# 1971 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 10, 11, and 12 August 1971.

## Medalists

| Gold | Helga Seidler East Germany |
| Silver | Inge Bödding West Germany |
| Bronze | Ingelore Lohse East Germany |

## Results
### Final

12 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 52.14 | NR |
| | Inge Bödding | West Germany | 52.90 | |
| | Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 52.93 | |
| 4 | Maria Sykora | Austria | 53.01 | |
| 5 | Natalya Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 53.19 | |
| 6 | Marika Eklund | Finland | 53.35 | |
| 7 | Colette Besson | France | 53.70 | |
| 8 | Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.91 | |

### Semi-finals

11 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 52.77 | Q |
| 2 | Colette Besson | France | 52.88 | Q |
| 3 | Marika Eklund | Finland | 53.11 | Q |
| 4 | Natalya Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 53.16 | Q |
| 5 | Karoline Käfer | Austria | 53.70 | |
| 6 | Marianne Burggraaf | Netherlands | 53.77 | |
| 7 | Karin Lundgren | Sweden | 53.95 | |
| 8 | Anette Rückes | West Germany | 54.36 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 52.99 | Q |
| 2 | Inge Bödding | West Germany | 53.16 | Q |
| 3 | Maria Sykora | Austria | 53.27 | Q |
| 4 | Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.75 | Q |
| 5 | Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 54.03 | |
| 6 | Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.11 | |
| 7 | Jannette Roscoe | Great Britain | 54.59 | |
| 8 | Elisabeth Randerz | Sweden | 54.88 | |

### Heats

10 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rita Kühne | East Germany | 53.17 | Q |
| 2 | Colette Besson | France | 53.18 | Q |
| 3 | Anette Rückes | West Germany | 53.56 | Q |
| 4 | Karin Lundgren | Sweden | 53.77 | Q |
| 5 | Svetla Zlateva | Bulgaria | 54.03 | |
| 6 | Mariana Suman | Romania | 54.33 | |
| 7 | Bożena Zientarska | Poland | 55.04 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 52.70 | Q |
| 2 | Inge Bödding | West Germany | 53.01 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Chistyakova | Soviet Union | 53.18 | Q |
| 4 | Marianne Burggraaf | Netherlands | 53.57 | Q |
| 5 | Bernadette Martin | France | 53.72 | |
| 6 | Danuta Piecyk | Poland | 54.30 | |
| 7 | Stefka Yordanova | Bulgaria | 55.14 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marika Eklund | Finland | 54.35 | Q |
| 2 | Christel Frese | West Germany | 54.42 | Q |
| 3 | Karoline Käfer | Austria | 54.48 | Q |
| 4 | Elisabeth Randerz | Sweden | 54.50 | Q |
| 5 | Krystyna Hryniewicka | Poland | 54.67 | |
| 6 | Lyubov Aksenova | Soviet Union | 54.91 | |
| 7 | Josefina Salgado | Spain | 56.27 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ingelore Lohse | East Germany | 53.34 | Q |
| 2 | Maria Sykora | Austria | 53.49 | Q |
| 3 | Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 53.69 | Q |
| 4 | Jannette Roscoe | Great Britain | 53.95 | Q |
| 5 | Nadezhda Kolesnikova | Soviet Union | 54.35 | |
| 6 | Eva-Charlotte Malmström | Sweden | 54.65 | |
| 7 | Ingunn Einarsdóttir | Iceland | 1:00.33 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.
* Austria (2)
* Bulgaria (2)
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (2)
* France (2)
* Iceland (1)
* Netherlands (1)
* Poland (3)
* Romania (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (1)
* Sweden (3)
* Great Britain (1)
* West Germany (3)