# 1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres

These are the official results of the men's 400 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 55 participating athletes, with seven qualifying heats and the final held on 10 August 1983. The winning margin was 0.17 seconds.

## Records

Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | Lee Evans (USA) | 43.86 | Mexico City, Mexico | October 18, 1968 |
| Championship Record | New event | New event | New event | New event |

## Results
### Qualifying heats

The qualifying heats took place on 7 August, with the 55 athletes involved being split into 7 heats. The first 3 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 11 fastest ( q ) qualified for the quarter-finals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sunder Nix | United States (USA) | 46.19 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Gerson A. Souza | Brazil (BRA) | 46.43 | Q |
| 3 | Philip Brown | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 46.60 | Q |
| 4 | Isidro del Prado | Philippines (PHI) | 46.92 | q |
| 5 | Aldo Canti | France (FRA) | 47.50 | |
| 6 | Gordan Hinds | Barbados (BAR) | 47.55 | |
| 7 | Kenrick Camerud | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 49.68 | |
| | Paiwa Bogela | Papua New Guinea (PNG) | | DNS |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bert Cameron | Jamaica (JAM) | 46.11 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Ján Tomko | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 46.17 | Q |
| 3 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany (GDR) | 46.23 | Q |
| 4 | Sándor Vasvári | Hungary (HUN) | 46.69 | q |
| 5 | Abu Alhassan | Ghana (GHA) | 48.14 | |
| 6 | Salem Khalil Ibrahim | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 48.16 | |
| 7 | Ali Al Harazi | Yemen (YEM) | 59.67 | |
| | Ángel Heras | Spain (ESP) | | DQ |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany (FRG) | 46.31 | Q |
| 2 | Todd Bennett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 46.58 | Q |
| 3 | Douglas Hinds | Canada (CAN) | 46.64 | Q |
| 4 | Gary Minihan | Australia (AUS) | 46.90 | q |
| 5 | James Atuti | Kenya (KEN) | 46.95 | q |
| 6 | Dean Greenaway | British Virgin Islands (IVB) | 48.26 | |
| | Emmanuel Bitanga | Cameroon (CMR) | | DNS |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Paul | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 46.33 | Q |
| 2 | Moses Kyeswa | Uganda (UGA) | 46.35 | Q |
| 3 | Susumu Takano | Japan (JPN) | 46.66 | Q |
| 4 | Eliot Tabron | United States (USA) | 46.68 | q |
| 5 | Marcel Arnold | Switzerland (SUI) | 47.44 | q |
| 6 | David Sawyerr | Sierra Leone (SLE) | 49.29 | |
| 7 | Lenford O'Garro | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN) | 50.25 | |
| | Nafi Ahmed Mersal | Egypt (EGY) | | DNF |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Martin Weppler | West Germany (FRG) | 46.32 | Q |
| 2 | Hassan El Kachief | Sudan (SUD) | 46.61 | Q |
| 3 | Viktor Markin | Soviet Union (URS) | 46.74 | Q |
| 4 | Gabriel Tiacoh | Ivory Coast (CIV) | 47.11 | q |
| 5 | Hector Daley | Panama (PAN) | 47.19 | q |
| 6 | Eric Josjö | Sweden (SWE) | 47.25 | q |
| 7 | Jean-Marie Rudasinqwa | Rwanda (RWA) | 50.52 | |
| | Allan Ingraham | Bahamas (BAH) | | DNS |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Franks | United States (USA) | 46.16 | Q |
| 2 | Oddur Sigurdsson | Iceland (ISL) | 47.09 | Q |
| 3 | Christopher Madzokere | Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 47.17 | Q |
| 4 | Dušan Malovec | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 47.35 | q |
| 5 | Moussa Fall | Senegal (SEN) | 47.72 | |
| 6 | Joseph Ramotshabi | Botswana (BOT) | 48.35 | |
| 7 | Agripa Mwausegha | Malawi (MAW) | 49.02 | |
| | Sunday Uti | Nigeria (NGR) | | DQ |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hartmut Weber | West Germany (FRG) | 45.74 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Darren Clark | Australia (AUS) | 46.26 | Q |
| 3 | Mike Okot | Uganda (UGA) | 46.69 | Q |
| 4 | Matti Rusanen | Finland (FIN) | 47.37 | q |
| 5 | Adram M'Kumi | Tanzania (TAN) | 49.22 | |
| 6 | Clive Williams | Belize (BIZ) | 51.82 | |
| | Mike Solomon | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | | DNS |
| | Roberto Ribaud | Italy (ITA) | | DQ |

