| Event: | Men's 400 metres |
| Competition: | 2022 World Championships |
| Venue: | Hayward Field |
| Dates: | 17 July (heats) 20 July (semi-finals) 22 July (final) |
| Competitors: | 48 |
| Nations: | 31 |
| Win Value: | 44.29 |
| Gold: | Michael Norman |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Kirani James |
| Silvernoc: | GRN |
| Bronze: | Matthew Hudson-Smith |
| Bronzenoc: | GBR |
| Prev: | 2019 |
| Next: | 2023 |
The men's 400 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene from 17 to 22 July 2022.[1] The winning margin was 0.19 seconds.
The semi-final took every athlete who broke 45 seconds into the final. By contrast, in 2015, sixteen athletes broke 45 in the semi-final round. 2015 was the second World Championships for two of the finalists, both former champions, Kirani James and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk. After what should have been a career-ending knee injury, it was remarkable for van Niekerk to get this far, each race an experiment to see how fast he could still go. The 2022 world leader was Michael Norman at 43.56. In two previous major championships, 2019 and the Olympics, Norman had failed to win, so he had something to prove here too.
Norman went out fast, but James was marginally faster through the entire first half of the race. Christopher Taylor, Matthew Hudson-Smith and van Niekerk were just a tick back. James maintained his slight edge through the turn, when they hit the straight, Norman accelerated, putting a gap on van Niekerk and Hudson-Smith, but James didn't go away. Norman battled, gaining a slight advantage, then widening it to a full meter by the finish. Two meters back, Hudson-Smith had gained the advantage over van Niekerk whose form broke down the last 25 meters. Coming from dead last off the turn, Champion Allison blazed by van Niekerk but came up short to catch Hudson-Smith for bronze.
Before the competition records were as follows:[2]
| width=25% align=center | Record | width=25% align=center | Athlete & | width=10% align=center | width=25% align=center | Location | width=15% align=center | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World record | 43.03 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 14 August 2016 | ||||||
| Championship record | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | ||||||
| World Leading | 43.56 | Eugene, United States | 25 June 2022 | ||||||
| African Record | 43.03 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 14 August 2016 | ||||||
| Asian Record | 43.93 | Beijing, China | 23 August 2015 | ||||||
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | ||||||
| South American Record | 43.93 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 August 2021 | ||||||
| European Record | 44.33 | Rome, Italy | 3 September 1987 | ||||||
| Oceanian record | 44.38 | Seoul, South Korea | 26 September 1988 |
The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 44.90.[3]
The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 July | 11:05 | Heats | |
| 20 July | 19:15 | Semi-finals | |
| 22 July | 19:35 | Final |
The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the heats.[4]
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 44.87 | Q, | |||
| 2 | 1 | 45.18 | Q | |||
| 3 | 5 | 45.29 | Q | |||
| 4 | 2 | 45.37 | Q | |||
| 5 | 1 | 45.46 | Q | |||
| 6 | 6 | 45.49 | Q | |||
| 7 | 4 | 45.56 | Q | |||
| 8 | 5 | 45.61 | Q | |||
| 9 | 1 | 45.62 | Q, | |||
| 10 | 2 | 45.68 | Q | |||
| 11 | 2 | 45.69 | Q | |||
| 12 | 4 | 45.70 | Q | |||
| 13 | 2 | 45.72 | q | |||
| 14 | 3 | 45.81 | Q | |||
| 15 | 3 | 45.82 | Q | |||
| 16 | 6 | 45.82 | Q | |||
| 17 | 6 | 45.87 | Q | |||
| 18 | 5 | 45.88 | q | |||
| 19 | 1 | 45.90 | q | |||
| 20 | 4 | 45.93 | Q | |||
| 21 | 5 | 45.99 | q | |||
| 22 | 4 | 46.00 | q, | |||
| 23 | 6 | 46.01 | q | |||
| 24 | 1 | 46.07 | ||||
| 25 | 3 | 46.18 | Q | |||
| 26 | 2 | 46.27 | ||||
| 27 | 6 | 46.34 | ||||
| 28 | 3 | 46.42 | ||||
| 29 | 5 | 46.46 | ||||
| 30 | 2 | 46.47 | ||||
| 31 | 4 | 46.49 | ||||
| 32 | 2 | 46.57 | ||||
| 33 | 4 | 46.60 | ||||
| 34 | 3 | 46.60 | ||||
| 35 | 4 | 46.85 | ||||
| 36 | 1 | 46.87 | ||||
| 37 | 3 | 47.36 | ||||
| 38 | 6 | 47.53 | ||||
| 39 | 5 | 48.40 | ||||
| 40 | 6 | 51.44 | ||||
| 41 | 3 | 53.32 |
The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify to the final.[5]
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 44.30 | Q | |||
| 2 | 1 | 44.38 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3 | 44.71 | Q | |||
| 4 | 2 | 44.74 | Q | |||
| 5 | 3 | 44.75 | Q | |||
| 6 | 3 | 44.78 | q | |||
| 7 | 2 | 44.94 | Q | |||
| 8 | 1 | 44.97 | q, | |||
| 9 | 2 | 45.02 | ||||
| 10 | 3 | 45.08 | ||||
| 11 | 1 | 45.24 | ||||
| 12 | 3 | 45.26 | ||||
| 13 | 2 | 45.28 | ||||
| 14 | 1 | 45.41 | ||||
| 15 | 3 | 45.50 | ||||
| 16 | 3 | 45.63 | ||||
| 17 | 2 | 45.71 | ||||
| 18 | 1 | 45.75 | ||||
| 19 | 2 | 45.80 | ||||
| 20 | 2 | 46.01 | ||||
| 21 | 3 | 46.04 | ||||
| 22 | 1 | 46.19 | ||||
| 23 | 1 | 46.21 | ||||
| 2 |
The final took place on 22 July at 19:35.[6]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44.29 | |||||
| 44.48 | |||||
| 44.66 | |||||
| 4 | 44.77 | ||||
| 5 | 44.97 | ||||
| 6 | 45.29 | ||||
| 7 | 45.30 | ||||
| 8 | 46.13 |