The women's 400 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from 20 to 23 August 2023. The winning margin was 0.81 seconds which as of 2024 is the only time the women's 400 metres has been won by more than 0.7 seconds at these championships.

Summary The buildup to the event was very hectic, as world leader Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone withdrew just a few weeks before the championships started, citing a minor knee injury. 2019 champion and #3 all-time Salwa Eid Naser also withdrew, just days before the heats started. Aside from the withdrawals, some big names also failed to make it past the first round. Defending champion and #6 all-time Shaunae Miller-Uibo was not back in full form, as she returned to the track just four months after giving birth to her first child. Another big name that failed to make it to the semi-final round was world number three Britton Wilson, who finished last in her opening heat. All of the semi-finalists had sub-50 credentials, six of them broke 50 in the semi-final round. That also meant they all had a sub-50 recently.

In the final, Lieke Klaver was out fast, making up the stagger on Natalia Kaczmarek to her outside down the backstretch. After the halfway mark, returning silver medalist Marileidy Paulino began to make up ground on returning bronze medalist Sada Williams to her outside. When Paulino hit the 100 metre start line, she had a step on Klaver and two more on her next pursuers Williams, Rhasidat Adeleke and Kaczmarek. Down the stretch, Klaver was gritting her teeth but was moving backwards relative to Kaczmarek, Adeleke and Williams, but Paulino was so far this was clearly a battle just for silver. Kaczmarek emerged as the next best, holding a step on Williams as Adeleke faded. Paulino finished 6 metres up on Kaczmarek with Williams taking a second bronze in a row.

Paulino's 48.76 National Record makes her the eleventh fastest in history. Only the three medalists were able to break 50 in the final.

Records Before the competition records were as follows:

RecordAthlete & LocationDate World record47.60Canberra, Australia6 October 1985Championship record47.99Helsinki, Finland10 August 1983World Leading48.74Eugene, United States8 July 2023African Record49.10Atlanta, United States29 July 1996Asian Record48.14Doha, Qatar3 October 2019North, Central American and Caribbean record48.36Tokyo, Japan6 August 2021South American Record49.64Barcelona, Spain5 August 1992European Record47.60Canberra, Australia6 October 1985Oceanian record48.63Atlanta, United States29 July 1996

Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 51.00.

Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), was as follows:

Date Time Round20 August 9:35 Heats21 August 21:12 Semi-finals23 August 21:35 Final

Results

Heats The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the semi-finals.

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 Marileidy Paulino 49.90 Q 2 1 Natalia Kaczmarek 50.02 Q 3 1 Cynthia Bolingo 50.29 Q, 4 1 Candice McLeod 50.37 Q 5 4 Nickisha Pryce 50.38 Q 6 2 Lieke Klaver 50.52 Q 7 6 Victoria Ohuruogu 50.60 Q 8 3 Sada Williams 50.78 Q 9 5 Rhasidat Adeleke 50.80 Q 10 2 Ama Pipi 50.81 Q 11 2 Lynna Irby-Jackson 50.81 Q 12 4 Roxana Gómez 50.86 Q 13 6 Talitha Diggs 50.87 Q 14 6 Lada Vondrová 50.92 q, 15 2 Susanne Walli 51.00 q 16 6 Modesta Justė Morauskaitė 51.06 q, 17 4 Gabby Scott 51.07 Q, 18 1 Sharlene Mawdsley 51.17 q, 19 5 Andrea Miklós 51.24 Q 20 6 Charokee Young 51.24 q 21 2 Evelis Aguilar 51.27 q, 22 5 Tereza Petržilková 51.30 Q 23 5 Henriette Jæger 51.33 24 4 Martina Weil 51.35 25 1 Gunta Vaičule 51.36 26 5 Aliyah Abrams 51.44 27 5 Helena Ponette 51.52 28 1 Alice Mangione 51.57 29 3 Paola Morán 51.59 Q 30 4 Grace Konrad 51.60 31 3 Zenéy van der Walt 51.76 Q 32 3 Cátia Azevedo 51.93 33 3 Amandine Brossier 51.98 34 3 Imaobong Nse Uko 52.24 35 2 Kyra Constantine 52.28 36 1 Miranda Charlene Coetzee 52.30 37 3 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 52.65 38 4 Giulia Senn 52.66 39 1 Kateryna Karpiuk 52.66 40 4 Fanni Rapai 52.73 41 5 Mette Baas 52.74 42 2 Nicole Caicedo 52.82 43 3 Rosie Elliott 52.88 446Tiffani Marinho53.12456Marlie Viljoen53.73464Britton Wilson53.87475Tabata Vitorino54.15482Janet Richard54.50

Semi-finals The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 Natalia Kaczmarek 49.50 Q 2 1 Marileidy Paulino 49.54 Q 3 3 Sada Williams 49.58 Q, 4 1 Rhasidat Adeleke 49.87 Q 5 2 Lieke Klaver 49.87 Q 6 1 Cynthia Bolingo 49.96 q, 7 1 Candice McLeod 50.62 q 8 3 Lynna Irby-Jackson 50.71 9 3 Victoria Ohuruogu 50.74 10 3 Andrea Miklós 50.77 11 2 Talitha Diggs 50.86 Q 12 1 Evelis Aguilar 51.07 13 2 Roxana Gómez 51.07 14 2 Ama Pipi 51.17 15 2 Nickisha Pryce 51.24 16 3 Charokee Young 51.40 17 1 Paola Morán 51.46 18 3 Susanne Walli 51.50 19 1 Lada Vondrová 51.50 20 2 Gabby Scott 51.52 21 1 Zenéy van der Walt 51.54 22 2 Sharlene Mawdsley 51.78 23 3 Tereza Petržilková 51.94 24 2 Modesta Justė Morauskaitė 52.15

Final The final was held on Wednesday 23 August 2023.

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Marileidy Paulino 48.76 Natalia Kaczmarek 49.57 Sada Williams 49.60 4 Rhasidat Adeleke 50.13 5 Cynthia Bolingo 50.33 6 Lieke Klaver 50.33 7 Candice McLeod 51.08 8 Talitha Diggs 51.25

References