# 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on 5, 6, and 8 August. The winning margin was 0.43 seconds.

## Summary

Isaac Makwala (Botswana) had qualified for the final, but was barred from competing as he was under quarantine due to the norovirus outbreak in one of the athletes' hotels. Steven Gardiner (Bahamas) started fastest, with Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa) equal to him by about 200 metres, and going on to build a lead through the final turn. Van Niekerk had time to slow down, winning comfortably ahead of Gardiner, with Abdalelah Haroun (Qatar) finishing quickly from dead last off the turn to claim bronze.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date | Location |
| World | 43.03 | Wayde van Niekerk | RSA | 14 Aug 2016 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Championship | 43.18 | Michael Johnson | USA | 26 Aug 1999 | Sevilla, Spain |
| World leading | 43.62 | Wayde van Niekerk | RSA | 6 Jul 2017 | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| African | 43.03 | Wayde van Niekerk | RSA | 14 Aug 2016 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Asian | 43.93 | Yousef Masrahi | KSA | 23 Aug 2015 | Beijing, China |
| NACAC | 43.18 | Michael Johnson | USA | 26 Aug 1999 | Seville, Spain |
| South American | 44.29 | Sanderlei Parrela | BRA | 26 Aug 1999 | Seville, Spain |
| European | 44.33 | Thomas Schönlebe | GDR | 3 Sep 1987 | Rome, Italy |
| Oceanian | 44.38 | Darren Clark | AUS | 26 Sep 1988 | Seoul, South Korea |
The following records were set at the competition:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date |
| Bahamian | 43.89 | Steven Gardiner | BAH | 6 Aug 2017 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 45.50.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 5 August | 10:45 | Heats |
| 6 August | 19:40 | Semifinals |
| 8 August | 21:50 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first round took place on 5 August in six heats as follows:
| Heat | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Start time | 10:45 | 10:53 | 11:02 | 11:11 | 11:21 | 11:29 |
| Photo finish | link | link | link | link | link | link |
The first three in each heat ( Q ) and the next six fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 6 | Isaac Makwala | Botswana (BOT) | 44.55 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 7 | Steven Gardiner | Bahamas (BAH) | 44.75 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | Baboloki Thebe | Botswana (BOT) | 44.82 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | Nathon Allen | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.91 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 7 | Fred Kerley | United States (USA) | 44.92 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 3 | Gil Roberts | United States (USA) | 44.92 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 8 | Demish Gaye | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.92 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 9 | LaShawn Merritt | United States (USA) | 45.00 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 8 | Lalonde Gordon | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.02 | Q, SB |
| 10 | 5 | 2 | Jamal Walton | Cayman Islands (CAY) | 45.05 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | 6 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.09 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | 9 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 45.10 | q, SB |
| 13 | 4 | 5 | Wilbert London | United States (USA) | 45.10 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 5 | Óscar Husillos | Spain (ESP) | 45.22 | q, PB |
| 15 | 6 | 9 | Abdalelah Haroun | Qatar (QAT) | 45.27 | Q |
| 16 | 2 | 5 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 45.27 | Q |
| 17 | 1 | 5 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.31 | q |
| 18 | 4 | 4 | Brian Gregan | Ireland (IRL) | 45.37 | Q |
| 19 | 3 | 3 | Dwayne Cowan | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.39 | Q |
| 20 | 3 | 7 | Boniface Ontuga Mweresa | Kenya (KEN) | 45.58 | q |
| 21 | 3 | 9 | Rafał Omelko | Poland (POL) | 45.69 | q |
| 22 | 4 | 9 | Jonathan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.70 | q |
| 23 | 2 | 2 | Davide Re | Italy (ITA) | 45.71 | Q |
| 24 | 4 | 8 | Luguelín Santos | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 45.73 | |
| 25 | 5 | 3 | Raymond Kibet | Kenya (KEN) | 45.75 | |
| 26 | 5 | 8 | Martyn Rooney | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.75 | |
