# Athletics at the 1987 Summer Universiade – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1987 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb on 13, 14 and 15 July 1987.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Michael Franks United States | Moses Ugbusien Nigeria | Raymond Pierre United States |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Moses Ugbisien | Nigeria | 45.98 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Raymond Pierre | United States | 46.59 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Howard Burnett | Jamaica | 46.65 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Ismail Mačev | Yugoslavia | 46.77 | q |
| 5 | 2 | Antonio Sánchez | Spain | 46.78 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Michael Franks | United States | 46.80 | Q |
| 6 | 9 | Vladimir Prosin | Soviet Union | 46.80 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Slobodan Branković | Yugoslavia | 46.92 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | Carlos Morales | Chile | 46.96 | q |
| 10 | 3 | Andre Smith | Canada | 47.19 | Q |
| 11 | 9 | Joseph Falaye | Nigeria | 47.21 | Q |
| 12 | 7 | Andrea Montanari | Italy | 47.41 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | Anatole Zongo Kuyo | Ivory Coast | 47.54 | Q |
| 14 | 1 | Marcello Pantone | Italy | 47.56 | q |
| 15 | 8 | Ervin Katona | Hungary | 47.59 | Q |
| 16 | 6 | António Abrantes | Portugal | 47.65 | Q |
| 17 | 7 | Manuel González | Spain | 47.89 | Q |
| 18 | 5 | Sylvain Lake | Canada | 48.08 | Q |
| 19 | 1 | Domingo Cordero | Puerto Rico | 48.18 | q |
| 20 | 6 | Donald Porter | Jamaica | 48.30 | q |
| 21 | 1 | Moisés del Castillo | Peru | 48.58 | |
| 22 | 5 | Jonathan Njau | Tanzania | 48.60 | |
| 23 | 5 | Irving Gil | Panama | 48.68 | |
| 24 | 9 | Pedro Curvelo | Portugal | 48.85 | |
| 25 | 1 | David Ince | Barbados | 48.92 | |
| 26 | 6 | Melvin Morales | Puerto Rico | 48.99 | |
| 27 | 2 | Muhammad Fayyaz | Pakistan | 49.09 | |
| 27 | 5 | Alejandro Krauss | Chile | 49.09 | |
| 29 | 7 | Faustino Kiwa | Uganda | 49.38 | |
| 30 | 3 | Fikret Tulumtaş | Turkey | 49.56 | |
| 31 | 4 | Marek Sira | Poland | 49.59 | Q |
| 32 | 7 | Alberto Izu | Peru | 49.81 | |
| 33 | 4 | Omar Abdulkadir Arale | Somalia | 49.83 | Q |
| 34 | 2 | Andrew Scully | Malaysia | 49.97 | |
| 35 | 8 | Charalambos Papadopoulos | Cyprus | 50.18 | Q |
| 36 | 3 | Sekou Diakite | Guinea | 50.69 | |
| 37 | 2 | Clement Taipala | Papua New Guinea | 50.92 | |
| 38 | 3 | Naderi Mirwais | Afghanistan | 50.93 | |
| 39 | 4 | Ekoue Ekoue-Totou | Togo | 51.53 | |
| 40 | 5 | Manuel Youness | Lebanon | 51.94 | |
| 41 | 5 | Chung Man Biu | Hong Kong | 52.28 | |
| 42 | 7 | Lee Ka Kit | Hong Kong | 53.59 | |
| 43 | 8 | Maher Abou Hajleh | Jordan | 53.63 | |
| 44 | 3 | Soliman Ismailalazhari | Sudan | 54.31 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Michael Franks | United States | 45.56 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Vladimir Prosin | Soviet Union | 45.63 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Raymond Pierre | United States | 45.71 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Antonio Sánchez | Spain | 45.99 | q |
| 5 | 2 | Howard Burnett | Jamaica | 46.15 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Moses Ugbisien | Nigeria | 46.18 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Andre Smith | Canada | 46.38 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | Ismail Mačev | Yugoslavia | 46.44 | q |
| 9 | 3 | Marek Sira | Poland | 46.59 | |
| 10 | 2 | Slobodan Branković | Yugoslavia | 46.73 | |
| 11 | 1 | Andrea Montanari | Italy | 47.17 | |
| 12 | 2 | Marcello Pantone | Italy | 47.23 | |
| 13 | 2 | Joseph Falaye | Nigeria | 47.27 | |
| 14 | 1 | Carlos Morales | Chile | 47.45 | |
| 15 | 2 | António Abrantes | Portugal | 47.53 | |
| 16 | 3 | Ervin Katona | Hungary | 47.61 | |
| 17 | 1 | Donald Porter | Jamaica | 47.83 | |
| 18 | 3 | Manuel González | Spain | 47.84 | |
| 19 | 1 | Anatole Zongo Kuyo | Ivory Coast | 47.87 | |
| 20 | 1 | Moisés del Castillo | Peru | 48.04 | |
| 21 | 3 | Sylvain Lake | Canada | 48.15 | |
| 22 | 2 | Charalambos Papadopoulos | Cyprus | 49.87 | |
| 23 | 2 | Omar Abdulkadir Arale | Somalia | 50.06 | |
| | 3 | Domingo Cordero | Puerto Rico | ? | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | 3 | Michael Franks | United States | 45.33 |
| | 2 | Moses Ugbisien | Nigeria | 45.37 |
| | 6 | Raymond Pierre | United States | 45.67 |
| 4 | 5 | Antonio Sánchez | Spain | 45.82 |
| 5 | 4 | Vladimir Prosin | Soviet Union | 45.91 |
| 6 | 7 | Ismail Mačev | Yugoslavia | 46.17 |
| 7 | 8 | Andre Smith | Canada | 46.30 |
| 8 | 1 | Howard Burnett | Jamaica | 47.32 |