The men's 400 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 14 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-three athletes from 35 nations competed. The event was won by 0.73 seconds by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, who broke the world record and won the nation's second gold medal in the men's 400 metres (after Bevil Rudd in 1920). Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the United States became the sixth and seventh men to win two medals in the event, but Michael Johnson remained the only man with two gold medals.

Summary Kirani James was the Olympic champion in 2012 and was in good form before the competition with a run of 44.08 seconds placing him second on the global rankings. The 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt topped the lists for the season as the only man under 44 seconds. Wayde van Niekerk ranked third and was the 2015 World Championships winner. At that competition the trio had all run under 44 seconds for medals (a first for the sport) and were the principal challengers to the Olympic title. Two younger athletes, Baboloki Thebe and Machel Cedenio, were the next fastest athletes to enter.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-10). Preview: men's 400m – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-12.senior outdoor 2016 400 Metres men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-12. James was the fastest in the first round with 44.93 and Cedenio was the other heat winner under 45 seconds. The 2016 World Indoor Champion Pavel Maslák, David Verburg and Rafał Omelko qualified as fastest losers. Former European champions Martyn Rooney and Kevin Borlée were eliminated.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-13). Report: men's 400m heats – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-13.

In the semi-finals, James had a season's best time of 44.02 to win the round nearly two tenths ahead of Merritt. Cedenio won the 2nd semi final ahead with van Niekerk second. Bralon Taplin won the third semi final. Fastest loser qualifiers Karabo Sibanda, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Ali Khamis all set personal bests.Minshull, Phli (2016-08-14). Report: men's 400m semi-finals – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.

In the final, the three favorites James, van Niekerk and Merritt led from the start. By the end of the turn, van Niekerk had a clear 2 metre lead, Merritt just slightly ahead of James who had closed the gap during the turn. Cedenio was another four metres back, with Taplin another metre back. In the home straight van Niekerk increased his lead while James overtook Merritt, finishing second and third. Cedenio was fourth, Taplin faded, and in lane 1, 18-year-old Karabo Sibanda finished fifth.

Van Niekerk set a new world record of 43.03 seconds, beating Michael Johnson’s previous record set at the 1999 World Championships by 0.15 seconds.South African beats Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old 400m world record for gold Johnson was in the stadium, working in the British commentary booth. This was also the first time that the event has been won and the world record broken by a runner in lane 8.

Cedenio set the national record for Trinidad and Tobago and Ali Khamis in sixth set the national record for Bahrain.

Background

This was the 28th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The top six finishers from 2012 (in order: Kirani James of Grenada, Luguelín Santos of the Dominican Republic, Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago, Chris Brown of the Bahamas, and Kevin Borlée and Jonathan Borlée of Belgium) returned. LaShawn Merritt of the United States, 2008 gold medalist who was injured and could not finish his heat in 2012, also returned. A new challenger was Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa. James (2011), Merritt (2013), and van Niekerk (2015) were the latest three world champions.

Bahrain and Niger appeared in this event for the first time. Also competing was one member of the Refugee Olympic Team. The United States made its 27th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 400 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 45.40 seconds. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Indoor and outdoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 400 metres.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format introduced in 2004. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was used for the first round and semifinals. There were 7 first-round heats, each with 7 or 8 runners. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next three fastest overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 heats of 8 runners each. The top two runners in each semifinal heat and the next two fastest overall advanced, making an eight-man final.Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows:

Area Time (s) Athlete Nation Africa 43.48 Wayde van Niekerk Asia 43.93 Yousef Ahmed Masrahi Europe 44.33 Thomas Schönlebe North, Central America and Caribbean 43.18 Michael Johnson Oceania 44.38 Darren Clark South America 44.29 Sanderlei Parrela

The following new world, Olympic and African record were established during this competition:

Date Round Athlete Time Notes 14 August Final 43.03 , ,

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time Notes Slovenia Semifinals 45.07 Bahrain Semifinals 44.49 South Africa Final 43.03 , , Trinidad and Tobago Final 44.01 Bahrain Final 44.36

Schedule

All times are Brasília Standard Time (UTC-3) Date Time Round Friday, 12 August 2016 21:00 Round 1 Saturday, 13 August 2016 20:30 Semifinals Sunday, 14 August 2016 22:00 Final

