# 2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22, 23 and 25 August.

## Summary

While Kenya has dominated the longest hurdle race, the 3000 metres steeplechase since the 1968 Olympics, and John Akii-Bua from neighboring Uganda hinted at what might be the capability of East African athletes in this event, Kenya has never had a medalist at 400 hurdles, until this year. Nicholas Bett was the fastest qualifier in the heats. His teammate Boniface Tumuti was the second fastest in the semi-finals, while Bett struggled into the slowest qualifier into the finals. That put Bett almost unnoticed in the far outside lane. Michael Tinsley was the only returning medalist from recent history and the rest of the world leaders were already eliminated, making for a very open race. The fastest 5 finalists all ran their personal best just to make the final race.
Tinsley was the early leader out of the blocks, but was quickly overtaken by Denis Kudryavtsev down the backstretch. Through the turn Tinsley began to hit hurdles, Kudryavtsev the clear leader coming to the straightaway. A couple of meters behind was a wall of Tinsley, Jeffery Gibson and Kerron Clement, with Bett slightly behind them. Kudryavtsev stretched for the ninth hurdle, Tinsley hit it and Bett stormed past. Reminiscent of Kenyan steeplechase finishes, he took the final barrier somewhat awkwardly but continued with so much power that the rest of the field was left behind him. Kudryavtsev held on for silver with a Russian national record. Gibson won the race to the line for bronze, setting his second Bahamian national record of the competition. The once dominant American team, shut out, while Kenya wins its first medal in the event and it was gold.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
| World record | Kevin Young (USA) | 46.78 | Barcelona, Spain | 6 August 1992 |
| Championship record | Kevin Young (USA) | 47.18 | Stuttgart, Germany | 19 August 1993 |
| World Leading | Bershawn Jackson (USA) | 48.09 | Doha, Qatar | 15 May 2015 |
| African Record | Samuel Matete (ZAM) | 47.10 | Zurich, Switzerland | 7 August 1991 |
| Asian Record | Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily (KSA) | 47.53 | Sydney, Australia | 27 September 2000 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Kevin Young (USA) | 46.78 | Barcelona, Spain | 6 August 1992 |
| South American Record | Bayano Kamani (PAN) | 47.84 | Helsinki, Finland | 7 August 2005 |
| European Record | Stéphane Diagana (FRA) | 47.37 | Lausanne, Switzerland | 5 July 1995 |
| Oceanian record | Rohan Robinson (AUS) | 48.28 | Atlanta, GA, United States | 31 July 1996 |

## Qualification standards

* Entry standards
* 49.50

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 22 August 2015 | 18:35 | Heats |
| 23 August 2015 | 18:40 | Semifinals |
| 25 August 2015 | 20:25 | Final |
All times are local times (UTC+8)

