# Athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1997 Summer Universiade was held on 26, 27 and 28 August at the Stadio Cibali in Catania, Italy.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Llewellyn Herbert South Africa | Ruslan Mashchenko Russia | Mubarak Al-Nubi Qatar |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Ruslan Mashchenko | Russia | 49.15 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Vadim Zadoynov | Moldova | 49.66 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Kenneth Enyiazu | Nigeria | 49.80 | Q, PB |
| 4 | 3 | Mubarak Al-Nubi | Qatar | 49.89 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Octavius Terry | United States | 49.94 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Laurent Ottoz | Italy | 50.00 | q |
| 7 | 3 | Rohan Robinson | Australia | 50.04 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | Hideaki Kawamura | Japan | 50.15 | q |
| 8 | 5 | Jimmy Coco | France | 50.15 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Joey Woody | United States | 50.27 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | Llewellyn Herbert | South Africa | 50.30 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | Marcel Schelbert | Switzerland | 50.34 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | Dusán Kovács | Hungary | 50.37 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | Jiří Mužík | Czech Republic | 50.48 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | Lukáš Souček | Czech Republic | 50.57 | q |
| 16 | 1 | Paweł Januszewski | Poland | 50.62 | q |
| 17 | 2 | Carlos Silva | Portugal | 50.93 | |
| 18 | 3 | Nabil Selmi | Algeria | 50.94 | |
| 18 | 5 | Ian Weakley | Jamaica | 50.94 | |
| 20 | 6 | Bartosz Gruman | Poland | 51.04 | |
| 21 | 2 | Paolo Bellino | Italy | 51.24 | |
| 22 | 1 | Mario Toerien | South Africa | 51.36 | |
| 22 | 6 | Darko Juričić | Croatia | 51.36 | |
| 24 | 3 | Adrian Melliger | Switzerland | 51.40 | |
| 25 | 2 | Chris Rawlinson | Great Britain | 51.41 | |
| 26 | 2 | Alexandre Marchand | Canada | 51.59 | |
| 27 | 4 | Olivier Jean-Theodore | France | 51.62 | |
| 28 | 1 | Carlos Zbinden | Chile | 51.75 | |
| 29 | 1 | Philip Feingold | Israel | 52.53 | |
| 30 | 4 | Laurier Primeau | Canada | 52.56 | |
| 31 | 5 | Alberto Carlos González | Spain | 52.69 | |
| 32 | 3 | Kehinde Aladefa | Nigeria | 53.48 | |
| 33 | 4 | Mark Edmond | New Zealand | 53.79 | |
| 34 | 1 | Matthew Beckenham | Australia | 53.83 | |
| 35 | 2 | Bilal Cantürk | Turkey | 54.64 | |
| 36 | 3 | Nidal Shelbaya | Jordan | 57.18 | |
| 37 | 2 | Tung Chung Man | Hong Kong | 58.71 | |
| | 1 | Henrik Vincentsen | Denmark | DQ | |
| | 3 | Siniša Peša | Yugoslavia | DQ | |
| | 4 | Sergej Šalamon | Slovenia | DQ | |
| | 5 | Vladislav Shiryayev | Russia | DQ | |
| | 5 | Marcel Lopuchovský | Slovakia | DQ | |
| | 6 | Cleverson da Silva | Brazil | DQ | |
| | 6 | Georgios Afanais | Cyprus | DQ | |
| | 6 | Willie Smith | Namibia | DNF | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Llewellyn Herbert | South Africa | 48.73 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Ruslan Mashchenko | Russia | 49.07 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Mubarak Al-Nubi | Qatar | 49.22 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Vadim Zadoynov | Moldova | 49.28 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Marcel Schelbert | Switzerland | 49.33 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 1 | Joey Woody | United States | 49.36 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Jiří Mužík | Czech Republic | 49.36 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Dusán Kovács | Hungary | 49.40 | |
| 9 | 2 | Rohan Robinson | Australia | 49.44 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | Jimmy Coco | France | 49.46 | |
| 11 | 2 | Laurent Ottoz | Italy | 49.51 | |
| 12 | 2 | Paweł Januszewski | Poland | 49.69 | |
| 13 | 1 | Lukáš Souček | Czech Republic | 50.11 | |
| 14 | 1 | Hideaki Kawamura | Japan | 50.45 | |
| 15 | 1 | Kenneth Enyiazu | Nigeria | 51.13 | |
| | 2 | Octavius Terry | United States | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Llewellyn Herbert | South Africa | 48.89 |
| | Ruslan Mashchenko | Russia | 49.36 |
| | Mubarak Al-Nubi | Qatar | 49.48 |
| 4 | Jiří Mužík | Czech Republic | 49.63 |
| 5 | Joey Woody | United States | 49.94 |
| 6 | Vadim Zadoynov | Moldova | 50.02 |
| 7 | Marcel Schelbert | Switzerland | 51.62 |
| 8 | Rohan Robinson | Australia | 52.89 |