| Event: | Men's 400 metres |
| Competition: | 2023 World Championships |
| Venue: | National Athletics Centre |
| Dates: | 20 August (heats) 22 August (semi-finals) 24 August (final) |
| Competitors: | 48 |
| Nations: | 36 |
| Win Value: | 44.22 |
| Gold: | Antonio Watson |
| Goldnoc: | JAM |
| Silver: | Matthew Hudson-Smith |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | Quincy Hall |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 2022 |
| Next: | 2025 |
The men's 400 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from 20 to 24 August 2023.[1] The winning margin was 0.09 seconds.
The defending champion, Michael Norman, was unable to return due to injury, opening up the field. In the semi-finals, Antonio Watson ran his personal best of 44.13 to lead the field and pulling veteran Vernon Norwood to his personal best of 44.26 in the first semi. This relegated World Record holder, making a heroic return from what should have been a career-ending injury, Wayde van Niekerk to have to wait in the holding room to await his fate. In the second semi, Matthew Hudson-Smith led 2011 champion Kirani James In the third semi-final both 2022 Olympic champion Steven Gardiner and Olympic medalist Bayapo Ndori pulled up mid-race with hamstring injuries, opening the door for Quincy Hall.[2] van Niekerk's time qualified him for the final, but he was relegated to the inside lane 2.
From the gun in the final, Hudson-Smith was out fastest, making up the stagger on Hall to his outside at the end of the first turn. Inside of him, James was also gaining relative to the staggers. Van Niekerk pushed down the backstretch to try to regain contact with James. As they went into the final turn, Norwood began to move forward. Later in the turn, Watson started to move. As they hit the home stretch, Hudson-Smith had a metre and a half on James with Norwood and Watson about even on the outside another metre back, with van Niekerk about the same distance back on the inside. Still further back, Hall started to accelerate. Watson began to separate from Norwood and van Niekerk with Hall overstriding to try to catch them. 40 metres out, Watson caught James who could offer no more resistance. Norwood got past James and looked like he was closing on a slowing Hudson-Smith. Watson passed Hudson-Smith about 25 metres out and was on to victory. Norwood couldn't quite catch Hudson-Smith but a speeding Hall caught Norwood on the last step for bronze.
Before the competition records were as follows:[3]
| 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 | 43.74 | Székesfehérvár, Hungary | 18 July 2023 | ||||||
| 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 45.00.[4]
The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 August | 10:25 | Heats | |
| 22 August | 21:00 | Semi-finals | |
| 24 August | 21:35 | Final |
The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the semi-finals.[5]
The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.[6]
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Antonio Watson | 44.13 | Q, | |
| 2 | 1 | Vernon Norwood | 44.26 | Q, | |
| 3 | 2 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | 44.26 | Q, | |
| 4 | 3 | Quincy Hall | 44.43 | Q | |
| 5 | 2 | Kirani James | 44.58 | Q | |
| 6 | 1 | Wayde van Niekerk | 44.65 | q | |
| 7 | 2 | Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen | 44.70 | q | |
| 8 | 1 | Jereem Richards | 44.76 | ||
| 9 | 2 | Fuga Sato | 44.88 | ||
| 10 | 3 | Sean Bailey | 44.94 | Q | |
| 11 | 1 | Kentaro Sato | 44.99 | ||
| 12 | 1 | Attila Molnár | 45.02 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 45.04 | |||
| 14 | 2 | Liemarvin Bonevacia | 45.23 | ||
| 15 | 3 | Davide Re | 45.29 | ||
| 16 | 2 | Zandrion Barnes | 45.38 | ||
| 17 | 1 | Michael Joseph | 45.50 | ||
| 18 | 3 | Alexander Doom | 45.57 | ||
| 19 | 2 | Dylan Borlée | 45.59 | ||
| 20 | 3 | Zakithi Nene | 45.64 | ||
| 21 | 1 | Leungo Scotch | 45.96 | ||
| 22 | 2 | Busang Kebinatshipi | 46.39 | ||
| 3 | Steven Gardiner | ||||
| 3 |
The final started at 21:35 on 24 August.[7] The results were as follows:[8]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonio Watson | 44.22 | ||||
| Matthew Hudson-Smith | 44.31 | ||||
| Quincy Hall | 44.37 | ||||
| 4 | Vernon Norwood | 44.39 | |||
| 5 | Sean Bailey | 44.96 | |||
| 6 | Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen | 45.08 | |||
| 7 | Wayde van Niekerk | 45.11 | |||
| Kirani James | TR17.3.1: Lane infraction |