The women's 400 metres at the 2022 European Athletics Championships was held over three rounds at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 17 August 2022. It was the twentieth time this event was contested at the European Athletics Championships. Athletes could qualify by achieving the entry standard of 51.70 seconds, by receiving a wild card, or by virtue of their ranking.

Twenty-three athletes competed in round 1 on 15 August. Janet Richard set a Maltese record of 53.49 s. The three fastest athletes of each heat plus the next three fastest of the rest qualified for the semi-finals, where they were joined by the twelve highest-ranking athletes, who had a bye in round 1. Twenty-four athletes competed in the semi-finals on 16 August. The two fastest in each heat and the two fastest of the rest advanced to the final.

Eight athletes competed in the final on 17 August. Femke Bol of the Netherlands won the final race in a national record of 49.44 s. Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland finished in second place in 49.94 s and Anna Kiełbasińska of Poland placed third in 50.29 s. Outside the medals, Rhasidat Adeleke or Ireland set a national record of 50.53 seconds.

Background The women's 400 metres was contested nineteen times a before 2022, after having been introduced at the 1958 edition."European Athletics Championships Munich 2022 – Statistics Handbook – Athletics", European Athletics, . Retrieved 24 March 2025. The previous edition of 2018, had been won by Justyna Święty-Ersetic of Poland, who returned as defending champion. The 2022 edition was held at the 400-metre track of the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.

At the start of the Championships, Marita Koch of East Germany held the world and European record of 47.60 s set in 1985 and the championship record of 48.16 s set in 1982. Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas had set the world leading mark of 49.12 s on 25 July 2022, and Femke Bol of the Netherlands had set the European leading mark of 49.75 s on 6 August 2022.

+ Records before the 2022 European Athletics Championships Record Athlete (nation) Location Date World record 47.60 Canberra, Australia 6 October 1985 European record Championship record 48.16 Athens, Greece 8 September 1982 World leading 49.11 Eugene, Oregon, United States 25 July 2022 Europe leading"Toplists – All time Top lists – Senior – 400 Metres women", World Athletics. Retrieved 23 May 2025. 49.75 Chorzów, Poland 6 August 2022

Qualification For this event, the qualification period was from 27 July 2021 to 26 July 2022. Athletes could qualify by achieving the entry standard of 51.70 s, by wild card as defending European 400-metres champion, or by virtue of their position on the World Athletics Rankings for the event. There was a target number of thirty-six athletes for this event."Qualification System and Entry Standards", European Athletics, August 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2025. A final entry list with thirty-nine athletes was compiled on 8 August 2022."Final Entries - Athletes List by event and SB", European Athletics, 8 August 2022, p. 32. Retrieved on 24 March 2025.

Rounds Round 1

Twenty-three athletes from seventeen nations competed in the three heats of the first round on 15 August, that started at 19:35 (UTC+2) in the evening. The first three athletes in each heat () and the next three fastest of the rest () advanced to the semi-finals. The twelve highest-ranked athletes received a bye into the semi-finals. In the second heat, Janet Richard improved the Maltese record () to 53.49 s, although she didn't advance to the next round."European Championships Munich 2022 – Women's 400m – Round 1 – Results Summary", European Athletics, 15 August 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2024.

+ Results of round 1 Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Note 1 2 5 51.09 , 2 2 4 51.26 , 3 1 7 51.60 , 4 3 3 51.63 5 2 3 51.73 , 6 1 5 51.81 7 2 8 51.91 8 2 7 51.92 9 3 4 52.26 10 1 4 52.27 11 2 2 52.35 12 3 5 52.52 13 3 8 52.60 14 3 2 52.62 15 3 6 52.63 16 3 1 52.80 17 1 6 52.83 18 1 2 53.02 19 1 3 53.10 20 1 8 53.29 21 2 6 53.49 22 2 1 53.63 23 3 7 59.59

Semi-finals

Twenty-four athletes from fourteen nations competed in the three heats of the semi-finals on 16 August, that started at 13:00 (UTC+2) in the afternoon. The first two athletes in each heat () and the next two fastest athletes of the rest () advanced to the final. Victoria Ohuruogu, Amandine Brossier, and Gunta Vaičule set personal bests () in this round – of these three, only Ohuruogu advanced to the next round.

+ Results of the semi-finals Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Note 1 2 6 50.40 2 1 3 50.45 3 2 5 50.50 , 4 1 6 50.59 5 3 6 50.60 6 3 8 50.83 7 3 4 51.08 8 1 5 51.17 9 3 7 51.21 10 1 1 51.25 11 1 8 51.42 12 1 7 51.53 13 2 4 51.70 14 2 3 51.83 15 2 7 52.02 16 3 5 52.09 17 3 3 52.17 18 1 2 52.38 19 2 8 52.45 20 3 1 52.58 21 1 4 52.70 22 2 2 53.08 23 3 2 53.12 24 2 1 54.28

Final Eight athletes from five nations competed in the final on 17 August, that started at 22:02 (UTC+2) in the evening. About 200 metres in, Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was in the lead, followed by Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland and Femke Bol of the Netherlands. After 300 metres, Klaver was overtaken by Kaczmarek and Bol."Womens 400m Final Munich 2022 Femke Bol", European Athletics/YouTube, 21 August 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2025. The race was won by Bol in a European leading time and a new Dutch record () of 49.44 s. Kaczmarek finished second, 0.5 seconds after Bol, in 49.94 s, and she was followed by Anna Kiełbasińska of Poland who finished in third place with a time of 50.29 s. In fifth place, Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland set a national record () of 50.53 s.

In an interview, Bol said: "It wasn’t until after the race that I realised it wasn't such a close race. I won by half-a-second and with a big personal best. I felt confident and strong.""Multi-talented Bol storms to European 400m title in 49.44", European Athletics, 17 August 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2025. Although she had won international medals before, this was Bol's first international title."Bol op imposante wijze naar EK-titel 400 meter: 'Deel 1 missie geslaagd'" (in Dutch), NOS, 17 August 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2025."Goud voor Femke Bol" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 18 August 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2025. Two days later, Bol also won the women's 400 metres hurdles in an unprecedented double at the European Athletics Championships."Missie Bol geslaagd: unieke dubbelslag met Europese titel op 400 horden" (in Dutch), NOS, 19 August 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2024. Afterwards, Bol said: "I am so proud to achieve the double, but I will never do it again. Well, maybe. Never say never."Cathal Dennehy, "Warholm and Bol break championship records for 400m hurdles success in Munich", World Athletics, 19 August 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2025.

+ Results of the final Rank Lane Name Nation Note 5 49.44 , 6 49.94 4 50.29 4 3 50.51 5 1 50.53 6 8 50.56 7 7 50.94 8 2 51.28

References

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