The women's 400 metres hurdles is an outdoor track event over a distance of 400 metres with ten hurdles at the height of 76.2 cm (30 inches)."Competition Rules & Technical Rules" (PDF), p. 42, World Athletics, 17 January 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024. The world records of this women's event have been recognised by World Athletics (called the International Association of Athletics Federations until 2019) since 1974."Progression of IAAF World Records 2015 edition" (PDF), pp. 290–291, International Association of Athletics Federations, 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2024. Every world record is fully automatically timed and undergoes a ratification process that includes doping control."Competition Rules & Technical Rules" (PDF), pp. 25–27, 31, World Athletics, 17 January 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
The first world record of 56.51 seconds was set by Krystyna Kacperczyk of Poland in 1974. Since then, the world record has been broken twenty-three times: six times in the 1970s, six times in the 1980s, two times in the 1990s, one time in the 2000s, two times in the 2010s, and six times in the 2020s. Each improvement was 0.03 seconds (1985, 2024) to 0.77 seconds (1977) faster than the previous record. Up to the 1980s, eight of thirteen records were set by athletes from the Soviet Union, while since the 1990s, nine of eleven records were set by athletes from the United States. The longest-standing world record of 52.34 seconds was set by Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia in 2003 and stood for almost 16 years until 2019. The current world record of 50.37 seconds was set by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States in 2024. McLaughlin-Levrone has set a total of six world records in this event, more than any other athlete."World Record Progression of 400 Metres Hurdles", World Athletics. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
Progression
Ratified Not ratified Ratified but later rescinded Pending ratification
+World records of the women's 400 metres hurdles Date Athlete Nation Time in Location 13 July 1974 56.51 Augsburg, West Germany 26 June 1977 55.74 Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany 13 August 1977 55.63 Helsinki, Finland 18 August 1978 55.44 West Berlin, West Germany 19 August 1978 55.31 Podolsk, Soviet Union 2 September 1978 54.89 Prague, Czechoslovakia 27 July 1979 54.78 Moscow, Soviet Union 18 May 1980 54.28 Jena, East Germany 11 June 1983 54.02 Moscow, Soviet Union 22 June 1984 53.58 Kyiv, Soviet Union 22 September 1985 53.55 East Berlin, East Germany 30 August 1986 53.32 Stuttgart, West Germany 17 September 1986 52.94 Tashkent, Soviet Union 19 August 1993 52.74 Stuttgart, Germany 11 August 1995 52.61 Gothenburg, Sweden 8 August 2003 52.34 Tula, Russia 28 July 2019 52.20 Des Moines, Iowa, United States "Ratified: Muhammad’s world 400m hurdles record and Anderson’s world U20 100m hurdles record", World Athletics, 11 September 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2024. 4 October 2019 52.16 Doha, Qatar "Ratified: Muhammad's world 400m hurdles record, Mahuchikh's world U20 high jump records and Cheptegei's world 10km record", World Athletics, 30 January 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2024. 27 June 2021 51.90 Eugene, Oregon, United States "Ratified: world records for Crouser, McLaughlin, Knighton and Kosonen", World Athletics, 11 August 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2024. 4 August 2021 51.46 Tokyo, Japan "Ratified: world records for Rojas, Warholm and McLaughlin in Tokyo", World Athletics, 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2024. 25 June 2022 51.41 Eugene, Oregon, United States "Ratified: world records for Amusan, Duplantis and McLaughlin", World Athletics, 20 September 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2024. 22 July 2022 50.68 Eugene, Oregon, United States 30 June 2024 50.65 Eugene, Oregon, United States "Ratified: world records for McLaughlin-Levrone, Duplantis, Kipyegon, Chebet, Alekna and Ngetich", World Athletics, 27 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024. 8 August 2024 50.37 Paris, FranceWorld Athletics, 11 August 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
Notes
See also Men's 400 metres hurdles world record progression Hurdling
References