# 1997 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

These are the results of the Women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece.

## Medalists

| Gold | Nezha Bidouane Morocco (MAR) |
| Silver | Deon Hemmings Jamaica (JAM) |
| Bronze | Kim Batten United States (USA) |

## Results
### Heats

First 3 of each Heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 54.42 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Sally Gunnell | Great Britain | 54.53 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 3 | Kim Batten | United States | 54.56 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Susan Smith-Walsh | Ireland | 54.61 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 1 | Ester Goossens | Netherlands | 54.84 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 3 | Yekaterina Bakhvalova | Russia | 55.08 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | Ukraine | 55.17 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 55.25 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Andrea Blackett | Barbados | 55.26 | q |
| 10 | 3 | Karlene Haughton | Jamaica | 55.27 | q |
| 11 | 2 | Anna Knoroz | Russia | 55.34 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | Nezha Bidouane | Morocco | 55.53 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | Miriam Alonso | Spain | 55.57 | q, SB |
| 14 | 4 | Silvia Rieger | Germany | 55.64 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | Gudrun Arnardottir | Iceland | 55.76 | q |
| 16 | 4 | Debbie-Ann Parris | Jamaica | 55.84 | Q |
| 17 | 3 | Judit Szekeres | Hungary | 55.99 | |
| 18 | 4 | Irina Lenskaya | Ukraine | 56.05 | |
| 19 | 4 | Natalya Torshina | Kazakhstan | 56.64 | |
| 20 | 4 | Ryan Tolbert | United States | 56.67 | |
| 21 | 2 | Donalda Duprey | Canada | 56.73 | |
| 22 | 1 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | Belarus | 56.88 | |
| 23 | 3 | Carla Barbarino | Italy | 57.05 | |
| 24 | 3 | Rikke Ronholt | Denmark | 57.26 | |
| 25 | 1 | Rebecca Russell-Buchanan | United States | 57.79 | |
| 26 | 1 | Christina Panagou | Greece | 1:01.14 | |
| 27 | 2 | Inicia Coelho da Fonseca | São Tomé and Príncipe | 1:01.39 | |

### Semifinals

First 4 of each Semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Nezha Bidouane | Morocco | 53.48 | Q, AR |
| 2 | 1 | Kim Batten | United States | 53.67 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 53.82 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | Ukraine | 54.02 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 54.48 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Debbie-Ann Parris | Jamaica | 54.72 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Susan Smith-Walsh | Ireland | 54.72 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Andrea Blackett | Barbados | 54.74 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 2 | Gudrun Arnardottir | Iceland | 54.93 | |
| 10 | 1 | Yekaterina Bakhvalova | Russia | 55.02 | |
| 11 | 1 | Silvia Rieger | Germany | 55.08 | |
| 12 | 2 | Anna Knoroz | Russia | 55.28 | |
| 13 | 1 | Karlene Haughton | Jamaica | 55.33 | |
| 14 | 1 | Miriam Alonso | Spain | 55.49 | SB |
| 15 | 2 | Ester Goossens | Netherlands | 56.17 | |
| | 2 | Sally Gunnell | Great Britain | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | Nezha Bidouane | Morocco | 52.97 | AR |
| | 4 | Deon Hemmings | Jamaica | 53.09 | SB |
| | 5 | Kim Batten | United States | 53.52 | |
| 4 | 6 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | Ukraine | 53.81 | NR |
| 5 | 8 | Debbie-Ann Parris | Jamaica | 54.19 | SB |
| 6 | 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | United States | 54.77 | |
| 7 | 7 | Susan Smith-Walsh | Ireland | 55.25 | |
| 8 | 1 | Andrea Blackett | Barbados | 55.63 | |