# 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 11, 12, and 13 July.

## Medalists

| Gold | Ashley Spencer United States |
| Silver | Kadecia Baird Guyana |
| Bronze | Erika Rucker United States |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world junior and championship records were as follows.
| World Junior Record | Grit Breuer (GER) | 49.42 | Tokyo, Japan | 27 August 1991 |
| Championship Record | Fatima Yusuf (NGR) | 50.62 | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | 10 August 1990 |
| World Junior Leading | Ashley Spencer (USA) | 51.02 | Madison, United States | 13 May 2012 |
| Broken records during the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics |||||
| Championship Record World Junior Leading | Ashley Spencer (USA) | 50.50 | Barcelona, Spain | 13 July 2012 |

## Results
### Heats

Qualification: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Ashley Spencer | United States | 52.58 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 9 | Shaunae Miller | Bahamas | 52.71 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 6 | Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz | Poland | 52.76 | Q, NJ |
| 4 | 4 | 7 | Olivia James | Jamaica | 52.86 | Q, SB |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Ekaterina Renzhina | Russia | 52.92 | Q, PB |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Chrisann Gordon | Jamaica | 52.99 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 6 | Kadecia Baird | Guyana | 53.29 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 7 | Erika Rucker | United States | 53.32 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 6 | Bianca Răzor | Romania | 53.44 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 8 | Justine Palframan | South Africa | 53.53 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | 9 | Maike Schachtschneider | Germany | 53.57 | Q, PB |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Ella Räsänen | Finland | 53.77 | q, SB |
| 13 | 6 | 5 | Adelina Pastor | Romania | 53.85 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | 6 | Rashan Brown | Bahamas | 54.02 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | Flavia Battaglia | Italy | 54.03 | q, PB |
| 16 | 5 | 8 | Abbey de la Motte | Australia | 54.03 | Q, PB |
| 17 | 1 | 7 | Joanna Mills | Ireland | 54.17 | q, SB |
| 18 | 3 | 9 | Morgan Mitchell | Australia | 54.19 | Q, PB |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | Bianka Kéri | Hungary | 54.34 | Q |
| 20 | 2 | 5 | Alina Galitskaya | Russia | 54.55 | Q |
| 21 | 1 | 5 | Grace Claxton | Puerto Rico | 54.65 | q, NJ |
| 22 | 5 | 7 | Viktoriya Tkachuk | Ukraine | 54.67 | q |
| 23 | 1 | 6 | Simone Werner | Switzerland | 54.70 | q, PB |
| 24 | 5 | 9 | Carina Schrempf | Austria | 54.73 | PB |
| 25 | 4 | 8 | Rivinilda Mentai | Portugal | 54.83 | NJ |
| 26 | 6 | 4 | Kateryna Slyusarenko | Ukraine | 54.88 | |
| 27 | 3 | 3 | Janet Seeliger | South Africa | 55.00 | |
| 28 | 2 | 9 | Jie Chen | China | 55.04 | Q |
| 29 | 6 | 6 | Ines Futterknecht | Austria | 55.16 | |
| 30 | 3 | 5 | Christine Botlogetswe | Botswana | 55.26 | PB |
| 31 | 4 | 5 | Qingqing Wu | China | 55.37 | |
| 32 | 2 | 7 | Gunta Latiševa-Cudare | Latvia | 55.57 | |
| 33 | 2 | 8 | Olga Andreyeva | Kazakhstan | 55.96 | |
| 34 | 3 | 4 | Danielle Alakija | Fiji | 56.69 | |
| 35 | 6 | 3 | Jonel Lacey | British Virgin Islands | 58.87 | PB |
| 36 | 2 | 2 | Princilla Tshabu Amisi | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1:05.85 | PB |
| 37 | 2 | 4 | Reloliza Saimon | Federated States of Micronesia | 1:09.88 | SB |
| – | 5 | 5 | Lucy Fortune | Grenada | – | DSQ |
| – | 5 | 3 | Regina Tavera | Mexico | – | DSQ |
| – | 6 | 9 | Alexandra Courtnall | Canada | – | DSQ |
| – | 2 | 3 | Florence Uwakwe | Nigeria | – | DNS |
| – | 1 | 8 | Melisa Torres | Colombia | – | DNS |
| – | 3 | 7 | Omolara Omotosho | Nigeria | – | DNS |

### Semi-finals

Qualification: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| 1 | 1 | 6 | Erika Rucker | United States | 52.05 | Q, PB |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | Ashley Spencer | United States | 52.24 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 4 | Kadecia Baird | Guyana | 52.40 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 7 | Justine Palframan | South Africa | 52.65 | q |
| 5 | 1 | 5 | Chrisann Gordon | Jamaica | 52.70 | q |
| 6 | 3 | 9 | Olivia James | Jamaica | 52.71 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 2 | 4 | Shaunae Miller | Bahamas | 52.75 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 6 | Bianca Răzor | Romania | 52.87 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Rashan Brown | Bahamas | 52.88 | |
| 10 | 2 | 7 | Ekaterina Renzhina | Russia | 52.97 | |
| 11 | 3 | 7 | Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz | Poland | 53.04 | |
| 12 | 1 | 9 | Adelina Pastor | Romania | 53.28 | SB |
| 13 | 2 | 5 | Morgan Mitchell | Australia | 53.88 | PB |
| 14 | 1 | 8 | Abbey de la Motte | Australia | 53.90 | PB |
| 15 | 3 | 2 | Ella Räsänen | Finland | 54.40 | |
| 16 | 1 | 2 | Grace Claxton | Puerto Rico | 54.42 | NJ |
| 17 | 2 | 9 | Maike Schachtschneider | Germany | 54.49 | |
| 18 | 1 | 3 | Joanna Mills | Ireland | 54.52 | |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | Jie Chen | China | 54.67 | |
| 20 | 2 | 8 | Bianka Kéri | Hungary | 54.68 | |
| 21 | 2 | 2 | Flavia Battaglia | Italy | 54.82 | |
| 22 | 3 | 6 | Alina Galitskaya | Russia | 54.98 | |
| 23 | 2 | 3 | Viktoriya Tkachuk | Ukraine | 55.02 | |
| 24 | 3 | 3 | Simone Werner | Switzerland | 55.85 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
| | 6 | Ashley Spencer | United States | 50.50 | CR |
| | 4 | Kadecia Baird | Guyana | 51.04 | AJ |
| | 5 | Erika Rucker | United States | 51.10 | PB |
| 4 | 7 | Shaunae Miller | Bahamas | 51.78 | |
| 5 | 3 | Justine Palframan | South Africa | 51.87 | NJ |
| 6 | 8 | Bianca Răzor | Romania | 52.20 | SB |
| 7 | 2 | Chrisann Gordon | Jamaica | 52.31 | SB |
| 8 | 9 | Olivia James | Jamaica | 52.68 | SB |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 40 athletes from 30 countries participated in the event.
* Australia (2)
* Austria (2)
* Bahamas (2)
* Botswana (1)
* British Virgin Islands (1)
* Canada (1)
* China (2)
* Colombia (1)
* DR Congo (1)
* Fiji (1)
* Finland (1)
* Germany (1)
* Grenada (1)
* Guyana (1)
* Hungary (1)
* Ireland (1)
* Italy (1)
* Jamaica (2)
* Kazakhstan (1)
* Latvia (1)
* Mexico (1)
* Micronesia (1)
* Poland (1)
* Portugal (1)
* Puerto Rico (1)
* Romania (2)
* Russia (2)
* South Africa (2)
* Switzerland (1)
* Ukraine (2)
* United States (2)