The women's 400 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 30 September to 3 October 2019.

Summary The 2019 season saw only four women break 50 seconds. World leader Shaunae Miller-Uibo did it three times. Salwa Eid Naser broke it once, coming back against a challenge from Aminatou Seyni. Naser was consistently under 51, five times during the 2019 IAAF Diamond League season. Seyni was not allowed to compete in the 400 metres because of the new IAAF testosterone rule. Shericka Jackson was the fourth to break 50 at the Jamaican championships.

Those athletes were the ones to watch in the final. With multi-toned hair, the tall Miller-Uibo started like she meant business, gaining on the stagger against defending champion Phyllis Francis to her outside and by the backstretch, Francis had already made up the stagger on Justyna Święty-Ersetic to her outside. In the center of the track, Naser had also already made up the stagger on Wadeline Jonathas to her outside. Miller-Uibo and Naser hit the 200 meter split marks virtually even. Through the final turn, Naser was moving faster, opening up 4 metres by the home straight. The first time Miller-Uibo was able to see Naser, she was already behind. That final straight is usually Miller-Uibo's territory. She began stretching out her long strides to reel Naser in. Miller-Uibo steadily gained on Naser, pulling in three metres, but it wasn't enough. Miller-Uibo set a new personal best, 48.37, which became the #6 400 metre race of all time. Naser beat her with 48.14, the #3 400 of all time. Jackson held off the American duo of Jonathas and Francis, all personal bests under 50 seconds. Like all previous top 10 women's races, there were two close competitors battling to the line.

Records Before the competition records were as follows:

Record Athlete Date LocationWorld47.60Marita Koch6 Oct 1985Canberra, AustraliaChampionship47.99Jarmila Kratochvílová10 Aug 1983Helsinki, FinlandWorld Leading49.05Shaunae Miller-Uibo27 Apr 2019Gainesville, United StatesAfrican49.10Falilat Ogunkoya29 Jul 1996Atlanta, United StatesAsian49.08Salwa Eid Naser20 Jul 2018MonacoNorth, Central American and Caribbean48.70Sanya Richards-Ross16 Sep 2006Athens, GreeceSouth American49.64Ximena Restrepo5 August 1992Barcelona, SpainEuropean47.60Marita Koch6 Oct 1985Canberra, AustraliaOceanian48.63Cathy Freeman29 Jul 1996Atlanta, United States

The following records were set at the competition:

Record Athlete Date World Leading48.14Salwa Eid Naser3 Oct 2019AsianBahrainiNorth, Central American and Caribbean48.37Shaunae Miller-UiboBahamian

Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:

Date Time Round30 September 18:20 Heats1 October 20:50 Semi-finals3 October 23:50 Final

Results Heats The first three in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 3 Wadeline Jonathas 50.57 Q 2 4 2 Galefele Moroko 50.59 Q, 3 6 2 Salwa Eid Naser 50.74 Q 4 1 2 Phyllis Francis 50.77 Q 5 2 8 Shericka Jackson 51.13 Q 6 3 9 Shakima Wimbley 51.17 Q 7 2 6 Bendere Oboya 51.21 Q, 8 4 3 Stephenie Ann McPherson 51.21 Q 9 5 5 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 51.30 Q 10 2 7 Lisanne de Witte 51.31 q 11 3 8 Iga Baumgart-Witan 51.34 Q 11 6 8 Justyna Święty-Ersetic 51.34 Q 13 4 5 Favour Ofili 51.51 Q, 14 3 2 Laviai Nielsen 51.52 Q 15 6 4 Paola Morán 51.58 Q 16 2 9 Emily Diamond 51.66 q, 17 4 7 Aliyah Abrams 51.73 q 18 5 6 Déborah Sananes 51.76 Q 19 2 5 Patience Okon George 51.77 q 20 4 8 Kendall Ellis 51.82 q 21 4 9 Roxana Gómez 51.85 q 22 5 8 Mary Moraa 51.85 Q 23 2 4 Eleni Artymata 51.90 24 3 7 Tiffani Silva 51.96 25 5 2 Polina Miller 51.96 26 6 5 Kseniya Aksyonova 51.99 27 3 6 Aiyanna Stiverne 52.03 28 1 4 Sada Williams 52.14 Q 29 2 2 Alyona Mamina 52.15 30 4 6 Maggie Barrie 52.16 31 3 3 Leni Shida 52.22 32 1 3 Lada Vondrová 52.23 Q 33 6 3 Madeline Price 52.24 34 5 4 Anna Kiełbasińska 52.25 35 5 7 Anastasia Le-Roy 52.26 36 5 9 Irini Vasiliou 52.31 37 6 7 Anjali Devi 52.33 38 3 5 Maria Benedicta Chigbolu 52.63 39 1 7 Anita Horvat 52.73 40 1 6 Cátia Azevedo 52.79 41 6 6 Amandine Brossier 52.81 42 1 8 Christine Botlogetswe 53.27 43 3 4 Janet Richard 54.33 44 4 4 Gabriella O'Grady 54.99 45 1 5 Hellen Syombua 57.07 46 6 9 Aishath Himna Hassan 59.91 47 5 3 Kenza Sosse 1:06.76 1 9 Ingrid Yahoska Narvaez

Semi-finals

The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 6 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 49.66 Q 2 1 7 Salwa Eid Naser 49.79 Q 3 2 4 Wadeline Jonathas 50.07 Q, 4 2 7 Shericka Jackson 50.10 q 5 1 5 Phyllis Francis 50.22 Q, 6 3 6 Stephenie Ann McPherson 50.70 Q, 7 3 5 Justyna Święty-Ersetic 50.96 Q 8 1 6 Iga Baumgart-Witan 51.02 q, 9 1 8 Paola Morán 51.08 10 2 5 Sada Williams 51.31 11 2 2 Lisanne de Witte 51.41 12 2 3 Roxana Gómez 51.56 13 2 9 Bendere Oboya 51.58 14 3 3 Kendall Ellis 51.58 15 3 2 Emily Diamond 51.62 16 1 3 Aliyah Abrams 51.71 17 1 2 Patience Okon George 51.89 18 3 9 Mary Moraa 52.11 19 1 4 Déborah Sananes 52.24 20 2 8 Lada Vondrová 52.25 21 3 8 Favour Ofili 52.58 22 1 9 Laviai Nielsen 52.94 23 3 7 Shakima Wimbley 3 4 Galefele Moroko

Final The final was started on 3 October at 23:50.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Salwa Eid Naser 48.14 , 7 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 48.37 3 Shericka Jackson 49.47 4 6 Wadeline Jonathas 49.60 5 8 Phyllis Francis 49.61 6 4 Stephenie Ann McPherson 50.89 7 9 Justyna Święty-Ersetic 50.95 8 2 Iga Baumgart-Witan 51.29

References