# 2022 World Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene from 17 to 22 July 2022. The winning margin was 0.19 seconds.

## Summary

The semi-final took every athlete who broke 45 seconds into the final. By contrast, in 2015, sixteen athletes broke 45 in the semi-final round. 2015 was the second World Championships for two of the finalists, both former champions, Kirani James and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk. After what should have been a career-ending knee injury, it was remarkable for van Niekerk to get this far, each race an experiment to see how fast he could still go. The 2022 world leader was Michael Norman at 43.56. In two previous major championships, 2019 and the Olympics, Norman had failed to win, so he had something to prove here too.
Norman went out fast, but James was marginally faster through the entire first half of the race. Christopher Taylor, Matthew Hudson-Smith and van Niekerk were just a tick back. James maintained his slight edge through the turn, when they hit the straight, Norman accelerated, putting a gap on van Niekerk and Hudson-Smith, but James didn't go away. Norman battled, gaining a slight advantage, then widening it to a full meter by the finish. Two meters back, Hudson-Smith had gained the advantage over van Niekerk whose form broke down the last 25 meters. Coming from dead last off the turn, Champion Allison blazed by van Niekerk but came up short to catch Hudson-Smith 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 | Michael Norman (USA) | 43.56 | Eugene, United States | 25 June 2022 |
| 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 44.90.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 17 July | 11:05 | Heats |
| 20 July | 19:15 | Semi-finals |
| 22 July | 19:35 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the heats.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Bayapo Ndori | Botswana (BOT) | 44.87 | Q, PB |
| 2 | 1 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 45.18 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 45.29 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Michael Norman | United States (USA) | 45.37 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Jonathan Jones | Barbados (BAR) | 45.46 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.49 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Champion Allison | United States (USA) | 45.56 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | Nathon Allen | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.61 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Alex Haydock-Wilson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.62 | Q, SB |
| 10 | 2 | Christopher Taylor | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.68 | Q |
| 11 | 2 | Zakhiti Nene | South Africa (RSA) | 45.69 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | Dylan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.70 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.72 | q |
| 14 | 3 | Michael Cherry | United States (USA) | 45.81 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | Muzala Samukonga | Zambia (ZAM) | 45.82 | Q |
| 16 | 6 | Liemarvin Bonevacia | Netherlands (NED) | 45.82 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | Lidio Andrés Feliz | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 45.87 | Q |
| 18 | 5 | Fuga Sato | Japan (JPN) | 45.88 | q |
| 19 | 1 | Julian Jrummi Walsh | Japan (JPN) | 45.90 | q |
| 20 | 4 | Isaac Makwala | Botswana (BOT) | 45.93 | Q |
| 21 | 5 | Alex Beck | Australia (AUS) | 45.99 | q |
| 22 | 4 | Mikhail Litvin | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 46.00 | q, SB |
| 23 | 6 | Christopher O'Donnell | Ireland (IRL) | 46.01 | q |
| 24 | 1 | Patrik Šorm | Czech Republic (CZE) | 46.07 | |
| 25 | 3 | Alexander Doom | Belgium (BEL) | 46.18 | Q |
| 26 | 2 | Benjamin Lobo Vedel | Denmark (DEN) | 46.27 | |
| 27 | 6 | Kaito Kawabata | Japan (JPN) | 46.34 | |
| 28 | 3 | Jevaughn Powell | Jamaica (JAM) | 46.42 | |
| 29 | 5 | Edoardo Scotti | Italy (ITA) | 46.46 | |
| 30 | 2 | Luis Avilés | Mexico (MEX) | 46.47 | |
| 31 | 4 | Davide Re | Italy (ITA) | 46.49 | |
| 32 | 2 | Kajetan Duszyński | Poland (POL) | 46.57 | |
| 33 | 4 | Dwight St. Hillaire | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 46.60 | |
| 34 | 3 | Ricky Petrucciani | Switzerland (SUI) | 46.60 | |
| 35 | 4 | Boško Kijanović | Serbia (SRB) | 46.85 | |
| 36 | 1 | Steven Solomon | Australia (AUS) | 46.87 | |
| 37 | 3 | Anthony Pesela | Botswana (BOT) | 47.36 | |
| 38 | 6 | Lucas Carvalho | Brazil (BRA) | 47.53 | |
| 39 | 5 | Dexter Mayorga | Nicaragua (NCA) | 48.40 | |
| 40 | 6 | Aiden Hazzard | Anguilla (AIA) | 51.44 | SB |
| 41 | 3 | Obediah Timbaci | Vanuatu (VAN) | 53.32 | |

### Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Michael Norman | United States (USA) | 44.30 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.38 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Champion Allison | United States (USA) | 44.71 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.74 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 44.75 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Jonathan Jones | Barbados (BAR) | 44.78 | q |
| 7 | 2 | Bayapo Ndori | Botswana (BOT) | 44.94 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Christopher Taylor | Jamaica (JAM) | 44.97 | q, SB |
| 9 | 2 | Muzala Samukonga | Zambia (ZAM) | 45.02 | PB |
| 10 | 3 | Alex Haydock-Wilson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.08 | PB |
| 11 | 1 | Zakhiti Nene | South Africa (RSA) | 45.24 | |
| 12 | 3 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.26 | |
| 13 | 2 | Michael Cherry | United States (USA) | 45.28 | |
| 14 | 1 | Dylan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.41 | |
| 15 | 3 | Liemarvin Bonevacia | Netherlands (NED) | 45.50 | |
| 16 | 3 | Mikhail Litvin | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 45.63 | PB |
| 17 | 2 | Fuga Sato | Japan (JPN) | 45.71 | |
| 18 | 1 | Julian Jrummi Walsh | Japan (JPN) | 45.75 | |
| 19 | 2 | Alexander Doom | Belgium (BEL) | 45.80 | |
| 20 | 2 | Christopher O'Donnell | Ireland (IRL) | 46.01 | |
| 21 | 3 | Isaac Makwala | Botswana (BOT) | 46.04 | |
| 22 | 1 | Lidio Andrés Feliz | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 46.19 | |
| 23 | 1 | Alex Beck | Australia (AUS) | 46.21 | |
| | 2 | Nathon Allen | Jamaica (JAM) | | DNF |

### Final

The final took place on 22 July at 19:35.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Michael Norman | United States (USA) | 44.29 |
| | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.48 |
| | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 44.66 |
| 4 | Champion Allison | United States (USA) | 44.77 |
| 5 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 44.97 |
| 6 | Bayapo Ndori | Botswana (BOT) | 45.29 |
| 7 | Christopher Taylor | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.30 |
| 8 | Jonathan Jones | Barbados (BAR) | 46.13 |