# Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

The women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in four rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, from 4 to 8 August 2024. This was the eleventh time that the women's 400 metres hurdles was contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 40 athletes were able to qualify for the event by entry standard or ranking.

## Summary

Returning gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had improved the world record five times, each year at the U.S. Championships while qualifying and then at the major championship. Leading up to these championships, she set the record again at the U.S. Trials. Third in Tokyo behind Dalilah Muhammad #3 of all time, Femke Bol had risen to silver at the 2022 World Championships and in McLaughlin-Levrone's absence won gold in 2023. Earlier in 2024, Bol ran 50.95 at the record-setting track in La Chaux-de-Fonds, becoming the #2 performer in history.
In the final, McLaughlin-Levrone went out fastest over the first hurdle with Jasmine Jones second. McLaughlin-Levrone continued conservatively for herself down the backstretch, gaining on Bol, who was in the lane immediately to her outside. By the 200, McLaughlin-Levrone had made up the stagger on Bol. McLaughlin-Levrone just continued to pull ahead to an insurmountable lead and successfully defended her Olympic title. Cockrell took the final hurdle smoothly, passing Bol, and surged ahead to run in for silver. Bol won her second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in this event.
McLaughlin-Levrone set a new world record at 50.37. Anna Cockrell became the #4 performer with her 51.87, the 13th fastest performance in history (behind 7 by McLaughlin-Levrone, 4 by Bol, and Muhammad's Olympic silver medal). Bol's 52.15 was only her 8th best but was #19 in history. In fourth, Jasmine Jones became the #5 performer in history. Fifth place Rushell Clayton became #13. The top four would have won any Olympics before 2020.
The final was the fastest women's 400-meter hurdles race in Olympic history collectively: five of the eight women ran under 52.7 seconds, with these times ranking among the top 11 in Olympic history. The winning margin was 1.50 seconds - the greatest winning margin for the women's 400 metres hurdles at any Olympics.

## Background

The women's 400 metres hurdles was first introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States and was contested ten times at the Summer Olympics before 2024: every four years, although the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from the United States won the event in a world and Olympic record of 51.46 seconds. Since then, McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her world record three times, most recently at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, where she ran a time of 50.65 seconds.
Global records before the 2024 Summer Olympics :
| Record | Athlete (Nation) | Time (s) | Location | Date |
| World record | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) | 50.65 | Eugene, United States | 30 June 2024 |
| Olympic record | Sydney McLaughlin (USA) | 51.46 | Tokyo, Japan | 4 August 2021 |
| World leading | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) | 50.65 | Eugene, United States | 30 June 2024 |
Area records before the 2024 Summer Olympics :
| Area Record | Athlete (Nation) | Time (s) |
| Africa (records) | Nezha Bidouane (MAR) | 52.90 |
| Asia (records) | Kemi Adekoya (BHR) | 53.09 |
| Europe (records) | Femke Bol (NED) | 50.95 |
| North, Central America and Caribbean (records) | Sydney McLaughlin (USA) | 50.65 WR |
| Oceania (records) | Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS) | 53.17 |
| South America (records) | Gianna Woodruff (PAN) | 53.69 |

## Qualification

For the women's 400 metres hurdles event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. Forty athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 54.85 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.

## Results
### Round 1

The five heats of round 1 were held on 4 August, at 12:35 (UTC+2) in the afternoon. 40 athletes qualified for the event. Qualification rule: First 3 in each heat (Q) and next 3 fastest (q) advance to semi-finals, all others advance to repechage round (except DNS, DNF, DQ).

#### Heat 1

Results of heat 1 in round 1 :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Rushell Clayton | Jamaica | 54.32 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Fatoumata Binta Diallo | Portugal | 54.75 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Amalie Iuel | Norway | 54.82 | Q |
| 4 | 8 | Cathelijn Peeters | Netherlands | 54.84 | q |
| 5 | 9 | Naomi Van den Broeck | Belgium | 55.81 | |
| 6 | 6 | Rebecca Sartori | Italy | 55.81 | |
| 7 | 4 | Chayenne da Silva | Brazil | 56.52 | |
| | 2 | Kemi Adekoya | Bahrain | | DNS |

#### Heat 2

Results of heat 2 in round 1 :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Jasmine Jones | United States | 53.60 | Q |
| 2 | 9 | Rogail Joseph | South Africa | 54.46 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 3 | Savannah Sutherland | Canada | 54.80 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Paulien Couckuyt | Belgium | 54.90 | q, SB |
| 5 | 8 | Gianna Woodruff | Panama | 54.94 | SB |
| 6 | 7 | Ayomide Folorunso | Italy | 55.03 | |
| 7 | 6 | Shana Grebo | France | 56.70 | |
| 8 | 4 | Carolina Krafzik | Germany | 58.49 | |

#### Heat 3

Results of heat 3 in round 1 :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Femke Bol | Netherlands | 53.38 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Shiann Salmon | Jamaica | 53.95 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Zenéy Geldenhuys | South Africa | 54.73 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Anna Ryzhykova | Ukraine | 55.13 | |
| 5 | 5 | Jessie Knight | Great Britain | 55.39 | |
| 6 | 2 | Jiadie Mo | China | 55.43 | |
| 7 | 9 | Alanah Yukich | Australia | 55.46 | |
| 8 | 7 | Linda Angounou | Cameroon | 55.69 | NR |

