# 1966 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 1966 European Athletics Championships was held in Budapest, Hungary, at Népstadion on 31 August, 1 and 2 September 1966.

## Medalists

| Gold | Roberto Frinolli Italy |
| Silver | Gerd Lössdorfer West Germany |
| Bronze | Robert Poirier France |

## Results
### Final

2 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Roberto Frinolli | Italy | 49.8 |
| | Gerd Lössdorfer | West Germany | 50.3 |
| | Robert Poirier | France | 50.5 |
| 4 | Vasyl Anisimov | Soviet Union | 50.5 |
| 5 | Jaakko Tuominen | Finland | 50.9 |
| 6 | Horst Gieseler | West Germany | 51.2 |
| 7 | Jean-Jacques Behm | France | 51.3 |
| 8 | Alain Hébrard | France | 52.9 |

### Semi-finals

1 September

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roberto Frinolli | Italy | 50.3 | Q |
| 2 | Alain Hébrard | France | 50.7 | Q |
| 3 | Gerd Lössdorfer | West Germany | 50.7 | Q |
| 4 | Jaakko Tuominen | Finland | 50.9 | Q |
| 5 | Bertil Vistam | Sweden | 52.1 | |
| 6 | Robin Woodland | Great Britain | 52.3 | |
| 7 | Edvīns Zāģeris | Soviet Union | 52.3 | |
| 8 | Helmut Haid | Austria | 53.6 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Horst Gieseler | West Germany | 50.5 | Q |
| 2 | Robert Poirier | France | 50.6 | Q |
| 3 | Vasyl Anisimov | Soviet Union | 50.7 | Q |
| 4 | Jean-Jacques Behm | France | 50.7 | Q |
| 5 | John Sherwood | Great Britain | 50.7 | |
| 6 | Wilfried Geeroms | Belgium | 51.0 | |
| 7 | Stanisław Gubiec | Poland | 51.7 | |
| 8 | Peter Warden | Great Britain | 53.4 | |

### Heats

31 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gerd Lössdorfer | West Germany | 52.0 | Q |
| 2 | Alain Hébrard | France | 52.1 | Q |
| 3 | Helmut Haid | Austria | 52.8 | Q |
| 4 | John Sherwood | Great Britain | 54.2 | Q |
| 5 | Cengiz Akıncı | Turkey | 55.0 | |
| 6 | Vincenc Kacagjeli | Albania | 55.8 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roberto Frinolli | Italy | 51.0 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Jacques Behm | France | 52.2 | Q |
| 3 | Bertil Vistam | Sweden | 52.3 | Q |
| 4 | Robin Woodland | Great Britain | 52.7 | Q |
| 5 | Gerd Hennige | West Germany | 54.6 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Horst Gieseler | West Germany | 51.1 | Q |
| 2 | Vasyl Anisimov | Soviet Union | 51.8 | Q |
| 3 | Stanisław Gubiec | Poland | 52.1 | Q |
| 4 | Peter Warden | Great Britain | 52.4 | Q |
| 5 | John Skjelvaag | Norway | 52.6 | |
| 6 | Ferenc Oros | Hungary | 53.4 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Robert Poirier | France | 51.3 | Q |
| 2 | Jaakko Tuominen | Finland | 51.6 | Q |
| 3 | Edvīns Zāģeris | Soviet Union | 52.1 | Q |
| 4 | Wilfried Geeroms | Belgium | 52.4 | Q |
| 5 | Leif Librand | Sweden | 52.6 | |
| 6 | Luigi Carrozza | Italy | 52.9 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 23 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.
* Albania (1)
* Austria (1)
* Belgium (1)
* Finland (1)
* France (3)
* Hungary (1)
* Italy (2)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (1)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Sweden (2)
* Turkey (1)
* Great Britain (3)
* West Germany (3)