# 1986 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres hurdles

These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany, held at Neckarstadion on 28, 29, and 30 August 1986.

## Results
### Final

30 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Marina Stepanova | Soviet Union | 53.32 | WR |
| | Sabine Busch | East Germany | 53.60 | |
| | Cornelia Feuerbach | East Germany | 54.13 | |
| 4 | Ann-Louise Skoglund | Sweden | 54.15 | NR |
| 5 | Genowefa Błaszak | Poland | 54.74 | |
| 6 | Ellen Fiedler | East Germany | 54.90 | |
| 7 | Cristieana Matei | Romania | 55.23 | |
| 8 | Margarita Khromova | Soviet Union | 55.56 | |

### Semi-finals

29 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cornelia Feuerbach | East Germany | 54.72 | Q |
| 2 | Ellen Fiedler | East Germany | 54.76 | Q |
| 3 | Genowefa Błaszak | Poland | 54.83 | Q |
| 4 | Margarita Khromova | Soviet Union | 55.37 | Q |
| 5 | Nicoleta Căruţaşu | Romania | 55.95 | |
| 6 | Christina Wennberg | Sweden | 56.69 | |
| 7 | Irmgard Trojer | Italy | 58.20 | |
| | Gerda Haas | Austria | DNF | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marina Stepanova | Soviet Union | 53.83 | CR Q |
| 2 | Sabine Busch | East Germany | 53.97 | Q |
| 3 | Ann-Louise Skoglund | Sweden | 54.93 | Q |
| 4 | Cristieana Matei | Romania | 55.67 | Q |
| 5 | Tuija Helander | Finland | 56.21 | |
| 6 | Gudrun Abt | West Germany | 56.66 | |
| 7 | Caroline Plüss | Switzerland | 57.15 | NR |
| 8 | Monika Klebe | Sweden | 57.18 | |

### Heats

28 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Cristieana Matei | Romania | 56.46 | Q |
| 2 | Cornelia Feuerbach | East Germany | 56.50 | Q |
| 3 | Genowefa Błaszak | Poland | 56.52 | Q |
| 4 | Tuija Helander | Finland | 56.87 | Q |
| 5 | Christina Wennberg | Sweden | 57.27 | q |
| 6 | Anne Gundersen | Norway | 58.01 | |
| 7 | Montserrat Pujol | Spain | 58.14 | |
| 8 | Giuseppina Cirulli | Italy | 58.37 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sabine Busch | East Germany | 55.42 | Q |
| 2 | Margarita Khromova | Soviet Union | 55.69 | Q |
| 3 | Nicoleta Căruţaşu | Romania | 56.82 | Q |
| 4 | Gerda Haas | Austria | 56.95 | NR Q |
| 5 | Caroline Plüss | Switzerland | 57.23 | NR q |
| 6 | Monika Klebe | Sweden | 57.83 | q |
| 7 | Beate Holzapfel | West Germany | 58.52 | |
| 8 | Semra Aksu | Turkey | 59.25 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marina Stepanova | Soviet Union | 54.68 | Q |
| 2 | Ellen Fiedler | East Germany | 55.09 | Q |
| 3 | Ann-Louise Skoglund | Sweden | 56.56 | Q |
| 4 | Gudrun Abt | West Germany | 57.02 | Q |
| 5 | Irmgard Trojer | Italy | 57.81 | q |
| 6 | Yvette Wray | United Kingdom | 57.89 | |
| 7 | Cristina Pérez | Spain | 58.19 | |
| 8 | Helga Halldórsdóttir | Iceland | 58.24 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.
* Austria (1)
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (1)
* Iceland (1)
* Italy (2)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (1)
* Romania (2)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Spain (2)
* Sweden (3)
* Switzerland (1)
* Turkey (1)
* United Kingdom (1)
* West Germany (2)