## Results

| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

Qualification: Best 4 (Q) and next 4 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Nicholas Bett | Kenya (KEN) | 48.37 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Denis Kudryavtsev | Russia (RUS) | 48.51 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 3 | Kerron Clement | United States (USA) | 48.75 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Boniface Tumuti | Kenya (KEN) | 48.79 | Q, PB |
| 5 | 4 | Yasmani Copello | Turkey (TUR) | 48.89 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 3 | Niall Flannery | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 48.90 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 2 | Michael Tinsley | United States (USA) | 48.91 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | Patryk Dobek | Poland (POL) | 48.94 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | Johnny Dutch | United States (USA) | 48.97 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | Javier Culson | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 49.02 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Timofey Chalyy | Russia (RUS) | 49.05 | Q, SB |
| 12 | 3 | Kariem Hussein | Switzerland (SUI) | 49.08 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Jeffery Gibson | Bahamas (BAH) | 49.09 | Q |
| 14 | 3 | Annsert Whyte | Jamaica (JAM) | 49.10 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | L. J. van Zyl | South Africa (RSA) | 49.12 | Q |
| 16 | 1 | Kurt Couto | Mozambique (MOZ) | 49.15 | Q, SB |
| 17 | 4 | Rasmus Mägi | Estonia (EST) | 49.18 | Q |
| 18 | 4 | Thomas Barr | Ireland (IRL) | 49.20 | Q |
| 19 | 1 | Abdelmalik Lahoulou | Algeria (ALG) | 49.33 | q |
| 19 | 2 | Leford Green | Jamaica (JAM) | 49.33 | q |
| 21 | 5 | Yuki Matsushita | Japan (JPN) | 49.34 | Q |
| 22 | 5 | Haron Koech | Kenya (KEN) | 49.38 | q, PB |
| 22 | 5 | Michaël Bultheel | Belgium (BEL) | 49.38 | q |
| 22 | 3 | Miles Ukaoma | Nigeria (NGR) | 49.38 | |
| 25 | 1 | Roxroy Cato | Jamaica (JAM) | 49.47 | |
| 26 | 4 | Cheng Wen | China (CHN) | 49.56 | Q, PB |
| 26 | 4 | Ivan Shablyuyev | Russia (RUS) | 49.56 | |
| 28 | 1 | Michael Cochrane | New Zealand (NZL) | 49.58 | NR |
| 28 | 2 | Yuta Konishi | Japan (JPN) | 49.58 | SB |
| 30 | 1 | Takayuki Kishimoto | Japan (JPN) | 49.78 | |
| 31 | 2 | Jehue Gordon | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 49.91 | |
| 32 | 1 | Eric Alejandro | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 49.94 | |
| 33 | 4 | Eric Cray | Philippines (PHI) | 50.04 | |
| 34 | 4 | Bershawn Jackson | United States (USA) | 50.14 | |
| 35 | 5 | Miloud Rahmani | Algeria (ALG) | 50.21 | |
| 36 | 5 | Jaak-Heinrich Jagor | Estonia (EST) | 50.29 | |
| 37 | 4 | Johannes Maritz | Namibia (NAM) | 51.10 | |
| 38 | 3 | Saber Boukemouche | Algeria (ALG) | 51.54 | |
| 39 | 5 | Amadou Ndiaye | Senegal (SEN) | 52.40 | |
| 40 | 2 | Maoulida Darouèche | Comoros (COM) | 53.06 | |
| | 3 | Mohamed Sghaier | Tunisia (TUN) | DQ | R163.3(a) |
| | 2 | Andrés Silva | Uruguay (URU) | DNS | |
| | 3 | Cornel Fredericks | South Africa (RSA) | DNS | |
| | 4 | Jack Green | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | DNS | |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Denis Kudryavtsev | Russia (RUS) | 48.23 | Q, PB |
| 2 | 1 | Boniface Tumuti | Kenya (KEN) | 48.29 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 2 | Jeffery Gibson | Bahamas (BAH) | 48.37 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 2 | Patryk Dobek | Poland (POL) | 48.40 | q, PB |
| 5 | 2 | Yasmani Copello | Turkey (TUR) | 48.46 | q, NR |
| 6 | 3 | Michael Tinsley | United States (USA) | 48.47 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Kerron Clement | United States (USA) | 48.50 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | Nicholas Bett | Kenya (KEN) | 48.54 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Kariem Hussein | Switzerland (SUI) | 48.59 | |
| 10 | 1 | Timofey Chalyy | Russia (RUS) | 48.69 | PB |
| 11 | 1 | Thomas Barr | Ireland (IRL) | 48.71 | |
| 12 | 2 | Johnny Dutch | United States (USA) | 48.74 | |
| 13 | 1 | Rasmus Mägi | Estonia (EST) | 48.76 | |
| 14 | 1 | Abdelmalik Lahoulou | Algeria (ALG) | 48.87 | NR |
| 15 | 2 | L. J. van Zyl | South Africa (RSA) | 48.89 | |
| 16 | 1 | Annsert Whyte | Jamaica (JAM) | 48.90 | SB |
| 17 | 3 | Niall Flannery | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 49.17 | |
| 18 | 3 | Javier Culson | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 49.36 | |
| 19 | 2 | Haron Koech | Kenya (KEN) | 49.54 | |
| 20 | 3 | Leford Green | Jamaica (JAM) | 49.59 | |
| 21 | 2 | Cheng Wen | China (CHN) | 49.62 | |
| 22 | 1 | Michaël Bultheel | Belgium (BEL) | 49.66 | |
| 23 | 3 | Kurt Couto | Mozambique (MOZ) | 50.58 | |
| 24 | 3 | Yuki Matsushita | Japan (JPN) | 51.10 | |

### Final

The final was started at 21:15.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 9 | Nicholas Bett | Kenya (KEN) | 47.79 | WL, NR |
| | 6 | Denis Kudryavtsev | Russia (RUS) | 48.05 | NR |
| | 7 | Jeffery Gibson | Bahamas (BAH) | 48.17 | NR |
| 4 | 8 | Kerron Clement | United States (USA) | 48.18 | SB |
| 5 | 4 | Boniface Tumuti | Kenya (KEN) | 48.33 | |
| 6 | 2 | Yasmani Copello | Turkey (TUR) | 48.96 | |
| 7 | 3 | Patryk Dobek | Poland (POL) | 49.14 | |
| 8 | 5 | Michael Tinsley | United States (USA) | 50.02 | |