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.Timetable The winning margin was 0.19 seconds.
Summary
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.
Records Before the competition records were as follows:
RecordAthlete & LocationDate World record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016Championship record43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999World Leading43.56Eugene, United States25 June 2022African Record43.03Rio de Janeiro, Brazil14 August 2016Asian Record43.93Beijing, China23 August 2015North, Central American and Caribbean record43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999South American Record43.93Tokyo, Japan2 August 2021European Record44.33Rome, Italy3 September 1987Oceanian record44.38Seoul, South Korea26 September 1988
Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 44.90.
Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:
Date Time Round17 July 11:05 Heats20 July 19:15 Semi-finals22 July 19:35 Final
Results
Heats The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the heats.Heats Summary
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 Bayapo Ndori 44.87 Q, 2 1 Wayde van Niekerk 45.18 Q 3 5 Kirani James 45.29 Q 4 2 Michael Norman 45.37 Q 5 1 Jonathan Jones 45.46 Q 6 6 Matthew Hudson-Smith 45.49 Q 7 4 Champion Allison 45.56 Q 8 5 Nathon Allen 45.61 Q 9 1 Alex Haydock-Wilson 45.62 Q, 10 2 Christopher Taylor 45.68 Q 11 2 Zakhiti Nene 45.69 Q 12 4 Dylan Borlée 45.70 Q 13 2 Kevin Borlée 45.72 q 14 3 Michael Cherry 45.81 Q 15 3 Muzala Samukonga 45.82 Q 16 6 Liemarvin Bonevacia 45.82 Q 17 6 Lidio Andrés Feliz 45.87 Q 18 5 Fuga Sato 45.88 q 19 1 Julian Jrummi Walsh 45.90 q 20 4 Isaac Makwala 45.93 Q 21 5 Alex Beck 45.99 q 22 4 Mikhail Litvin 46.00 q, 23 6 Christopher O'Donnell 46.01 q 24 1 Patrik Šorm 46.07 25 3 Alexander Doom 46.18 Q 26 2 Benjamin Lobo Vedel 46.27 27 6 Kaito Kawabata 46.34 28 3 Jevaughn Powell 46.42 29 5 Edoardo Scotti 46.46 30 2 Luis Avilés 46.47 31 4 Davide Re 46.49 32 2 Kajetan Duszyński 46.57 33 4 Dwight St. Hillaire 46.60 34 3 Ricky Petrucciani 46.60 35 4 Boško Kijanović 46.85 36 1 Steven Solomon 46.87 37 3 Anthony Pesela 47.36 38 6 Lucas Carvalho 47.53 39 5 Dexter Mayorga 48.40 40 6 Aiden Hazzard 51.44 41 3 Obediah Timbaci 53.32
Semi-finals The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify to the final.Semi-finals Start List
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Michael Norman 44.30 Q 2 1 Matthew Hudson-Smith 44.38 Q 3 3 Champion Allison 44.71 Q 4 2 Kirani James 44.74 Q 5 3 Wayde van Niekerk 44.75 Q 6 3 Jonathan Jones 44.78 q 7 2 Bayapo Ndori 44.94 Q 8 1 Christopher Taylor 44.97 q, 9 2 Muzala Samukonga 45.02 10 3 Alex Haydock-Wilson 45.08 11 1 Zakhiti Nene 45.24 12 3 Kevin Borlée 45.26 13 2 Michael Cherry 45.28 14 1 Dylan Borlée 45.41 15 3 Liemarvin Bonevacia 45.50 16 3 Mikhail Litvin 45.63 17 2 Fuga Sato 45.71 18 1 Julian Jrummi Walsh 45.75 19 2 Alexander Doom 45.80 20 2 Christopher O'Donnell 46.01 21 3 Isaac Makwala 46.04 22 1 Lidio Andrés Feliz 46.19 23 1 Alex Beck 46.21 2 Nathon Allen
Final The final took place on 22 July at 19:35.Final Results
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Michael Norman 44.29 Kirani James 44.48 Matthew Hudson-Smith 44.66 4 Champion Allison 44.77 5 Wayde van Niekerk 44.97 6 Bayapo Ndori 45.29 7 Christopher Taylor 45.30 8 Jonathan Jones 46.13
References