2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on 1, 2 and 4 October 2019. The winning margin was 0.67 seconds which as of 2024 is the greatest winning margin in the men's 400 metres at these championships since the retirement of Michael Johnson.

Summary Kirani James had the pedigree -- a World Championship and an Olympic gold medal -- but those were back in 2011 and 2012. He finished second behind Wayde van Niekerk's world record at the last Olympics. Van Niekerk couldn't compete because he injured his knee in a celebrity rugby game and James was battling Graves' disease, the same ailment that affected Gail Devers. With a faster personal best, American champion Fred Kerley had been anticipated as USA's next golden boy until Michael Norman came on the scene with a relaxed, early season personal best that only equalled the #4 time in history. But Norman took himself out of the final, jogging home the second half of his semi-final. The other sub-44 qualifiers were Steven Gardiner, who had run his on this track in May and Akeem Bloomfield, who was the last time qualifier to get in. Gardiner led the qualifying, while Anthony Zambrano had to set a Colombian national record to get in.

In the final, James went out hard, passing Zambrano to his outside as they entered the backstretch. Inside of James, Machel Cedenio, James, Gardiner and Demish Gaye were running true to the stagger. James held that lead until midway through the final turn when he began to fade back as Gardiner was emerging slightly ahead. Coming onto the home straight, Gardiner held a 2 metre lead over James and Kerley, with Cedenio just slightly behind them. A further 2 metres back was Zambrano and Gaye. Down the stretch, Gardiner widened his lead, with Kerley the next best to chase. From far back, Zambrano was in another gear, speeding past Cedenio, James and a metre before the line, Kerley.

Gardiner's win in 43.48 is the sixth fastest time in history. Zambrano's 44.15 set the South American record, beating Sanderlei Parrela's record from the World Championships 20 years earlier.

Records Before the competition records were as follows:

RecordAthleteLocationDate World Record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016Championship Record43.18Sevilla, Spain26 August 1999World Leading43.45 Torrance, United States20 April 2019African Record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016Asian Record43.93 Beijing, China23 August 2015North, Central American and Caribbean Record43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999South American Record44.29European Record44.33Rome, Italy3 September 1987Oceanian Record44.38Seoul, South Korea26 September 1988

The following records were set at the competition:

Record Athlete Date Malagasy46.80Todiasoa Rabearison1 Oct 2019Gibraltarian47.41Jessy FrancoColombian44.55Anthony Zambrano2 Oct 2019Bahamian43.48Steven Gardiner4 Oct 2019South American44.15Anthony ZambranoColombian

Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 45.30.

Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows: Date Time Round1 October 16:35 Heats2 October 20:35 Semi-finals4 October 22:20 Final

Results Heats The first three in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the semifinal.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 2 Kirani James 44.94 Q 2 4 7 Michael Norman 45.00 Q 3 4 5 Demish Gaye 45.02 Q 4 6 7 Emmanuel Korir 45.08 Q 5 3 4 Davide Re 45.08 Q 6 4 3 Leungo Scotch 45.10 Q, 7 2 8 Julian Walsh 45.14 Q, 8 3 3 Fred Kerley 45.19 Q 9 1 3 Machel Cedenio 45.26 Q 10 6 6 Jonathan Sacoor 45.32 Q 11 1 4 Akeem Bloomfield 45.34 Q 12 6 5 Rabah Yousif 45.40 Q 13 1 8 Thapelo Phora 45.45 Q 14 3 7 Abbas Abubakar Abbas 45.47 Q 15 2 3 Vernon Norwood 45.59 Q 16 6 8 Jhon Perlaza 45.62 q 17 1 5 Alphas Kishoyian 45.65 q 18 5 3 Steven Gardiner 45.68 Q 19 3 8 Mazen Al-Yassin 45.70 q 20 6 3 Nathan Strother 45.71 q 21 4 4 Yousef Karam 45.74 q 22 2 7 Steven Solomon 45.82 q 23 2 6 Derrick Mokaleng 45.87 24 5 5 Philip Osei 45.87 Q 25 4 2 Alonzo Russell 45.91 26 5 6 Anthony Zambrano 45.93 Q 27 1 6 Lucas Carvalho 46.01 28 5 7 Ditiro Nzamani 46.19 29 5 2 Rusheen McDonald 46.21 30 3 2 Mikhail Litvin 46.28 31 6 4 Taha Hussein Yaseen 46.58 32 4 6 Todiasoa Rabearison 46.80 33 2 4 Luka Janežič 46.84 34 5 4 Brandon Parris 47.39 35 6 2 Jessy Franco 47.41 36 3 5 Bachir Mahamat 47.65 37 1 2 Abdalelah Haroun 47.76 38 3 6 Jovan Stojoski 47.92 39 4 8 Moussa Zaroumeye 48.13 40 5 8 Mohammad Jahir Rayhan 48.48 41 2 5 Tikie Terry Mael 48.52 1 7 Matthew Hudson-Smith

Semi-finals The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 6 Steven Gardiner 44.13 Q, 2 2 5 Kirani James 44.23 Q, 3 1 4 Fred Kerley 44.25 Q 4 1 5 Emmanuel Korir 44.37 Q, 5 3 7 Machel Cedenio 44.41 Q, 6 3 8 Anthony Zambrano 44.55 Q, 7 2 7 Demish Gaye 44.66 q, 8 3 6 Akeem Bloomfield 44.77 q 9 1 7 Davide Re 44.85 10 2 9 Vernon Norwood 45.00 11 2 8 Leungo Scotch 45.00 12 1 6 Jonathan Sacoor 45.03 = 13 3 5 Julian Walsh 45.13 14 3 9 Rabah Yousif 45.15 15 2 3 Jhon Perlaza 45.17 16 1 9 Thapelo Phora 45.24 17 1 8 Abbas Abubakar Abbas 45.26 18 1 2 Nathan Strother 45.34 19 2 4 Philip Osei 45.44 20 2 2 Steven Solomon 45.54 21 3 2 Alphas Kishoyian 45.55 22 3 4 Michael Norman 45.94 23 1 3 Mazen Al-Yassin 46.11 3 3 Yousef Karam

Final The final was started on 4 October at 22:20.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Steven Gardiner 43.48 8 Anthony Zambrano 44.15 5 Fred Kerley 44.17 4 3 Demish Gaye 44.46 5 7 Kirani James 44.54 6 9 Emmanuel Korir 44.94 7 6 Machel Cedenio 45.30 8 2 Akeem Bloomfield 45.36

References