# 2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from 20 to 24 August 2023. The winning margin was 0.09 seconds.

## Summary

The defending champion, Michael Norman, was unable to return due to injury, opening up the field. In the semi-finals, Antonio Watson ran his personal best of 44.13 to lead the field and pulling veteran Vernon Norwood to his personal best of 44.26 in the first semi. This relegated World Record holder, making a heroic return from what should have been a career-ending injury, Wayde van Niekerk to have to wait in the holding room to await his fate. In the second semi, Matthew Hudson-Smith led 2011 champion Kirani James In the third semi-final both 2022 Olympic champion Steven Gardiner and Olympic medalist Bayapo Ndori pulled up mid-race with hamstring injuries, opening the door for Quincy Hall. van Niekerk's time qualified him for the final, but he was relegated to the inside lane 2.
From the gun in the final, Hudson-Smith was out fastest, making up the stagger on Hall to his outside at the end of the first turn. Inside of him, James was also gaining relative to the staggers. Van Niekerk pushed down the backstretch to try to regain contact with James. As they went into the final turn, Norwood began to move forward. Later in the turn, Watson started to move. As they hit the home stretch, Hudson-Smith had a metre and a half on James with Norwood and Watson about even on the outside another metre back, with van Niekerk about the same distance back on the inside. Still further back, Hall started to accelerate. Watson began to separate from Norwood and van Niekerk with Hall overstriding to try to catch them. 40 metres out, Watson caught James who could offer no more resistance. Norwood got past James and looked like he was closing on a slowing Hudson-Smith. Watson passed Hudson-Smith about 25 metres out and was on to victory. Norwood couldn't quite catch Hudson-Smith but a speeding Hall caught Norwood on the last step for bronze.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) | 43.03 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 14 August 2016 |
| Championship record | Michael Johnson (USA) | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| World Leading | Steven Gardiner (BAH) | 43.74 | Székesfehérvár, Hungary | 18 July 2023 |
| African Record | Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) | 43.03 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 14 August 2016 |
| Asian Record | Youssef Ahmed Masrahi (KSA) | 43.93 | Beijing, China | 23 August 2015 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Michael Johnson (USA) | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| South American Record | Anthony Zambrano (COL) | 43.93 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 August 2021 |
| European Record | Thomas Schönlebe (GDR) | 44.33 | Rome, Italy | 3 September 1987 |
| Oceanian record | Darren Clark (AUS) | 44.38 | Seoul, South Korea | 26 September 1988 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 45.00.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 20 August | 10:25 | Heats |
| 22 August | 21:00 | Semi-finals |
| 24 August | 21:35 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the semi-finals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen | Norway (NOR) | 44.39 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 2 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 44.57 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Steven Gardiner | Bahamas (BAH) | 44.65 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.69 | Q, SB |
| 5 | 6 | Bayapo Ndori | Botswana (BOT) | 44.72 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Antonio Watson | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.77 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Kentaro Sato | Japan (JPN) | 44.77 | Q, NR |
| 8 | 2 | Liemarvin Bonevacia | Netherlands (NED) | 44.78 | Q, SB |
| 9 | 2 | Busang Kebinatshipi | Botswana (BOT) | 44.80 | q, PB |
| 10 | 1 | Attila Molnár | Hungary (HUN) | 44.84 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 5 | Quincy Hall | United States (USA) | 44.86 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | Vernon Norwood | United States (USA) | 44.87 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Zakithi Nene | South Africa (RSA) | 44.88 | q |
| 14 | 4 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.91 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | Alexander Doom | Belgium (BEL) | 44.92 | Q, PB |
| 16 | 4 | Fuga Sato | Japan (JPN) | 44.97 | Q, PB |
| 17 | 4 | Sean Bailey | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.98 | Q |
| 18 | 1 | Michael Joseph | Saint Lucia (LCA) | 45.04 | q |
| 19 | 6 | Zandrion Barnes | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.05 | Q |
| 20 | 4 | Davide Re | Italy (ITA) | 45.07 | q, SB |
| 21 | 5 | Yuki Joseph Nakajima | Japan (JPN) | 45.15 | Q |
| 22 | 3 | Jereem Richards | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 45.15 | Q |
| 23 | 4 | Leungo Scotch | Botswana (BOT) | 45.20 | q |
| 24 | 3 | Dylan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.24 | q |
| 25 | 6 | Lucas Carvalho | Brazil (BRA) | 45.34 | |
| 25 | 6 | Manuel Sanders | Germany (GER) | 45.34 | |
| 27 | 3 | Oleksandr Pohorilko | Ukraine (UKR) | 45.37 | |
| 28 | 3 | João Coelho | Portugal (POR) | 45.38 | |
| 29 | 2 | Elián Larregina | Argentina (ARG) | 45.42 | |
| 30 | 5 | Lythe Pillay | South Africa (RSA) | 45.58 | |
| 31 | 4 | Dubem Nwachukwu | Nigeria (NGR) | 45.60 | |
| 32 | 4 | Gustav Lundholm Nielsen [de] | Denmark (DEN) | 45.66 | PB |
| 33 | 5 | Lionel Spitz | Switzerland (SUI) | 45.69 | |
| 34 | 1 | Aruna Dharshana | Sri Lanka (SRI) | 45.70 | |
| 35 | 1 | Bonface Mweresa | Kenya (KEN) | 45.91 | |
| 36 | 6 | Matěj Krsek | Czech Republic (CZE) | 45.99 | |
| 37 | 3 | Jonathan Jones | Barbados (BAR) | 46.03 | |
| 38 | 6 | Bryce Deadmon | United States (USA) | 46.20 | |
| 39 | 5 | Karol Zalewski | Poland (POL) | 46.53 | |
| 40 | 5 | Christopher O'Donnell | Ireland (IRL) | 46.76 | |
| 41 | 2 | Alonzo Russell | Bahamas (BAH) | 46.95 | |
| | 5 | Desean Anju L Boyce | Barbados (BAR) | | DNF |
| | 2 | Anthony Zambrano | Colombia (COL) | | DQ |
| | 4 | Carl Bengtström | Sweden (SWE) | | DQ |
| | 3 | Ricky Petrucciani | Switzerland (SUI) | | DNS |

### Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Antonio Watson | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.13 | Q, PB |
| 2 | 1 | Vernon Norwood | United States (USA) | 44.26 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 2 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.26 | Q, AR |
| 4 | 3 | Quincy Hall | United States (USA) | 44.43 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.58 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 44.65 | q |
| 7 | 2 | Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen | Norway (NOR) | 44.70 | q |
| 8 | 1 | Jereem Richards | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 44.76 | |
| 9 | 2 | Fuga Sato | Japan (JPN) | 44.88 | PB |
| 10 | 3 | Sean Bailey | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.94 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Kentaro Sato | Japan (JPN) | 44.99 | |
| 12 | 1 | Attila Molnár | Hungary (HUN) | 45.02 | |
| 13 | 3 | Yuki Joseph Nakajima | Japan (JPN) | 45.04 | PB |
| 14 | 2 | Liemarvin Bonevacia | Netherlands (NED) | 45.23 | |
| 15 | 3 | Davide Re | Italy (ITA) | 45.29 | |
| 16 | 2 | Zandrion Barnes | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.38 | |
| 17 | 1 | Michael Joseph | Saint Lucia (LCA) | 45.50 | |
| 18 | 3 | Alexander Doom | Belgium (BEL) | 45.57 | |
| 19 | 2 | Dylan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.59 | |
| 20 | 3 | Zakithi Nene | South Africa (RSA) | 45.64 | |
| 21 | 1 | Leungo Scotch | Botswana (BOT) | 45.96 | |
| 22 | 2 | Busang Kebinatshipi | Botswana (BOT) | 46.39 | |
| | 3 | Steven Gardiner | Bahamas (BAH) | | DNF |
| | 3 | Bayapo Ndori | Botswana (BOT) | | DNF |

### Final

The final started at 21:35 on 24 August. The results were as follows:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Antonio Watson | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.22 | |
| | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.31 | |
| | Quincy Hall | United States (USA) | 44.37 | PB |
| 4 | Vernon Norwood | United States (USA) | 44.39 | |
| 5 | Sean Bailey | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.96 | |
| 6 | Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen | Norway (NOR) | 45.08 | |
| 7 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 45.11 | |
| | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | DQ | TR17.3.1: Lane infraction |