#### Heat 4

Results of heat 4 in round 1 :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | Anna Cockrell | United States | 53.91 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Lina Nielsen | Great Britain | 54.65 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Janieve Russell | Jamaica | 54.67 | Q |
| 4 | 9 | Hanne Claes | Belgium | 54.80 | q, SB |
| 5 | 5 | Nikoleta Jíchová | Czech Republic | 55.45 | |
| 6 | 3 | Grace Claxton | Puerto Rico | 56.29 | |
| 7 | 2 | Viivi Lehikoinen | Finland | 56.67 | |
| 8 | 6 | Lauren Hoffman | Philippines | 57.84 | |

#### Heat 5

Results of heat 5 in round 1 :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | United States | 53.60 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Noura Ennadi | Morocco | 55.26 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Louise Maraval | France | 55.32 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Yasmin Giger | Switzerland | 55.44 | |
| 5 | 2 | Alice Muraro | Italy | 55.62 | |
| 6 | 7 | Sarah Carli | Australia | 55.92 | |
| 7 | 8 | Line Kloster | Norway | 57.69 | |
| 8 | 9 | Viktoriya Tkachuk | Ukraine | 58.10 | SB |

### Repechage round

The repechage round was held on 5 August, starting at 10:50 (UTC+2) in the morning. Qualification rule: first 2 in each repechage heat (Q) advance to the semi-finals.

#### Heat 1

Results of heat 1 of the repechage round :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Ayomide Folorunso | Italy | 55.07 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Naomi Van den Broeck | Belgium | 55.11 (.107) | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Alanah Yukich | Australia | 55.11 (.107) | Q, PB |
| 4 | 6 | Grace Claxton | Puerto Rico | 55.94 | |
| 5 | 5 | Line Kloster | Norway | 56.73 | |
| 6 | 2 | Viivi Lehikoinen | Finland | 58.04 | |
| 7 | 8 | Viktoriya Tkachuk | Ukraine | 59.40 | |
* ↑ Since Van den Broeck and Yukich had the exact same time, both advanced to the semi-finals.

#### Heat 2

Results of heat 2 of the repechage round :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Jiadie Mo | China | 54.75 | Q, PB |
| 2 | 3 | Jessie Knight | Great Britain | 55.10 (.093) | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Gianna Woodruff | Panama | 55.10 (.098) | |
| 4 | 6 | Nikoleta Jíchová | Czech Republic | 55.31 | |
| 5 | 7 | Rebecca Sartori | Italy | 55.44 | |
| 6 | 4 | Carolina Krafzik | Germany | 56.02 | |
| 7 | 8 | Chayenne da Silva | Brazil | 56.56 | |

#### Heat 3

Results of heat 3 of the repechage round :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Shana Grebo | France | 54.91 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Anna Ryzhykova | Ukraine | 54.95 | Q, =SB |
| 3 | 2 | Linda Angounou | Cameroon | 55.09 | NR |
| 4 | 4 | Sarah Carli | Australia | 55.12 | |
| 5 | 3 | Yasmin Giger | Switzerland | 55.18 | |
| 6 | 6 | Alice Muraro | Italy | 55.48 | |
| 7 | 5 | Lauren Hoffman | Philippines | 58.28 | |

### Semi-finals

The semi-finals are scheduled to be held on 6 August, starting at 20:07 (UTC+2) in the evening. Qualification rule: First 2 in each heat (Q) and next 2 fastest (q) advance to final.

#### Heat 1

Results of heat 1 of the semi-finals :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Rushell Clayton | Jamaica | 53.00 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Jasmine Jones | United States | 53.83 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | Zenéy Geldenhuys | South Africa | 53.90 | PB |
| 4 | 3 | Shana Grebo | France | 54.84 | |
| 5 | 4 | Amalie Iuel | Norway | 54.88 | |
| 6 | 2 | Naomi Van den Broeck | Belgium | 54.94 | |
| 7 | 9 | Cathelijn Peeters | Netherlands | 55.20 | |
| 8 | 6 | Lina Nielsen | Great Britain | 1:31.22 | |

#### Heat 2

Results of heat 2 of the semi-finals :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | United States | 52.13 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Louise Maraval | France | 53.83 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Rogail Joseph | South Africa | 54.12 | PB |
| 4 | 6 | Janieve Russell | Jamaica | 54.65 | |
| 5 | 3 | Ayomide Folorunso | Italy | 54.92 | |
| 6 | 8 | Fatoumata Binta Diallo | Portugal | 54.93 | |
| 7 | 2 | Anna Ryzhykova | Ukraine | 55.65 | |
| 8 | 9 | Hanne Claes | Belgium | 55.96 | |

#### Heat 3

Results of heat 3 of the semi-finals :
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Femke Bol | Netherlands | 52.57 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Anna Cockrell | United States | 52.90 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Shiann Salmon | Jamaica | 53.13 | q, PB |
| 4 | 4 | Savannah Sutherland | Canada | 53.80 | q |
| 5 | 9 | Paulien Couckuyt | Belgium | 54.64 | SB |
| 6 | 3 | Jessie Knight | Great Britain | 54.90 | |
| 7 | 1 | Alanah Yukich | Australia | 55.49 | |
| 8 | 8 | Noura Ennadi | Morocco | 55.50 | |
| 9 | 2 | Jiadie Mo | China | 55.63 | |

### Final

The final is scheduled to be held on 8 August, starting at 21:25 (UTC+2) in the evening.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | United States | 50.37 | WR |
| | 7 | Anna Cockrell | United States | 51.87 | PB |
| | 6 | Femke Bol | Netherlands | 52.15 | |
| 4 | 9 | Jasmine Jones | United States | 52.29 | PB |
| 5 | 8 | Rushell Clayton | Jamaica | 52.68 | |
| 6 | 2 | Shiann Salmon | Jamaica | 53.29 | |
| 7 | 3 | Savannah Sutherland | Canada | 53.88 | |
| 8 | 4 | Louise Maraval | France | 54.53 | |