| 27 | 2 | 3 | Machel Cedenio | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.77 | Q |
| 28 | 1 | 4 | Lucas Carvalho | Brazil (BRA) | 45.86 | |
| 29 | 4 | 3 | Mamoudou Hanne | France (FRA) | 45.89 | |
| 30 | 2 | 4 | Teddy Atine-Venel | France (FRA) | 45.90 | |
| 31 | 2 | 6 | Yoandys Lescay | Cuba (CUB) | 45.93 | |
| 32 | 5 | 7 | Renny Quow | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.95 | |
| 33 | 6 | 4 | Mohammad Anas | India (IND) | 45.98 | |
| 34 | 1 | 3 | Lucas Búa | Spain (ESP) | 46.00 | |
| 35 | 5 | 1 | Winston George | Guyana (GUY) | 46.02 | |
| 36 | 2 | 1 | Luka Janežič | Slovenia (SLO) | 46.06 | |
| 37 | 1 | 2 | Collins Omae Gichana | Kenya (KEN) | 46.10 | |
| 38 | 2 | 9 | Steven Solomon | Australia (AUS) | 46.27 | |
| 39 | 3 | 4 | Samuel García | Spain (ESP) | 46.37 | |
| 40 | 3 | 2 | Pieter Conradie | South Africa (RSA) | 46.62 | |
| 41 | 6 | 5 | Samson Oghenewegba Nathaniel | Nigeria (NGR) | 46.63 | |
| 42 | 3 | 1 | Warren Hazel | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 46.96 | |
| 43 | 2 | 7 | Kimorie Shearman | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN) | 47.05 | |
| 44 | 4 | 2 | Yilmar Herrera | Colombia (COL) | 47.18 | |
| 45 | 6 | 8 | Takamasa Kitagawa | Japan (JPN) | 47.35 | |
| 46 | 6 | 7 | Karabo Sibanda | Botswana (BOT) | 47.44 | |
| 47 | 1 | 1 | Bachir Mahamat | Chad (CHA) | 47.50 | |
| 48 | 5 | 4 | Sailosi Tubuilagi | Fiji (FIJ) | 48.98 | |
| 49 | 3 | 5 | Narek Ghukasyan | Armenia (ARM) | 49.70 | SB |
| | 2 | 8 | Nery Brenes | Costa Rica (CRC) | DQ | R 163.3(a) |
| | 4 | 6 | Steven Gayle | Jamaica (JAM) | DQ | R 163.3(a) |
| | 6 | 2 | Emmanuel Dasor | Ghana (GHA) | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals took place on 6 August in three heats as follows:
| Heat | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Start time | 19:40 | 19:45 | 19:56 |
| Photo finish | link | link | link |
The first two in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 5 | Steven Gardiner | Bahamas (BAH) | 43.89 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 1 | 6 | Nathon Allen | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.19 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 2 | 6 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 44.22 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Isaac Makwala | Botswana (BOT) | 44.30 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | Baboloki Thebe | Botswana (BOT) | 44.33 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 7 | Fred Kerley | United States (USA) | 44.51 | q |
| 7 | 3 | 6 | Demish Gaye | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.55 | Q, PB |
| 8 | 2 | 9 | Abdalelah Haroun | Qatar (QAT) | 44.64 | q, SB |
| 9 | 2 | 2 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.74 | SB |
| 10 | 3 | 7 | Gil Roberts | United States (USA) | 44.84 | |
| 11 | 1 | 9 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.10 | |
| 12 | 1 | 4 | Wilbert London | United States (USA) | 45.12 | |
| 13 | 3 | 9 | Jamal Walton | Cayman Islands (CAY) | 45.16 | |
| 14 | 1 | 3 | Óscar Husillos | Spain (ESP) | 45.16 | PB |
| 15 | 2 | 4 | Lalonde Gordon | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.20 | |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Jonathan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.23 | |
| 17 | 3 | 2 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 45.24 | |
| 18 | 1 | 2 | Rafał Omelko | Poland (POL) | 45.37 | |
| 19 | 2 | 8 | Brian Gregan | Ireland (IRL) | 45.42 | |
| 20 | 2 | 7 | LaShawn Merritt | United States (USA) | 45.52 | |
| 21 | 3 | 8 | Machel Cedenio | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.91 | |
| 22 | 2 | 3 | Boniface Ontuga Mweresa | Kenya (KEN) | 45.93 | |
| 23 | 3 | 4 | Davide Re | Italy (ITA) | 45.95 | |
| 24 | 1 | 8 | Dwayne Cowan | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.96 | |

### Final

The final took place on 8 August at 21:54. The results were as follows (photo finish):
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 43.98 | |
| | 4 | Steven Gardiner | Bahamas (BAH) | 44.41 | |
| | 3 | Abdalelah Haroun | Qatar (QAT) | 44.48 | SB |
| 4 | 9 | Baboloki Thebe | Botswana (BOT) | 44.66 | |
| 5 | 5 | Nathon Allen | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.88 | |
| 6 | 8 | Demish Gaye | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.04 | |
| 7 | 2 | Fred Kerley | United States (USA) | 45.23 | |
| | 7 | Isaac Makwala | Botswana (BOT) | DNS | |