The women's 400 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Stadium in Tokyo on 14, 16 and 18 September 2025.
Summary The fact that Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino #4 in history is the returning champion is only a small part of the story in this event. 2019 World champion Salwa Eid Naser #3 in history is world leader and she is younger than Paulino. Additionally, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone #12 in history is also a previous world champion, in the 400 metres hurdles, where she has set the world record 6 times. After toying with the race without hurdles for a couple of years, she is concentrating on this event for the first time. Almost forgotten, Nickisha Pryce is #8 in history.
The championship record is 42 years old, the former world record and #2 in history. The world record is almost exactly 40 years old, a race that included two others performances that remain in the top ten in history. Decades later, there are still accusations of the chemical enhancements that might have aided these historical performances.
Naser had the fastest time in the heats. At 49.17 it might have been excessive as it would almost be one of the top 25 in history. The semis were all about excessive for McLaughlin-Levrone, 48.29 was the American record and #7 in history.https://www.flotrack.org/articles/14541592-sydney-mclaughlin-levrone-breaks-us-400m-record-in-semi-final-win Two time bronze medalist Sada Williams and a 49.88 by Martina Weil did not get out of the semis.
The finals put Paulino in lane 9, the far outside. Naser got 7, McLaughlin-Levrone in 5. With the track still wet from earlier rain, the weather was less oppressive than it had been for other events. Down the backstretch, it was clear the three had already separated from the rest of the field. Using the painted marks, McLaughlin-Levrone had a slight edge over Paulino then Nasser. The positioning held through the turn and when they hit the straightaway, McLaughlin-Levrone only had a metre on the fast closing Paulino who only had another metre on Naser. Both McLaughlin-Levrone and Naser running disciplined form hard to the finish, Paulino twisting, over-striding and gaining slightly on McLaughlin-Levrone until giving up the fight the last few steps when it was clear it wouldn't be enough.https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/us-sports/sydney-mclaughlin-levrone-wins-400m-world-title-breaks-40-year-record-101758213714548.html
McLaughlin-Levrone's 47.78 in first broke that impossible Championship record, the North American record Paulino had set at the Olympics and her own American record from two days earlier. It was the number two time in history, only .18 off that world record. Paulino 47.98 was the new number 3 time in history. And Nasser 48.17 in third just .03 off her personal best from 6 years earlier, which was the #3 all time at the start of the race.
Records Before the competition records were as follows: RecordAthlete & LocationDate World record 47.60 Canberra, Australia 6 October 1985 Championship record 47.99 Helsinki, Finland 10 August 1983 World Leading 48.67 Kingston, Jamaica 5 April 2025 African Record 49.10 Atlanta, United States 29 July 1996 Asian Record 48.14 Doha, Qatar 3 October 2019 European Record 47.60 Canberra, Australia 6 October 1985 North, Central American and Caribbean record 48.17 Paris, France 9 August 2024 Oceanian record 48.63 Atlanta, United States 29 July 1996 South American Record 49.64 Barcelona, Spain 5 August 1992
The following records were set at the competition:
RecordAthlete & Date Championship record 47.78 18 September 2025 World Leading North, Central American and Caribbean record
Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 50.75.
Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+9), was as follows: Date Time Round14 September 19:25 Heats16 September 21:07 Semi-finals18 September 22:24 Final
Results Heats The heats took place on 14 September. The first three athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the six fastest ( q ) qualified for the semi-finals.
Heat 1 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Lieke Klaver 50.32 2 8 Isabella Whittaker 50.82 3 6 Dejanea Oakley 51.07 4 4 Lauren Gale 51.56 5 9 Alice Mangione 51.70 6 2 Mette Baas 51.92 7 7 Vimbayi Maisvorewa 52.28 8 3 Ellie Beer 52.31
Heat 2 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Wadeline Venlogh 49.91 , 2 5 Natalia Bukowiecka 50.16 3 6 Aaliyah Butler 50.44 4 7 Sada Williams 50.93 5 4 Leni Shida 51.61 6 2 Zoe Sherar 52.19 7 3 Myrte van der Schoot 52.19 8 9 Miranda Coetzee 57.78
Heat 3 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 49.41 2 7 Martina Weil 50.61 3 8 Mercy Oketch 50.76 4 9 Sharlene Mawdsley 51.04 5 4 Caitlyn Bobb 51.72 6 3 Eveline Saalberg 51.73 7 5 Javonya Valcourt 52.00 8 2 Tiffani Marinho 53.34 9 1 Esther Mayadjim Mingueyam 56.35
Heat 4 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Nickisha Pryce 49.91 2 7 Henriette Jæger 50.12 3 5 Roxana Gómez 50.35 , 4 9 Printassia Johnson 50.53 , 5 8 Yemi Mary John 50.71 6 2 Lada Vondrová 51.90 7 3 Dianna Proctor 51.98 8 4 Gabby Scott 52.55
Heat 5 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Salwa Eid Naser 49.13 2 7 Stacey-Ann Williams 49.59 , 3 4 Andrea Miklós 50.96 , 4 9 Victoria Ohuruogu 51.37 5 6 Anna Polinari 51.55 6 3 Shirley Nekhubui 51.82 7 1 Nanako Matsumoto 52.41 8 2 Nadeesha Ramanayake 53.63 9 8 Evelis Aguilar 53.82
Heat 6 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Marileidy Paulino 49.85 2 5 Amber Anning 49.96 3 8 Bassant Hemida 50.36 , 4 7 Paula Sevilla 50.69 , 5 3 Justyna Święty-Ersetic 51.80 6 2 Sophie Becker 52.19 7 9 Veronika Drljačić 52.67 8 4 Susanne Gogl-Walli 52.92 9 1 Samira Awali Boubacar 52.99
Semi-finals The heats took place on 16 September. The first two athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.
Heat 1 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Natalia Bukowiecka 49.67 , 2 6 Marileidy Paulino 49.82 3 7 Henriette Jæger 49.87 4 3 Sada Williams 50.39 5 4 Aaliyah Butler 50.63 6 8 Wadeline Venlogh 50.67 7 9 Dejanea Oakley 51.42 8 2 Yemi Mary John 51.51
Heat 2 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Salwa Eid Naser 49.47 2 9 Roxana Gómez 49.78 , 3 6 Isabella Whittaker 50.20 4 8 Lieke Klaver 50.25 5 7 Stacey-Ann Williams 50.39 6 3 Printassia Johnson 50.81 7 4 Mercy Oketch 51.36 8 2 Victoria Ohuruogu 51.65
Heat 3 Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 48.29 , , 2 6 Amber Anning 49.38 , 3 7 Nickisha Pryce 49.46 , 4 5 Martina Weil 49.88 5 9 Bassant Hemida 50.69 6 4 Andrea Miklós 50.90 7 2 Paula Sevilla 50.97 8 3 Sharlene Mawdsley 51.22
Final Place Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 5 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 47.78 , , 9 Marileidy Paulino 47.98 7 Salwa Eid Naser 48.19 4 8 Natalia Bukowiecka 49.27 5 6 Amber Anning 49.36 6 4 Roxana Gómez 49.48 7 3 Henriette Jæger 49.74 8 2 Nickisha Pryce 49.97
References