# Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place between 26 and 28 July at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Michael Blackwood won the gold medal with a time of 45.07 seconds giving Jamaica its second victory in the event after Bert Cameron claimed the title in 1982. Canadian Shane Niemi placed second, taking the silver medal in 45.09. He finished ahead of world champion Avard Moncur of the Bahamas who won the bronze.
This was the ninth running of the 400 metres event at the Commonwealth Games after converting to metric at the 1970 Edinburgh Games. A 440 yard event was contested between 1930 and 1966. 48 competitors from 26 nations entered the event. The 1999 world indoor champion Jamie Baulch withdrew from the event as he had failed to recover from a hamstring injury. His Welsh team mate and defending champion Iwan Thomas also chose not to contest the event. However, both men were part of the quartet who won silver the 4 × 400 metres relay held later in the meet. Mark Richardson, the silver medallist from Kuala Lumpur, withdrew from the Games in June due to an achilles injury. Sri Lankan Sugath Thilakaratne, who won the bronze four year prior, narrowly missed reaching the final, finishing sixth in the second semi final. The other notable absentee was Greg Haughton, the Olympic and world bronze medallist who missed the Games over a dispute with the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing records were as follows:
Records before the 2002 Commonwealth Games :
| Record | Time (s) | Athlete (nation) | Meet | Location | Date |
| World record | 43.18 | Michael Johnson (USA) | World Championships | Seville, Spain | 29 August 1996 |
| Commonwealth record | 44.17 | Innocent Egbunike (NGR) | Weltklasse Zürich | Zurich, Switzerland | 19 August 1987 |
| Games record | 44.52 | Iwan Thomas (WAL) | Commonwealth Games | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 18 September 1998 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were held on 26 July, starting at 13:26 in the afternoon.
Qualification Rules: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the best 4 of remaining athletes (q) advance to the quarter finals.

#### Heat 1

Results of heat 1 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Avard Moncur | Bahamas | 45.72 | Q |
| 2 | Marcus la Grange | South Africa | 45.95 | Q |
| 3 | Sean Baldock | England | 46.02 | Q |
| 4 | Clinton Hill | Australia | 46.11 | Q |
| 5 | Fidelis Gadzama | Nigeria | 46.37 | q, SB |
| 6 | Quincy Anthony | Antigua and Barbuda | 46.76 | q |
| | Nabi Wallace | Dominica | DQ | |

#### Heat 2

Results of heat 2 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alleyne Francique | Grenada | 46.36 | Q |
| 2 | Jared Deacon | England | 46.52 | Q |
| 3 | Wilan Louis | Barbados | 46.69 | Q |
| 4 | Enefiok Udo-Obong | Nigeria | 46.77 | Q |
| 5 | Lulu Basinyi | Botswana | 47.62 | q |
| 6 | Micha Charles | Dominica | 50.44 | |
| 7 | Reonardo Harvey | Turks and Caicos Islands | 50.76 | NR |

#### Heat 3

Results of heat 3 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Blackwood | Jamaica | 46.68 | Q |
| 2 | Sugath Thilakaratne | Sri Lanka | 46.80 | Q |
| 3 | Tim Benjamin | Wales | 46.89 | Q |
| 4 | Paul McKee | Northern Ireland | 47.02 | Q |
| 5 | Lupo Kumitau | Niue | 59.38 | |
| | Timothy Munnings | Bahamas | DQ | |
| | Musa Audu | Nigeria | DQ | |

#### Heat 4

Results of heat 4 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chris Brown | Bahamas | 46.39 | Q |
| 2 | Pete Coley | Jamaica | 46.45 | Q |
| 3 | Damian Barry | Trinidad and Tobago | 46.59 | Q |
| 4 | Chris Lloyd | Dominica | 46.90 | Q |
| 5 | Sahr Thomas | Sierra Leone | 48.36 | q, SB |
| 6 | Kevin Arthurton | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 48.48 | |
| | Clement Abai | Papua New Guinea | DNS | |

#### Heat 5

Results of heat 5 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Daniel Caines | England | 47.37 | Q |
| 2 | Shane Niemi | Canada | 47.87 | Q |
| 3 | Jeffrey Masvanhise | Zimbabwe | 48.04 | Q |
| 4 | Fernando Augustin | Mauritius | 48.12 | Q |
| 5 | Evans Marie | Seychelles | 49.01 | |
| 6 | Jeffrey Bai | Papua New Guinea | 50.45 | |

#### Heat 6

Results of heat 6 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sanjay Ayre | Jamaica | 46.82 | Q |
| 2 | Johnson Kubisa | Botswana | 46.84 | Q |
| 3 | Young Talkmore Nyongani | Zimbabwe | 46.96 | Q |
| 4 | Simon Pierre | Trinidad and Tobago | 47.72 | Q |
| 5 | Moses Kamut | Vanuatu | 49.57 | |
| | John Fuller | Sierra Leone | DQ | |
| | Jamie Baulch | Wales | DNS | |

#### Heat 7

Results of heat 7 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Eric Milazar | Mauritius | 47.31 | Q |
| 2 | Rohan Pradeep Kumara | Sri Lanka | 47.70 | Q |
| 3 | California Molefe | Botswana | 48.39 | Q |
| 4 | Mowen Boino | Papua New Guinea | 48.97 | Q |
| | Lewis Banda | Zimbabwe | DQ | |
| | Frank Turay | Sierra Leone | DNS | |
| | Sylvester Chishiba | Zambia | DNS | |

### Quarter finals

The quarter finals were held on 26 July, starting at 19:12 in the evening.
Qualification: First 4 of each heat qualified directly (Q) for the semi finals.

