The women's 400 metres at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on March 18 and 19, 2016.

Nigerian born Oluwakemi Adekoya, a mercenary runner for Bahrain, came into these championships as only the seventh fastest in the world this year, but she made her mark with the fastest times in each round. In the final, she was about even with Quanera Hayes at the break, but as Hayes broke for lane 1, Adekoya made a beeline for the apex of the next turn, effectively closing the door and relegating Hayes and the rest of the field to run behind her. Hayes gathered herself and made one big push coming around the final turn, but Adekoya was able to hold her off. Hayes tried again coming off the turn but couldn't make any progress. As Hayes strained for the finish, she made a second strategic mistake and allowed Ashley Spencer to pass on her inside, Spencer pipping her for the silver medal at the line.

Records Standing records prior to the 2016 IAAF World Indoor ChampionshipsWorld record49.59Milan, Italy7 March 1982Championship record50.04Moscow, Russia12 March 2006World Leading50.69Birmingham, United States12 March 2016African record50.73Stuttgart, Germany1 February 1998Asian record51.67Doha, Qatar20 February 2016European record49.59Milan, Italy7 March 1982North and Central American and Caribbean record50.34 Moscow, Russia12 March 2006Oceanian Record52.17Budapest, Hungary4 March 1989South American record51.83New York City, United States26 February 2010

Qualification standards IndoorOutdoor 53.15 51.20

Schedule Date Time Round18 March 2016 12:25 Heats18 March 2016 19:25 Semifinals19 March 2016 18:47 Final

Results

Heats Qualification: First 2 (Q) and next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Oluwakemi Adekoya 52.27 Q 2 1 Stephenie Ann McPherson 52.56 Q 3 1 Kabange Mupopo 52.72 q 4 2 Ashley Spencer 52.96 Q 5 4 Quanera Hayes 52.98 Q 6 4 Małgorzata Hołub 53.15 Q 7 2 Lisanne de Witte 53.19 Q 8 4 Bianca Răzor 53.27 q 9 1 Samantha Edwards 53.70 q 10 2 Grace Claxton 53.97 q 11 3 Justyna Święty 54.25 Q 12 3 Iveta Putalová 54.53 Q 13 3 Ashley Kelly 54.95 14 1 Amaliya Sharoyan 55.13 SB 15 4 Djénébou Danté 55.76 16 2 Christina Francisco 1:00.08 3 Chrisann Gordon 4 Tjipekapora Herunga R163.3(b)Infringement of the inside border 2 Hindi Abdiqadir Abdi

Semifinals Qualification: First 3 (Q) qualified directly for the final.

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Oluwakemi Adekoya 51.47 Q, AR 2 2 Quanera Hayes 51.54 Q 3 2 Stephenie Ann McPherson 51.91 Q, SB 4 1 Ashley Spencer 52.39 Q 5 2 Kabange Mupopo 52.68 NR 6 2 Małgorzata Hołub 52.73 SB 7 1 Justyna Święty 53.00 Q 8 1 Iveta Putalová 53.13 Q, SB 9 1 Bianca Răzor 53.34 10 1 Lisanne de Witte 53.35 11 2 Grace Claxton 53.67 12 1 Samantha Edwards 54.67

Final The final was started on March 19 at 18:47.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Oluwakemi Adekoya 51.45 AR 6 Ashley Spencer 51.72 4 Quanera Hayes 51.76 4 2 Stephenie Ann McPherson 52.20 5 3 Justyna Święty 52.46 6 1 Iveta Putalová 54.39

References