# 1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.
The winning margin was 0.63 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 400 metres has been won by more than 0.6 seconds at these championships since the introduction of fully automatic timing, although the winning margin in the 1938 European Athletics Championships was a hand-timed 0.8 seconds.

## Medalists

| Gold | Karl Honz West Germany |
| Silver | David Jenkins Great Britain |
| Bronze | Bernd Herrmann West Germany |

## Results
### Final

4 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Karl Honz | West Germany | 45.04 | CR |
| | David Jenkins | Great Britain | 45.67 | |
| | Bernd Herrmann | West Germany | 45.78 | |
| 4 | Markku Kukkoaho | Finland | 45.84 | |
| 5 | Ossi Karttunen | Finland | 45.87 | |
| 6 | Michael Fredriksson | Sweden | 46.12 | |
| 7 | Erik Carlgren | Sweden | 46.15 | |
| 8 | Francis Demarthon | France | 46.90 | |

### Semi-finals

3 September

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Karl Honz | West Germany | 46.24 | Q |
| 2 | Francis Demarthon | France | 46.28 | Q |
| 3 | Markku Kukkoaho | Finland | 46.29 | Q |
| 4 | Erik Carlgren | Sweden | 46.51 | Q |
| 5 | Jürgen Utikal | East Germany | 46.62 | |
| 6 | Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske | West Germany | 46.64 | |
| 7 | Per-Olof Sjöberg | Sweden | 46.68 | |
| 8 | Roger Jenkins | Great Britain | 47.30 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | David Jenkins | Great Britain | 45.93 | Q |
| 2 | Ossi Karttunen | Finland | 46.36 | Q |
| 3 | Michael Fredriksson | Sweden | 46.39 | Q |
| 4 | Bernd Herrmann | West Germany | 46.40 | Q |
| 5 | Alfons Brijdenbach | Belgium | 46.43 | |
| 6 | Milorad Čikić | Yugoslavia | 47.04 | |
| 7 | Andreas Scheibe | East Germany | 47.24 | |
| 8 | Toine van den Goolberg | Netherlands | 47.40 | |

### Heats

2 September

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske | West Germany | 45.92 | Q |
| 2 | Alfons Brijdenbach | Belgium | 46.00 | Q |
| 3 | Francis Demarthon | France | 46.11 | Q |
| 4 | Andreas Scheibe | East Germany | 46.38 | Q |
| 5 | Per-Olof Sjöberg | Sweden | 46.63 | q |
| 6 | Roger Jenkins | Great Britain | 46.78 | q |
| 7 | Roman Siedlecki | Poland | 47.35 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bernd Herrmann | West Germany | 46.30 | Q |
| 2 | Markku Kukkoaho | Finland | 46.38 | Q |
| 3 | Jürgen Utikal | East Germany | 46.44 | Q |
| 4 | Toine van den Goolberg | Netherlands | 46.46 | Q |
| 5 | Milorad Čikić | Yugoslavia | 46.68 | q |
| 6 | Michael Fredriksson | Sweden | 47.01 | q |
| 7 | Stephen Marlow | Great Britain | 48.71 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ossi Karttunen | Finland | 46.50 | Q |
| 2 | David Jenkins | Great Britain | 46.60 | Q |
| 3 | Erik Carlgren | Sweden | 46.97 | Q |
| 4 | Karl Honz | West Germany | 46.98 | Q |
| 5 | Josip Alebić | Yugoslavia | 47.41 | |
| 6 | Pasqualino Abeti | Italy | 47.80 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 11 countries participated in the event.
* Belgium (1)
* East Germany (2)
* Finland (2)
* France (1)
* Italy (1)
* Netherlands (1)
* Poland (1)
* Sweden (3)
* Great Britain (3)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (2)