# 1971 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 10, 11, and 12 August 1971.

## Medalists

| Gold | Jean-Claude Nallet France |
| Silver | Christian Rudolph East Germany |
| Bronze | Dmitriy Stukalov Soviet Union |

## Results
### Final

12 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 49.15 | CR |
| | Christian Rudolph | East Germany | 49.34 | NR |
| | Dmitriy Stukalov | Soviet Union | 50.04 | |
| 4 | Dieter Büttner | West Germany | 50.09 | |
| 5 | Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | Soviet Union | 50.51 | |
| 6 | Ari Salin | Finland | 50.57 | |
| 7 | Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | Soviet Union | 50.84 | |
| 8 | Ivan Danis | Czechoslovakia | 51.78 | |

### Semi-finals

11 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | Soviet Union | 50.15 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 50.35 | Q |
| 3 | Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | Soviet Union | 50.42 | Q |
| 4 | Ivan Danis | Czechoslovakia | 50.63 | NR Q |
| 5 | Gerd Hennige | West Germany | 50.87 | |
| 6 | Jaakko Tuominen | Finland | 51.13 | |
| 7 | Giorgio Ballati | Italy | 51.50 | |
| 8 | Michel Montgermont | France | 52.77 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christian Rudolph | East Germany | 49.82 | Q |
| 2 | Dieter Büttner | West Germany | 50.21 | Q |
| 3 | Dmitriy Stukalov | Soviet Union | 50.34 | Q |
| 4 | Ari Salin | Finland | 50.41 | Q |
| 5 | Werner Reibert | West Germany | 50.45 | |
| 6 | Tadeusz Kulczycki | Poland | 51.16 | |
| 7 | Heinz Hofer | Switzerland | 51.56 | |
| 8 | Lucien Baggio | France | 51.82 | |

### Heats

10 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yevgeniy Gavrilenko | Soviet Union | 50.79 | Q |
| 2 | Heinz Hofer | Switzerland | 51.08 | Q |
| 3 | Ari Salin | Finland | 51.28 | Q |
| 4 | Lucien Baggio | France | 51.29 | Q |
| 5 | Zdzisław Serafin | Poland | 51.53 | |
| 6 | Kenth Öhman | Sweden | 51.92 | |
| 7 | Ladislav Kárský | Czechoslovakia | 51.95 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vyacheslav Skomorokhov | Soviet Union | 50.48 | Q |
| 2 | Dieter Büttner | West Germany | 50.64 | Q |
| 3 | Ivan Danis | Czechoslovakia | 50.74 | Q |
| 4 | Giorgio Ballati | Italy | 51.07 | Q |
| 5 | Jürgen Laser | East Germany | 51.38 | |
| 6 | Torsten Torstensson | Sweden | 51.85 | |
| 7 | Witold Banaszak | Poland | 51.91 | |
| 8 | John Sherwood | Great Britain | 52.61 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christian Rudolph | East Germany | 50.48 | Q |
| 2 | Werner Reibert | West Germany | 51.04 | Q |
| 3 | Tadeusz Kulczycki | Poland | 51.11 | Q |
| 4 | Michel Montgermont | France | 51.40 | Q |
| 5 | Francisco Suárez | Spain | 51.77 | |
| 6 | David Scharer | Great Britain | 51.98 | |
| 7 | Daniele Giovanardi | Italy | 52.00 | |
| 8 | Alberto Matos | Portugal | 52.26 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 50.69 | Q |
| 2 | Dmitriy Stukalov | Soviet Union | 50.78 | Q |
| 3 | Jaakko Tuominen | Finland | 51.21 | Q |
| 4 | Gerd Hennige | West Germany | 51.23 | Q |
| 5 | Manuel Soriano | Spain | 51.39 | |
| 6 | Håkan Öberg | Sweden | 51.72 | |
| 7 | Ion Ratoi | Romania | 52.10 | |
| 8 | John Dillon | Ireland | 58.42 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 31 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.
* Czechoslovakia (2)
* East Germany (2)
* Finland (2)
* France (3)
* Ireland (1)
* Italy (2)
* Poland (3)
* Portugal (1)
* Romania (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (2)
* Sweden (3)
* Switzerland (1)
* Great Britain (2)
* West Germany (3)