# 1986 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1986 European Athletics Championships was held in Stuttgart, then West Germany, at Neckarstadion on 27, 28, and 29 August 1986.

## Medalists

| Gold | Roger Black United Kingdom |
| Silver | Thomas Schönlebe East Germany |
| Bronze | Mathias Schersing East Germany |

## Results
### Final

29 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Roger Black | United Kingdom | 44.59 | CR NR |
| | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany | 44.63 | |
| | Mathias Schersing | East Germany | 44.85 | |
| 4 | Derek Redmond | United Kingdom | 45.25 | |
| 5 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 45.35 | |
| 6 | António Sánchez | Spain | 45.41 | NR |
| 7 | Aldo Canti | France | 45.93 | |
| 8 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany | 46.38 | |

### Semi-finals

28 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roger Black | United Kingdom | 45.33 | Q |
| 2 | Mathias Schersing | East Germany | 45.38 | Q |
| 3 | Aldo Canti | France | 45.62 | Q |
| 4 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany | 45.81 | Q |
| 5 | Yann Quentrec | France | 45.89 | |
| 6 | Aleksandr Kurochkin | Soviet Union | 46.01 | |
| 7 | Roberto Ribaud | Italy | 46.22 | |
| 8 | Phil Brown | United Kingdom | 46.61 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Derek Redmond | United Kingdom | 45.35 | Q |
| 2 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany | 45.42 | Q |
| 3 | António Sánchez | Spain | 45.71 | Q |
| 4 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 45.72 | Q |
| 5 | Derek O'Connor | Ireland | 45.94 | |
| 6 | Jörg Vaihinger | West Germany | 46.36 | |
| 7 | Arkadiy Kornilov | Soviet Union | 46.46 | |
| 8 | Arjen Visserman | Netherlands | 46.66 | |

### Heats

27 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roger Black | United Kingdom | 45.40 | Q |
| 2 | António Sánchez | Spain | 45.78 | Q |
| 3 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany | 46.11 | Q |
| 4 | Arjen Visserman | Netherlands | 46.12 | q |
| 5 | Mauro Zuliani | Italy | 46.53 | |
| 6 | Ismail Mačev | Yugoslavia | 47.52 | |
| 7 | Fikret Tulumtaş | Turkey | 48.97 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Phil Brown | United Kingdom | 46.00 | Q |
| 2 | Mathias Schersing | East Germany | 46.04 | Q |
| 3 | Derek O'Connor | Ireland | 46.09 | Q |
| 4 | Jörg Vaihinger | West Germany | 46.23 | q |
| 5 | Vladimir Prosin | Soviet Union | 46.32 | |
| 6 | Gusztáv Menczer | Hungary | 46.40 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Derek Redmond | United Kingdom | 45.75 | Q |
| 2 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 45.88 | Q |
| 3 | Aleksandr Kurochkin | Soviet Union | 46.18 | Q |
| 4 | Aldo Canti | France | 46.23 | q |
| 5 | Ángel Heras | Spain | 46.41 | |
| 6 | Gerry Delaney | Ireland | 46.88 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany | 45.54 | Q |
| 2 | Roberto Ribaud | Italy | 45.69 | Q |
| 3 | Yann Quentrec | France | 45.77 | Q |
| 4 | Arkadiy Kornilov | Soviet Union | 46.09 | q |
| 5 | Željko Knapić | Yugoslavia | 47.81 | |
| | Marcel Arnold | Switzerland | DQ | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 25 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.
* East Germany (2)
* France (2)
* Hungary (1)
* Ireland (2)
* Italy (2)
* Netherlands (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (2)
* Switzerland (1)
* Turkey (1)
* United Kingdom (3)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (2)