeRound
27 September 20:35 Heats
28 September 18:05 Semi-finals
30 September 22:40 Final

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advanced to the semi-finals.[5]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 3 49.08 Q
2 3 49.25 Q
3 1 49.27 Q
4 5 49.34 Q,
5 1 49.41 Q
6 5 49.49 Q
7 3 49.50 Q
8 5 49.54 Q
9 2 49.60 Q
10 4 49.62 Q
11 1 49.62 Q
12 1 49.63 Q
13 2 49.66 Q
14 1 49.72 q
15 5 49.73 Q
16 5 49.75 q
17 4 49.76 Q
18 4 49.89 Q
19 2 49.95 Q
19 1 49.95 q
21 3 50.04 Q
22 4 50.15 Q
23 2 50.20 Q
24 4 50.34 q
25 1 50.46
26 3 50.54
27 5 50.55
28 3 50.62
29 4 50.71
30 2 50.76
31 5 50.93
32 4 51.02
33 3 51.25
34 1 51.52
35 2 51.71
36 2 52.58
37 3 52.60
38 5 59.45
2

Semi-finals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advanced to the Final.[6]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 2 48.28 Q
2 1 48.35 Q,
3 1 48.39 Q,
4 2 48.39 Q,
5 1 48.40 q
6 3 48.52 Q
7 2 48.67 q
8 3 48.72 Q
9 1 48.93
10 3 48.97
11 3 49.02
12 2 49.10
13 1 49.14
14 2 49.18
15 1 49.20
16 1 49.32
17 3 49.71
18 3 49.96
19 3 49.97
20 1 50.00
21 2 50.00
22 2 50.18
23 2 50.30
24 3 52.01

Final

The final was started on 30 September at 22:41.[7]

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
4 47.42
7 47.66
9 48.03
4 2 48.10
5 3 48.20
6 6 48.25
7 5 48.28
8 8 49.46

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Start list.
  2. Web site: 400 Metres Hurdles Men − Records. IAAF. 21 September 2019.
  3. News: Competitions Entry Standards 2019 – IAAF World Championships – PDF title, Qualification Standards for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. iaaf.org. 2 August 2019.
  4. Web site: 400 Metres Hurdles Men − Timetable. IAAF. 21 September 2019.
  5. Web site: Men's 400 metres hurdles − Heats − Results. IAAF. 26 Sep 2019.
  6. Web site: Semi-finals results.
  7. Web site: Final results.