Results Round 1 Qualification rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 3 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 Machel Cedenio 0.179 44.98 2 7 Gil Roberts 0.168 45.27 3 4 Yoandys Lescay 0.199 45.36 , 4 6 Fitzroy Dunkley 0.176 45.66 5 3 Kevin Borlée 0.138 45.90 6 5 Alberth Bravo 0.205 46.15 7 1 Alex Lerionka Sampao 0.199 46.62 8 8 Ousseini Djibo Idrissa 0.173 50.06

Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Bralon Taplin 0.162 45.15 2 2 Nery Brenes 0.151 45.53 3 7 Karabo Sibanda 0.166 45.56 4 1 Matteo Galvan 0.154 46.07 5 3 Raymond Kibet 0.234 46.15 6 6 Mehboob Ali 0.212 48.37 7 8 Bachir Mahamat 0.188 48.59 – 5 Anas Beshr 0.141

Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Wayde van Niekerk 0.147 45.26 2 2 Luguelín Santos 0.148 45.61 3 8 Javon Francis 0.172 45.88 4 6 Jonathan Borlée 0.162 46.01 5 3 Alphas Kishoyian 0.147 46.74 6 5 Brandon Valentine-Parris 0.144 47.62 – 4 Alonzo Russell 0.159

Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Lalonde Gordon 0.153 45.24 2 4 Luka Janežič 0.148 45.33 3 6 Baboloki Thebe 0.155 45.41 4 1 Chris Brown 0.147 45.56 5 2 Martyn Rooney 0.154 45.60 6 7 Julian Jrummi Walsh 0.149 46.37 7 8 Gustavo Cuesta 0.143 46.92 8 3 James Chiengjiek 0.213 52.89

Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 8 LaShawn Merritt 0.235 45.28 2 3 Abdelalelah Haroun 0.190 45.76 3 6 Isaac Makwala 0.242 45.91 4 2 Vitaliy Butrym 0.166 45.92 5 4 Donald Blair-Sanford 0.163 46.06 6 5 Deon Lendore 0.201 46.15 7 7 Hederson Estefani 0.234 46.68

Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Kirani James 0.156 44.93 2 5 Rusheen McDonald 0.179 45.22 , 3 2 Matthew Hudson-Smith 0.142 45.26 4 3 David Verburg 0.167 45.48 5 7 Winston George 0.186 45.77 6 8 Diego Palomeque 0.159 46.48 – 4 Abbas Abubakar Abbas 0.192

Heat 7 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Ali Khamis 0.161 45.12 2 1 Steven Gardiner 0.149 45.24 3 8 Liemarvin Bonevacia 0.142 45.49 4 5 Rafał Omelko 0.177 45.54 5 4 Pavel Maslák 0.183 45.54 6 6 Mohammad Anas 0.158 45.95 7 2 Orukpe Erayokan 0.180 47.42 8 3 Yuzo Kanemaru 0.144 48.38

Semifinals Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Kirani James 0.144 44.02 , 2 6 LaShawn Merritt 0.271 44.21 3 2 Karabo Sibanda 0.174 44.47 , 4 7 Luguelín Santos 0.155 44.71 5 1 Javon Francis 0.170 44.96 6 5 Nery Brenes 0.181 45.02 7 8 Liemarvin Bonevacia 0.166 45.03 8 3 Lalonde Gordon 0.157 45.13

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Machel Cedenio 0.243 44.39 2 3 Wayde van Niekerk 0.156 44.45 3 2 Pavel Maslák 0.185 45.06 4 6 Luka Janežič 0.154 45.07 5 1 David Verburg 0.159 45.61 6 4 Rusheen McDonald 0.182 46.12 7 7 Abdelalelah Haroun 0.173 46.66 — 8 Baboloki Thebe —

Semifinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Bralon Taplin 0.171 44.44 2 8 Matthew Hudson-Smith 0.143 44.48 , 3 3 Ali Khamis 0.145 44.49 , 4 4 Gil Roberts 0.151 44.65 5 5 Steven Gardiner 0.156 44.72 6 7 Yoandys Lescay 0.216 45.00 7 2 Rafał Omelko 0.164 45.28 8 1 Isaac Makwala 0.173 46.60

Final Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 8 Wayde van Niekerk 0.181 43.03 6 Kirani James 0.134 43.76 5 LaShawn Merritt 0.204 43.85 4 3 Machel Cedenio 0.203 44.01 5 1 Karabo Sibanda 0.164 44.25 6 2 Ali Khamis 0.148 44.36 7 4 Bralon Taplin 0.181 44.45 8 7 Matthew Hudson-Smith 0.138 44.61

References