Athletics at the 1979 Pan American Games – Men's 400 metres explained

Event:	Men's 400 metres
Games:	1979
Venue:	Estadio Sixto Escobar
Dates:	11 & 12 July
Win Value:	45.11
Win Label:	Winning time
Gold:	Tony Darden
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Alberto Juantorena
Silvernoc:	CUB
Bronze:	Willie Smith
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1975
Next:	1983

The men's 400 metres sprint competition of the athletics events at the 1979 Pan American Games took place at the Estadio Sixto Escobar.^{[1] [2]} The defending Pan American Games champion was Ronnie Ray of the United States.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:

World record		43.86	Mexico City, Mexico	October 18, 1968
Pan American Games record		44.45	Mexico City, Mexico	October 18, 1975

Results

All times shown are in seconds.

KEY:

WR

World Record

GR

Pan American Record

Heats

Held on 11 July

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1			46.68	Q
2	3			46.91	Q
3	2			47.27	Q
4	1			47.29	Q
5	1			47.29	Q
6	2			47.52	Q
6	3			47.52	Q
8	3			47.56	Q
9	2			47.59	Q
10	1			47.80	Q
11	3			47.81	Q
12	2			47.95	Q
13	2			48.15	Q
14	3			48.24	Q
15	1			48.61	Q
16	3			48.66	q
17	2			48.78
18	2			48.89
19	1			49.64
20	3			52.59
21	1			52.97

Semifinals

Held on 11 July^[3]

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2			45.89	Q
2	1			46.10	Q
3	2			46.19	Q
4	2			46.32	Q
5	2			46.34	q
6	2			46.36	q
7	1			46.49	Q
8	1			46.51	Q
9	1			46.63
10	1			46.81
11	2			46.91
12	1			47.26
13	1			47.29
14	2			47.32
15	1			47.66
16	2			49.12

Final

Held on 12 July

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time^[4]	Notes
	Tony Darden		45.11
	Alberto Juantorena		45.24
	Willie Smith		45.30
4	Bert Cameron		45.97
5	Brian Saunders		46.16
6	Colin Bradford		46.36
7	Clyde Edwards		46.66
8	Joseph Coombs		46.98

Notes and References

1. Book: Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979. 1981. es. 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 197. PDF. 2019-08-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf. 2019-08-11. dead.
2. http://atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Pan-Am-Games-1979.pdf Full results
3. News: Semifinals results . 30 December 2019 . . 12 July 1979 . 20.
4. Book: Memoria VIII Juegos Deportivos Panamericanos San Juan, Puerto Rico 1979. 1981. es. 1979 Pan American Games Organising Committee (COPAN 79). 248. PDF. 2019-08-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20190811030601/https://www.panamsports.org/downloads/pdf/panamgames/1979-san-juan-tomo-1-lq.pdf. 2019-08-11. dead.