# 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, at Laurentian University Stadium on 27, 28 and 29 July.

## Medalists

| Gold | Kelly Carter United States |
| Silver | Mugur Mateescu Romania |
| Bronze | Vadim Zadoynov Soviet Union |

## Results
### Final

29 July
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Kelly Carter | United States | 49.50 |
| | Mugur Mateescu | Romania | 50.70 |
| | Vadim Zadoynov | Soviet Union | 50.88 |
| 4 | Ralph Carrington | United States | 51.01 |
| 5 | Samuel Matete | Zambia | 51.70 |
| 6 | Bob Brown | United Kingdom | 51.78 |
| 7 | Jean-François Zbinden | Switzerland | 52.23 |
| 8 | David Niaré | France | 52.40 |

### Semifinals

28 July

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ralph Carrington | United States | 50.76 | Q |
| 2 | Mugur Mateescu | Romania | 51.31 | Q |
| 3 | Vadim Zadoynov | Soviet Union | 51.51 | Q |
| 4 | Jean-François Zbinden | Switzerland | 51.74 | q |
| 5 | Paweł Woźniak | Poland | 51.93 | |
| 6 | Stéphane Traversini | France | 52.44 | |
| 7 | Assen Markov | Bulgaria | 52.86 | |
| | Paolo Bellino | Italy | DQ | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kelly Carter | United States | 50.99 | Q |
| 2 | Samuel Matete | Zambia | 51.56 | Q |
| 3 | David Niaré | France | 51.62 | Q |
| 4 | Bob Brown | United Kingdom | 51.63 | q |
| 5 | Shigeru Yamaguchi | Japan | 52.72 | |
| 6 | Tesfaye Aschalew | Ethiopia | 52.73 | |
| 7 | Fabrizio Mori | Italy | 54.54 | |
| 8 | Michael Rose | Jamaica | 55.31 | |

### Heats

27 July

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vadim Zadoynov | Soviet Union | 51.80 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-François Zbinden | Switzerland | 51.89 | Q |
| 3 | Samuel Matete | Zambia | 51.90 | Q |
| 4 | Paweł Woźniak | Poland | 52.11 | q |
| 5 | Michael Rose | Jamaica | 53.18 | q |
| 6 | Gilbert Hashan | Mauritius | 54.20 | |
| 7 | Yehuda Moreli | Israel | 54.21 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bob Brown | United Kingdom | 51.90 | Q |
| 2 | Shigeru Yamaguchi | Japan | 52.19 | Q |
| 3 | Assen Markov | Bulgaria | 52.99 | Q |
| 4 | Fouad Ghanem | Bahrain | 53.25 | |
| 5 | Fabio Aleixo | Brazil | 53.56 | |
| 6 | Bernd Held | West Germany | 53.88 | |
| 7 | Hermund Storsæther | Norway | 55.80 | |
| 8 | Eric Krings | Guatemala | 56.30 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ralph Carrington | United States | 52.02 | Q |
| 2 | Fabrizio Mori | Italy | 52.39 | Q |
| 3 | Mugur Mateescu | Romania | 52.57 | Q |
| 4 | Stéphane Traversini | France | 52.79 | q |
| 5 | Salvador Vila | Spain | 53.38 | |
| 6 | Paulo Rodrigues | Brazil | 53.48 | |
| 7 | Benjamin Grant | Sierra Leone | 55.24 | |
| 8 | Ilidio Motty | Portugal | 60.76 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kelly Carter | United States | 51.20 | Q |
| 2 | David Niaré | France | 52.54 | Q |
| 3 | Paolo Bellino | Italy | 52.70 | Q |
| 4 | Tesfaye Aschalew | Ethiopia | 52.75 | q |
| 5 | Peter Campbell | United Kingdom | 53.31 | |
| 6 | Kristian Strømgaard | Denmark | 53.84 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 29 athletes from 24 countries participated in the event.
* Bahrain (1)
* Brazil (2)
* Bulgaria (1)
* Denmark (1)
* Ethiopia (1)
* France (2)
* Guatemala (1)
* Israel (1)
* Italy (2)
* Jamaica (1)
* Japan (1)
* Mauritius (1)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (1)
* Portugal (1)
* Romania (1)
* Sierra Leone (1)
* Soviet Union (1)
* Spain (1)
* Switzerland (1)
* United Kingdom (2)
* United States (2)
* West Germany (1)
* Zambia (1)