# 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres event at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, at Deveti Septemvri Stadium on 8, 9 and 10 August.

## Medalists

| Gold | Fatima Yusuf Nigeria |
| Silver | Charity Opara Nigeria |
| Bronze | Manuela Derr East Germany |

## Results
### Final

10 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Fatima Yusuf | Nigeria | 50.62 |
| | Charity Opara | Nigeria | 51.28 |
| | Manuela Derr | East Germany | 51.95 |
| 4 | Sue Andrews | Australia | 52.23 |
| 5 | Julia Merino | Spain | 53.48 |
| 6 | Nancy McLeón | Cuba | 53.58 |
| 7 | Marína Vasarmídou | Greece | 53.58 |
| 8 | Anja Rücker | East Germany | 54.16 |

### Semifinals

9 August

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charity Opara | Nigeria | 51.69 | Q |
| 2 | Manuela Derr | East Germany | 52.91 | Q |
| 3 | Nancy McLeón | Cuba | 53.32 | Q |
| 4 | Julia Merino | Spain | 53.34 | Q |
| 5 | Catherine Scott | Jamaica | 53.46 | |
| 6 | Natalya Sniga | Soviet Union | 54.17 | |
| 7 | Ester Goossens | Netherlands | 54.70 | |
| 8 | Nicole Hylaire | France | 55.69 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fatima Yusuf | Nigeria | 52.15 | Q |
| 2 | Sue Andrews | Australia | 53.40 | Q |
| 3 | Marína Vasarmídou | Greece | 53.83 | Q |
| 4 | Anja Rücker | East Germany | 54.04 | Q |
| 5 | Claudine Williams | Jamaica | 54.28 | |
| 6 | Yana Burtasenkova | Soviet Union | 54.35 | |
| 7 | Steffanie Smith | United States | 54.44 | |
| 8 | Yojani Casanova | Cuba | 56.23 | |

### Heats

8 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Fatima Yusuf | Nigeria | 52.97 | Q |
| 2 | Yana Burtasenkova | Soviet Union | 54.66 | Q |
| 3 | Nicole Hylaire | France | 54.85 | Q |
| 4 | Catherine Scott | Jamaica | 54.94 | q |
| 5 | Cheryl Allen | Canada | 55.16 | |
| 6 | Rosa Magaly Segovia | Colombia | 57.14 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charity Opara | Nigeria | 52.77 | Q |
| 2 | Manuela Derr | East Germany | 53.90 | Q |
| 3 | Claudine Williams | Jamaica | 54.02 | Q |
| 4 | Steffanie Smith | United States | 54.72 | q |
| 5 | Stefka Mineva | Bulgaria | 56.33 | |
| 6 | Mireille Bara-Ang | Central African Republic | 64.80 | |
| | Camille Noel | Canada | DNF | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sue Andrews | Australia | 53.53 | Q |
| 2 | Anja Rücker | East Germany | 54.01 | Q |
| 3 | Julia Merino | Spain | 54.18 | Q |
| 4 | Natalya Sniga | Soviet Union | 54.27 | q |
| 5 | Yojani Casanova | Cuba | 55.00 | q |
| 6 | Melrose Mansaray | Sierra Leone | 56.44 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nancy McLeón | Cuba | 53.70 | Q |
| 2 | Ester Goossens | Netherlands | 54.27 | Q |
| 3 | Marína Vasarmídou | Greece | 54.60 | Q |
| 4 | Renée Poetschka | Australia | 55.18 | |
| 5 | Mirjana Šola | Yugoslavia | 55.52 | |
| 6 | Shanelle Porter | United States | 56.63 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 25 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.
* Australia (2)
* Bulgaria (1)
* Canada (2)
* Central African Republic (1)
* Colombia (1)
* Cuba (2)
* East Germany (2)
* France (1)
* Greece (1)
* Jamaica (2)
* Netherlands (1)
* Nigeria (2)
* Sierra Leone (1)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Spain (1)
* United States (2)
* Yugoslavia (1)