The men's 400 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 1 and 5 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium. Approximately fifty athletes were expected to compete; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 48 qualifying through time or ranking (3 universality places were used in 2016). 48 athletes from 33 nations competed. The event was won by 0.23 seconds by Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, with Anthony Zambrano of Colombia taking silver. Those were the first medals in the men's 400 metres for each of those two nations. Kirani James of Grenada won his third consecutive medal in the event with his bronze, making him the first man to earn three medals in the 400 metres.
Summary Wayde van Niekerk's world record in Rio put this event in the spotlight. This year, van Niekerk was back to defend, but he was not the same after a 2017 ACL injury during a celebrity rugby match. Silver medalist and 2012 Olympic Champion Kirani James was back from the podium on Rio. The 2019 World Championships presented a completely different set of names, Steven Gardiner, Anthony Zambrano and Fred Kerley, but Kerley focused his efforts on the 100m, netting himself a silver medal in that event. Earlier in the season, Randolph Ross joined the sub 44 club. And other than van Niekerk, the fastest personal record in the field belonged to Indoor World Record holder Michael Norman at 43.45 for =#4 all time.
The first semi final revealed James was in top form, running 43.88. Immediately behind him, Zambrano became the 18th member of the sub 44 club with 43.93. The other semi finals were a little more sane. Deon Lendore ran 44.93 and didn't make the final.
Five members of the sub 44 club were in the final. Starting fast, Norman, Michael Cherry, James and Isaac Makwala made up most of the stagger on the athletes to their outside, Christopher Taylor, Gardiner, Zambrano and Liemarvin Bonevacia respectively. Down the backstretch, Norman and James kept up the pressure, while Cherry and Makwala backed off. Gardiner began to speed up chasing Norman, visible to his outside. Through the final turn Gardiner gained on Norman. To the inside, Zambrano seemed to be marking James who had already made up the stagger and was inside of him. And Makwala ran a strong turn. Coming onto the home straight, James had the edge, with Makwala and Gardiner next, with Norman and Zambrano a metre behind them. James began to strain, Norman and Makwala were losing ground as Gardiner cruised past him into the lead. Zambrano was running fastest of all, passing James. Cherry passed Norman and set sail after James. Gardiner crossed the finish line, easing up with a 2 metre victory. Zambrano had a metre and a half on James and Cherry dipping at the finish line. James got the nod for bronze to complete his set of medals.
Background This was the 29th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics.
For the first time in Olympic history, no nations made their men's 400 metres debut this Games. The United States made its 28th 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 or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 44.90 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 48 is reached.
The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.
NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can 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.
Entry number: 48.
Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Nominated athletes Entry standard – 44.903 Sean BaileyDemish GayeChristopher Taylor3 Michael CherryMichael NormanRandolph Ross2 Machel CedenioDwight St. Hillaire1 Steven Gardiner1 Abbas Abubakar Abbas1 Jonathan Jones1 Isaac Makwala1 Anthony Zambrano1 Kirani James1 Davide Re1 Emmanuel Korir1 Emmanuel Bamidele1 Wayde van NiekerkWorld ranking2 Alex BeckSteven Solomon2 Kevin BorléeJonathan Sacoor2 Liemarvin BonevaciaJochem Dobber2 Zakithi NeneThapelo Phora1 Alonzo Russell1 Leungo Scotch1 Lucas Carvalho1 Jhon Perlaza1 Pavel Maslák1 Marvin Schlegel1 Matthew Hudson-Smith1 Edoardo Scotti1 Julian Walsh1 Mikhail Litvin1 Yousef Karam1 Karol Zalewski1 Ricardo dos Santos1 Mazen Al-Yassin1 Luka Janežič1 Óscar Husillos1 Ricky Petrucciani1 Deon LendoreUniversality Places1 Mohammad Jahir Rayhan1 Bachir Mahamat1 Taha Hussein Yaseen1 Todisoa Rabearison1 Jovan Stojoski1 Sadam Koumi1 Ahmed Al-Yaari Total 48
Competition format The event continued to use the three-round format introduced in 2004. There were 6 heats, with the top 3 in each heat and the next 6 fastest overall advancing to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals, with the top 2 in each semifinal and the next 2 overall advancing to the final.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows:
Area Time (s) Athlete Nation Africa 43.03 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 44.15 Anthony Zambrano
The following national records were established during the competition:
Country Athlete Round Time Notes Colombia Anthony Zambrano Semifinals 43.93 Netherlands Liemarvin Bonevacia Semifinals 44.62
Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
The men's 400 metres took place over three separate days.