#### Quarter final 1

Results of quarter final 1 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Eric Milazar | Mauritius | 46.02 | Q |
| 2 | Michael Blackwood | Jamaica | 46.07 | Q |
| 3 | Clinton Hill | Australia | 46.28 | Q |
| 4 | Johnson Kubisa | Botswana | 46.70 | Q |
| 5 | Fidelis Gadzama | Nigeria | 47.05 | |
| 6 | Rohan Pradeep Kumara | Sri Lanka | 47.14 | |
| 7 | Jeffrey Masvanhise | Zimbabwe | 47.50 | |
| 8 | Mowen Boino | Papua New Guinea | 48.74 | |

#### Quarter final 2

Results of quarter final 2 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Shane Niemi | Canada | 46.49 | Q |
| 2 | Sanjay Ayre | Jamaica | 46.49 | Q |
| 3 | Jared Deacon | England | 46.66 | Q |
| 4 | Chris Brown | Bahamas | 46.71 | Q |
| 5 | California Molefe | Botswana | 46.74 | |
| 6 | Young Talkmore Nyongani | Zimbabwe | 47.14 | |
| 7 | Quincy Anthony | Antigua and Barbuda | 47.61 | |
| | Simon Pierre | Trinidad and Tobago | DNF | |

#### Quarter final 3

Results of quarter final 3 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Avard Moncur | Bahamas | 46.11 | Q |
| 2 | Marcus la Grange | South Africa | 46.19 | Q |
| 3 | Sean Baldock | England | 46.26 | Q |
| 4 | Paul McKee | Northern Ireland | 46.47 | Q |
| 5 | Wilan Louis | Barbados | 46.60 | |
| 6 | Pete Coley | Jamaica | 47.03 | |
| 7 | Chris Lloyd | Dominica | 47.91 | |
| 8 | Sahr Thomas | Sierra Leone | 49.60 | |

#### Quarter final 4

Results of quarter final 4 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alleyne Francique | Grenada | 45.93 | Q |
| 2 | Daniel Caines | England | 46.11 | Q |
| 3 | Sugath Thilakaratne | Sri Lanka | 46.48 | Q |
| 4 | Tim Benjamin | Wales | 46.54 | Q |
| 5 | Fernando Augustin | Mauritius | 47.06 | |
| 6 | Lulu Basinyi | Botswana | 47.93 | |
| | Damian Barry | Trinidad and Tobago | DNF | |
| | Enefiok Udo-Obong | Nigeria | DNF | |

### Semi finals

The semi finals were held on 27 July, starting at 20:04 in the evening.
Qualification: First 4 of each heat qualified directly (Q) for the final.

#### Semi final 1

Results of semi final 1 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Alleyne Francique | Grenada | 45.06 | Q |
| 2 | Shane Niemi | Canada | 45.08 | Q, SB |
| 3 | Chris Brown | Bahamas | 45.11 | Q, SB |
| 4 | Michael Blackwood | Jamaica | 45.12 | Q |
| 5 | Marcus la Grange | South Africa | 45.51 | |
| 6 | Sean Baldock | England | 45.71 | SB |
| 7 | Paul McKee | Northern Ireland | 45.91 | |
| 8 | Jared Deacon | England | 46.07 | |

#### Semi final 2

Results of semi final 2 :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Daniel Caines | England | 44.98 | Q, PB |
| 2 | Eric Milazar | Mauritius | 45.04 | Q, SB |
| 3 | Avard Moncur | Bahamas | 45.30 | Q |
| 4 | Clinton Hill | Australia | 45.41 | Q, PB |
| 5 | Sanjay Ayre | Jamaica | 45.43 | |
| 6 | Sugath Thilakaratne | Sri Lanka | 45.79 | |
| 7 | Tim Benjamin | Wales | 45.89 | |
| 8 | Johnson Kubisa | Botswana | 46.28 | |

### Final

The final was held at 21:00 on 28 July.
Results of the final :
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Michael Blackwood | Jamaica | 45.07 |
| | Shane Niemi | Canada | 45.09 |
| | Avard Moncur | Bahamas | 45.12 |
| 4 | Daniel Caines | England | 45.13 |
| 5 | Alleyne Francique | Grenada | 45.47 |
| 6 | Eric Milazar | Mauritius | 45.64 |
| 7 | Chris Brown | Bahamas | 45.67 |
| 8 | Clinton Hill | Australia | 46.00 |