# 1990 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres

These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres event at the 1990 European Championships in Split, Yugoslavia, held at Stadion Poljud on 27, 28, and 29 August 1990.

## Medalists

| Gold | Grit Breuer East Germany |
| Silver | Petra Schersing East Germany |
| Bronze | Marie-José Pérec France |

## Results
### Final

29 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Grit Breuer | East Germany | 49.50 |
| | Petra Schersing | East Germany | 50.51 |
| | Marie-José Pérec | France | 50.84 |
| 4 | Annette Hesselbarth | East Germany | 51.14 |
| 5 | Linda Keough | United Kingdom | 51.22 |
| 6 | Lyudmila Dzhigalova | Soviet Union | 51.31 |
| 7 | Marina Shmonina | Soviet Union | 51.67 |
| 8 | Viviane Dorsile | France | 52.11 |

### Semi-finals

28 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Grit Breuer | East Germany | 50.89 | Q |
| 2 | Petra Schersing | East Germany | 51.05 | Q |
| 3 | Linda Keough | United Kingdom | 51.20 | Q |
| 4 | Viviane Dorsile | France | 52.06 | Q |
| 5 | Helga Arendt | West Germany | 52.16 | |
| 6 | Judit Forgács | Hungary | 52.77 | |
| 7 | Martha Grossenbacher | Switzerland | 53.57 | |
| | Yelena Ruzina | Soviet Union | DNF | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Annette Hesselbarth | East Germany | 51.43 | Q |
| 2 | Marina Shmonina | Soviet Union | 51.45 | Q |
| 3 | Lyudmila Dzhigalova | Soviet Union | 51.56 | Q |
| 4 | Marie-José Pérec | France | 51.63 | Q |
| 5 | Karin Janke | West Germany | 51.65 | |
| 6 | Evelyne Elien | France | 53.05 | |
| 7 | Lisbeth Andersen | Norway | 53.26 | |
| 8 | Angela Piggford | United Kingdom | 53.53 | |

### Heats

27 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Grit Breuer | East Germany | 52.50 | Q |
| 2 | Marie-José Pérec | France | 52.56 | Q |
| 3 | Linda Keough | United Kingdom | 52.60 | Q |
| 4 | Lisbeth Andersen | Norway | 53.01 | q |
| 5 | Judit Forgács | Hungary | 53.06 | q |
| 6 | Linda Kisabaka | West Germany | 53.09 | |
| 7 | Julia Merino | Spain | 53.74 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lyudmila Dzhigalova | Soviet Union | 52.42 | Q |
| 2 | Annette Hesselbarth | East Germany | 52.72 | Q |
| 3 | Helga Arendt | West Germany | 53.01 | Q |
| 4 | Lorraine Hanson | United Kingdom | 53.57 | |
| 5 | Erzsébet Szabó | Hungary | 54.08 | |
| 6 | Gordana Čotrić | Yugoslavia | 54.46 | |
| 7 | Regula Scalabrin | Switzerland | 54.88 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marina Shmonina | Soviet Union | 52.18 | Q |
| 2 | Petra Schersing | East Germany | 52.44 | Q |
| 3 | Martha Grossenbacher | Switzerland | 52.76 | Q |
| 4 | Viviane Dorsile | France | 52.91 | q |
| 5 | Angela Piggford | United Kingdom | 53.00 | q |
| 6 | Gretha Tromp | Netherlands | 55.64 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yelena Ruzina | Soviet Union | 51.64 | Q |
| 2 | Karin Janke | West Germany | 52.83 | Q |
| 3 | Evelyne Elien | France | 52.95 | Q |
| 4 | Sonja Finell | Finland | 53.47 | |
| 5 | Ágnes Kozáry | Hungary | 54.13 | |
| 6 | Blanca Lacambra | Spain | 54.61 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 26 athletes from 12 countries participated in the event.
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (1)
* France (3)
* Hungary (3)
* Netherlands (1)
* Norway (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (2)
* Switzerland (2)
* United Kingdom (3)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (1)