The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 15–18 August at the Olympic Stadium. There were 47 competitors from 33 nations. The event was won by Kerron Clement of the United States, the nation's 19th victory in the men's long hurdles. Clement (silver in 2008) became the ninth man to win multiple medals in the event. Both Kenya and Turkey earned their first medals in the men's 400 metres hurdles, the former with Boniface Mucheru Tumuti's silver and the latter with Yasmani Copello's bronze.

Background

This was the 26th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

There were several major absences from the competition: the 2012 Olympic champion Félix Sánchez did not return to defend his title as he had retired, Johnny Dutch (the world-leading athlete that season) had faltered at the American Olympic Trials, and the 2015 World Championships runner-up Denis Kudryavtsev was ineligible due to the Russian team ban for doping. The top contender was Kerron Clement – the 2008 Olympic silver medalist (and 2012 eighth-place finisher) showing a return of form to place second on the world rankings. The 2012 Olympic medalists Javier Culson of Puerto Rico (bronze) and American Michael Tinsley (silver) were other strong entrants, as was the 2016 European Champion Yasmani Copello of Turkey. Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago was another returning finalist from 2012. Nicholas Bett (Kenya's reigning world champion) was present but ranked outside the world's top forty.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-10). Preview: men's 400m hurdles – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.senior outdoor 2016 400 Metres Hurdles men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.

Algeria and Cape Verde each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

The final started with a false start. Javier Culson realized his mistake and walked off the track in tears before the disqualification card could be shown to him. On the restart, Yasmani Copello, the Cuban free agent running for Turkey in lane 2 was the first over the first hurdles. By the third barrier, Kerron Clement in 5, Annsert Whyte in 6 and Boniface Mucheru Tumuti in 7 had pulled even. Through the next two hurdles, Clement edged ahead with Whyte just marginally behind him. Through the final turn, Clement pushed his lead out to half a stride over Whyte, with Tumuti very close to Whyte on the outside. By the ninth barrier, Tumuti pulled even with Whyte. Clement was already on the ground after the hurdle before Copello began to rise. Another stride back in a battle to stay out of last place was Thomas Barr. But through what remained of the home straight, Clement began to come back to the field as Tumuti pulled ahead of Whyte, while Barr and Copello was making a final charge at all three. In the run in, Clement strained to successfully hold off Tumuti, to take the gold, while Copello closed strongly, barely holding off a late rush by Barr for bronze as Whyte faded.

Behind Clement, all the other athletes set national records for their countries except last place Haron Koech, who watched Tumuti take the Kenyan record in front of him and Whyte.

The medals were presented by Issa Hayatou, IOC member, Cameroon and Víctor López, Council Member of the IAAF.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 400 metres hurdles 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 49.40 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. Both outdoor and indoor 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 hurdles. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The number of semifinals returned to 3 after being reduced to 2 in 2012. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 6 quarterfinal heats with between 7 and 8 athletes each. The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 6 overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 2 in each semifinal and next 2 fastest overall advancing to the 8-man final.

Records

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

Area Time Athlete Nation Africa 47.10 Samuel Matete Asia 47.53 Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily Europe 47.37 Stephane Diagana North, Central America and Caribbean 46.78 Kevin Young Oceania 48.28 Rohan Robinson South America 47.84 Bayano Kamani

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time Algeria Abdelmalik Lahoulou Heats 48.62 Norway Karsten Warholm Heats 48.49 Finland Oskari Mörö Heats 49.04 Seychelles Ned Justeen Azemia Heats 50.74 Ireland Thomas Barr Semifinals 48.39 Kenya Boniface Mucheru Tumuti Final 47.78 Turkey Yasmani Copello Final 47.92 Ireland Thomas Barr Final 47.97 Estonia Rasmus Mägi Final 48.40

Schedule

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3) Date Time Round Monday, 15 August 2016 11:35 Quarterfinals Tuesday, 16 August 2016 21:35 Semifinals Thursday, 18 August 2016 12:00 Final

Results

Quarterfinals

Qualification rules: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Abdelmalik Lahoulou 48.62 , 2 7 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti 48.91 3 2 Kerron Clement 49.17 4 4 Yuki Matsushita 49.60 5 5 Miles Ukaoma 49.84 6 3 Marcio Teles 50.41 7 6 Jeffery Gibson 52.77

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Yasmani Copello 49.52 2 6 Eric Alejandro 49.54 3 1 Mahau Suguimati 49.77 4 8 Jaak-Heinrich Jagor 49.78 5 2 Kariem Hussein 49.80 6 7 Amadou Ndiaye 49.91 7 4 Martin Kucera 51.47 8 3 Maoulida Daroueche 52.32