Date Time Round Sunday, 1 August 2021 9:10 Round 1 Monday, 2 August 2021 19:00 Semifinals Thursday, 5 August 2021 19:00 Final
Results Round 1 Qualification rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.
Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 9 Isaac Makwala 0.197 44.86 2 5 Kirani James 0.160 45.09 3 8 Jonathan Sacoor 0.151 45.41 4 3 Demish Gaye 0.165 45.49 5 6 Alonzo Russell 0.223 45.51 , 6 7 Alex Beck 0.160 45.54 7 2 Ricardo dos Santos 0.140 46.83 8 4 Bachir Mahamat 0.206 47.93
Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Mazen Al-Yassin 0.163 45.16 , 2 5 Kevin Borlée 0.126 45.36 , 3 7 Ricky Petrucciani 0.168 45.64 4 9 Randolph Ross 0.227 45.67 5 8 Zakithi Nene 0.147 45.74 6 4 Jhon Perlaza 0.159 46.55 7 2 Pavel Maslák 0.196 47.01 8 3 Ahmed Al-Yaari 0.183 48.53
Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 Michael Cherry 0.178 44.82 2 9 Jonathan Jones 0.181 45.04 , 3 7 Christopher Taylor 0.151 45.20 4 6 Dwight St. Hillaire 0.176 45.41 5 4 Luka Janežič 0.163 45.44 , 6 5 Gilles Anthony Afoumba 0.199 46.03 7 8 Lucas Carvalho 0.172 46.12 8 3 Mohammad Jahir Rayhan 0.170 48.29
Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 3 Anthony Zambrano 0.167 44.87 2 4 Steven Solomon 0.163 44.94 , 3 7 Wayde van Niekerk 0.162 45.25 4 5 Leungo Scotch 0.186 45.32 5 9 Davide Re 0.171 45.46 , 6 6 Julian Walsh 0.146 46.57 7 2 Jovan Stojoski 0.184 46.81 8 Emmanuel Korir
Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 Steven Gardiner 0.163 45.05 2 3 Deon Lendore 0.203 45.14 3 9 Jochem Dobber 0.179 45.54 4 4 Nathon Allen 0.138 46.12 5 5 Sadam Koumi 0.143 46.26 6 6 Marvin Schlegel 0.200 46.39 7 7 Mikhail Litvin 0.210 47.15 8 8 Karol Zalewski 0.154 2:15.38
Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Liemarvin Bonevacia 0.171 44.95 2 6 Michael Norman 0.157 45.35 3 8 Machel Cedenio 0.218 45.56 4 9 Edoardo Scotti 0.169 45.71 5 7 Thapelo Phora 0.150 45.83 6 5 Taha Hussein Yaseen 0.144 46.00 7 3 Óscar Husillos 0.147 48.05 8 2 Todisoa Rabearison 0.196 48.40
Semifinals Qualification rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.
Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Kirani James 0.160 43.88 , 2 6 Anthony Zambrano 0.175 43.93 , 3 4 Liemarvin Bonevacia 0.160 44.62 , 4 7 Deon Lendore 0.193 44.93 5 3 Davide Re 0.157 44.94 6 9 Ricky Petrucciani 0.140 45.26 7 2 Luka Janežič 0.152 45.36 8 8 Jonathan Sacoor 0.136 45.88
Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Michael Cherry 0.162 44.44 2 8 Christopher Taylor 0.164 44.92 , 3 5 Steven Solomon 0.168 45.15 4 4 Mazen Al-Yassin 0.154 45.37 5 2 Leungo Scotch 0.178 45.56 6 9 Machel Cedenio 0.192 45.86 7 3 Alonzo Russell 0.169 46.04 — 7 Kevin Borlée
Semifinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Steven Gardiner 0.152 44.14 , 2 7 Michael Norman 0.156 44.52 3 4 Isaac Makwala 0.197 44.59 4 3 Demish Gaye 0.155 45.09 5 8 Wayde van Niekerk 0.381 45.14 6 9 Jochem Dobber 0.191 45.48 7 2 Dwight St. Hillaire 0.153 45.58 8 5 Jonathan Jones 0.159 45.61
Final Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 7 Steven Gardiner 0.179 43.85 5 Anthony Zambrano 0.166 44.08 4 Kirani James 0.157 44.19 4 6 Michael Cherry 0.179 44.21 5 8 Michael Norman 0.148 44.31 6 9 Christopher Taylor 0.158 44.79 7 2 Isaac Makwala 0.167 44.94 8 3 Liemarvin Bonevacia 0.168 45.07
References