# 2012 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2012 European Athletics Championships was held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 27, 28 and 29 June.

## Medalists

| Gold | Rhys Williams Great Britain |
| Silver | Emir Bekrić Serbia |
| Bronze | Stanislav Melnykov Ukraine |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 2012 European Athletics Championships :
| World record | Kevin Young (USA) | 46.78 | Barcelona, Spain | 6 August 1992 |
| European record | Stéphane Diagana (FRA) | 47.37 | Lausanne, Switzerland | 5 July 1995 |
| Championship record | Harald Schmid (FRG) | 47.48 | Athens, Greece | 8 September 1982 |
| World Leading | Javier Culson (PUR) | 47.92 | Oslo, Norway | 7 June 2012 |
| European Leading | Dai Greene (GBR) | 48.96 | Rabat, Morocco | 27 May 2012 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 27 June 2012 | 10:50 | Round 1 |
| 28 June 2012 | 13:15 | Semifinals |
| 29 June 2012 | 22:05 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1

First 3 in each heat (Q) and 6 best performers (q) advance to the Semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| 1 | 2 | 7 | Michaël Bultheel | Belgium | 49.65 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | Adrien Clémenceau | France | 49.84 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Tobias Giehl | Germany | 49.98 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Nathan Woodward | Great Britain | 50.02 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 7 | Georg Fleischhauer | Germany | 50.22 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | Periklis Iakovakis | Greece | 50.25 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 4 | Aleksandr Derevyagin | Russia | 50.32 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 8 | Stanislav Melnykov | Ukraine | 50.33 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 7 | Rhys Williams | Great Britain | 50.40 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | 7 | Mikita Yakauleu | Belarus | 50.47 | Q, PB |
| 11 | 3 | 6 | Josef Prorok | Czech Republic | 50.57 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 3 | Václav Barák | Czech Republic | 50.58 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 5 | Thomas Barr | Ireland | 50.59 | Q, SB |
| 14 | 3 | 2 | Rasmus Mägi | Estonia | 50.61 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 8 | Emir Bekrić | Serbia | 50.73 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 4 | Jorge Paula | Portugal | 50.74 | Q, SB |
| 17 | 5 | 6 | Diego Cabello | Spain | 50.89 | Q |
| 18 | 2 | 3 | Michal Brož | Czech Republic | 50.91 | q, PB |
| 19 | 1 | 4 | Vladimir Antmanis | Russia | 50.92 | q |
| 20 | 6 | 8 | Kariem Hussein | Switzerland | 50.94 | Q |
| 21 | 5 | 5 | Marek Plawgo | Poland | 50.96 | q |
| 22 | 3 | 7 | Spirídon Papadópoulos | Greece | 51.01 | q |
| 23 | 6 | 2 | Silvestras Guogis | Lithuania | 51.25 | q |
| 24 | 4 | 6 | Javier Sagredo | Spain | 51.37 | q |
| 25 | 1 | 6 | Martin Kučera | Slovakia | 51.50 | |
| 26 | 3 | 8 | Jacques Frisch | Luxembourg | 51.59 | |
| 26 | 5 | 7 | Oskari Mörö | Finland | 51.59 | SB |
| 28 | 3 | 3 | Petteri Monni | Finland | 51.73 | |
| 29 | 6 | 5 | Jason Harvey | Ireland | 51.83 | |
| 30 | 6 | 4 | Denys Teslenko | Ukraine | 51.92 | |
| 31 | 1 | 8 | Attila Nagy | Romania | 52.04 | |
| 32 | 4 | 3 | Richard Yates | Great Britain | 52.12 | |
| 33 | 1 | 2 | Juan Enrique Valles | Spain | 52.43 | |
| 34 | 2 | 5 | Tuncay Örs | Turkey | 52.63 | |
| 35 | 4 | 4 | Jussi Heikkilä | Finland | 52.95 | |
| 36 | 3 | 4 | Ricardo Lima | Portugal | 53.00 | |
| 37 | 5 | 2 | Tibor Koroknai | Hungary | 53.22 | |
| | 2 | 2 | João Ferreira | Portugal | DNF | |
| | 4 | 2 | Øyvind Kjerpeset | Norway | DNF | |
| | 2 | 6 | Brent LaRue | Slovenia | DQ | |
| | 5 | 3 | José Reynaldo Bencosme de Leon | Italy | DQ | |
| | 6 | 6 | David Gollnow | Germany | DQ | |

### Semifinals

First 2 in each heat (Q) and 2 best performers (q) advance to the Semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| 1 | 1 | 8 | Emir Bekrić | Serbia | 49.37 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Georg Fleischhauer | Germany | 49.52 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 1 | 7 | Rasmus Mägi | Estonia | 49.54 | q, NR |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | Rhys Williams | Great Britain | 49.63 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 6 | Nathan Woodward | Great Britain | 49.68 | q |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Stanislav Melnykov | Ukraine | 49.72 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | Adrien Clémenceau | France | 49.80 | Q, SB |
| 8 | 2 | 5 | Periklis Iakovakis | Greece | 49.83 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Tobias Giehl | Germany | 49.95 | |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Michaël Bultheel | Belgium | 49.98 | |
| 11 | 2 | 7 | Mikita Yakauleu | Belarus | 50.02 | PB |
| 11 | 3 | 7 | Aleksandr Derevyagin | Russia | 50.02 | SB |
| 13 | 1 | 5 | Thomas Barr | Ireland | 50.22 | SB |
| 14 | 2 | 2 | Vladimir Antmanis | Russia | 50.25 | |
| 15 | 2 | 4 | Václav Barák | Czech Republic | 50.33 | |
| 16 | 2 | 8 | Diego Cabello | Spain | 50.52 | |
| 17 | 3 | 5 | Jorge Paula | Portugal | 50.58 | SB |
| 18 | 1 | 2 | Marek Plawgo | Poland | 50.77 | |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | Kariem Hussein | Switzerland | 50.81 | PB |
| 20 | 2 | 1 | Silvestras Guogis | Lithuania | 51.15 | SB |
| 21 | 3 | 1 | Michal Brož | Czech Republic | 51.35 | |
| 22 | 3 | 2 | Javier Sagredo | Spain | 51.66 | |
| 23 | 1 | 1 | Spirídon Papadópoulos | Greece | 51.89 | |
| | 1 | 3 | Josef Prorok | Czech Republic | DQ | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| | 5 | Rhys Williams | Great Britain | 49.33 | SB |
| | 6 | Emir Bekrić | Serbia | 49.49 | |
| | 4 | Stanislav Melnykov | Ukraine | 49.69 | |
| 4 | 7 | Adrien Clémenceau | France | 49.70 | PB |
| 5 | 1 | Rasmus Mägi | Estonia | 50.01 | |
| 6 | 3 | Georg Fleischhauer | Germany | 50.11 | |
| 7 | 2 | Nathan Woodward | Great Britain | 50.20 | |
| 8 | 8 | Periklis Iakovakis | Greece | 50.57 | |