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Karsten Warholm 48.49 , 2 3 Javier Culson 48.53 , 3 8 Rasmus Mägi 48.55 , 4 7 Roxroy Cato 48.56 , 5 6 Miloud Rahmani 49.73 6 1 Dmitriy Koblov 49.87 7 5 José Luis Gaspar 50.58 8 4 Ned Justeen Azemia 50.74

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 Keisuke Nozawa 48.62 , 2 3 Thomas Barr 48.93 , 3 8 Eric Cray 49.05 4 4 Jaheel Hyde 49.24 5 1 Sergio Fernandez 49.31 6 5 Sebastian Rodger 49.54 7 6 Le Roux Hamman 49.72 8 2 Jehue Gordon 49.90

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Annsert Whyte 48.37 , 2 7 Jack Green 48.96 , 3 4 Byron Robinson 48.98 4 5 Oskari Mörö 49.04 , 5 2 Michael Bultheel 49.37 , 6 3 Kurt Couto 49.74 7 6 Lindsay Hanekom 50.22 — 8 Nicholas Kiplagat Bett

Quarterfinal 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Haron Koech 48.77 , 2 8 L.J. Van Zyl 49.12 3 5 Andres Silva 49.21 , 4 7 Jordin Andrade 49.35 5 6 Mohamed Sghaier 50.09 6 1 Michael Tinsley 50.18 7 3 Chen Chieh 50.65 8 2 Patryk Dobek 50.66

Semifinals

Qualification rules: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Kerron Clement 48.26 , 2 6 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti 48.85 , 3 1 Sergio Fernandez 48.87 4 5 Abdelmalik Lahoulou 49.08 5 2 Jaheel Hyde 49.17 6 3 Keisuke Nozawa 49.20 7 7 Eric Cray 49.37 8 4 Jack Green 49.54

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Annsert Whyte 48.32 , 2 5 Javier Culson 48.46 , 3 6 Yasmani Copello 48.61 4 7 Rasmus Mägi 48.64 5 3 L.J. Van Zyl 49.00 6 1 Jordin Andrade 49.32 7 2 Oskari Mörö 49.75 8 8 Mahau Suguimati 49.77

Semifinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Thomas Barr 48.39 , 2 6 Haron Koech 48.49 , 3 7 Byron Robinson 48.65 4 5 Karsten Warholm 48.81 5 1 Michael Bultheel 49.46 6 8 Andres Silva 49.75 7 3 Eric Alejandro 49.95 — 2 Roxroy Cato

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 5 Kerron Clement 0.227 47.73 7 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti 0.165 47.78 2 Yasmani Copello 0.186 47.92 4 4 Thomas Barr 0.191 47.97 5 6 Annsert Whyte 0.167 48.07 6 1 Rasmus Mägi 0.182 48.40 7 8 Haron Koech 0.159 49.09 — 3 Javier Culson —

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes Kerron Clement 49.17 48.26 47.73 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti 48.91 48.85 47.78 Yasmani Copello 49.52 48.61 47.92 4 Thomas Barr 48.93 48.39 47.97 5 Annsert Whyte 48.37 48.32 48.07 6 Rasmus Mägi 48.55 48.64 48.40 7 Haron Koech 48.77 48.49 49.09 8 Javier Culson 48.53 48.46 9 Byron Robinson 48.98 48.65 Did not advance 10 Karsten Warholm 48.49 48.81 11 Sergio Fernandez 49.31 48.87 12 L.J. Van Zyl 49.12 49.00 13 Abdelmalik Lahoulou 48.62 49.08 14 Jaheel Hyde 49.24 49.17 15 Keisuke Nozawa 48.62 49.20 16 Jordin Andrade 49.35 49.32 17 Eric Cray 49.05 49.37 18 Michael Bultheel 49.37 49.46 19 Jack Green 48.96 49.54 20 Oskari Mörö 49.04 49.75 21 Andres Silva 49.21 49.75 22 Mahau Suguimati 49.77 49.77 23 Eric Alejandro 49.54 49.95 24 Roxroy Cato 48.56 25 Sebastian Rodger 49.54 did not advance 26 Yuki Matsushita 49.60 27 Le Roux Hamman 49.72 28 Miloud Rahmani 49.73 29 Kurt Couto 49.74 30 Jaak-Heinrich Jagor 49.78 31 Kariem Hussein 49.80 32 Miles Ukaoma 49.84 33 Dmitriy Koblov 49.87 34 Jehue Gordon 49.90 35 Amadou Ndiaye 49.91 36 Mohamed Sghaier 50.09 37 Michael Tinsley 50.18 38 Lindsay Hanekom 50.22 39 Marcio Teles 50.41 40 José Luis Gaspar 50.58 41 Chen Chieh 50.65 42 Patryk Dobek 50.66 43 Ned Justeen Azemia 50.74 44 Martin Kucera 51.47 45 Maoulida Daroueche 52.32 46 Jeffery Gibson 52.77 47 Nicholas Kiplagat Bett

References