### Quarterfinals

The qualifying heats took place on 8 August, with the 32 athletes involved being split into 4 heats. The first 4 athletes in each heat ( Q ) qualified for the semifinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Franks | United States (USA) | 45.57 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Philip Brown | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.80 | Q |
| 3 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany (GDR) | 45.86 | Q |
| 4 | Martin Weppler | West Germany (FRG) | 46.12 | Q |
| 5 | Gary Minihan | Australia (AUS) | 46.32 | |
| 6 | Mike Okot | Uganda (UGA) | 46.38 | |
| 7 | Christopher Madzokere | Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 46.74 | |
| | Dušan Malovec | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | | DNF |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bert Cameron | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.76 | Q |
| 2 | Darren Clark | Australia (AUS) | 45.84 | Q |
| 3 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany (FRG) | 45.90 | Q |
| 4 | Gerson A. Souza | Brazil (BRA) | 45.94 | Q |
| 5 | Gabriel Tiacoh | Ivory Coast (CIV) | 46.22 | |
| 6 | Eliot Tabron | United States (USA) | 46.54 | |
| 7 | Isidro del Prado | Philippines (PHI) | 46.71 | |
| 8 | Matti Rusanen | Finland (FIN) | 47.69 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hartmut Weber | West Germany (FRG) | 46.01 | Q |
| 2 | Moses Kyeswa | Uganda (UGA) | 46.31 | Q |
| 3 | Michael Paul | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 46.44 | Q |
| 4 | Douglas Hinds | Canada (CAN) | 46.62 | Q |
| 5 | Susumu Takano | Japan (JPN) | 47.06 | |
| 6 | James Atuti | Kenya (KEN) | 47.59 | |
| 7 | Oddur Sigurdsson | Iceland (ISL) | 48.09 | |
| | Marcel Arnold | Switzerland (SUI) | | DNS |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Viktor Markin | Soviet Union (URS) | 46.16 | Q |
| 2 | Sunder Nix | United States (USA) | 46.19 | Q |
| 3 | Ján Tomko | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 46.24 | Q |
| 4 | Todd Bennett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 46.39 | Q |
| 5 | Hector Daley | Panama (PAN) | 46.42 | |
| 6 | Eric Josjö | Sweden (SWE) | 46.97 | |
| 7 | Sándor Vasvári | Hungary (HUN) | 47.34 | |
| | Hassan El Kachief | Sudan (SUD) | | DNF |

### Semifinals

The semifinals took place on 9 August, with the 16 athletes involved being split into 2 heats. The first 4 athletes in each heat ( Q ) qualified for the final.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Franks | United States (USA) | 45.44 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Hartmut Weber | West Germany (FRG) | 45.61 | Q |
| 3 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany (GDR) | 45.67 | Q |
| 4 | Michael Paul | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.83 | Q |
| 5 | Ján Tomko | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 46.03 | |
| 6 | Todd Bennett | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 46.11 | |
| 7 | Darren Clark | Australia (AUS) | 46.36 | |
| 8 | Martin Weppler | West Germany (FRG) | 46.55 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bert Cameron | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.48 | Q |
| 2 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany (FRG) | 45.61 | Q |
| 3 | Gerson A. Souza | Brazil (BRA) | 45.63 | Q |
| 4 | Sunder Nix | United States (USA) | 45.73 | Q |
| 5 | Viktor Markin | Soviet Union (URS) | 45.73 | |
| 6. | Douglas Hinds | Canada (CAN) | 46.52 | |
| 7. | Moses Kyeswa | Uganda (UGA) | 46.79 | |
| 8. | Philip Brown | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 46.81 | |

### Final

The final took place on August 10.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Bert Cameron | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.05 | CR |
| | 5 | Michael Franks | United States (USA) | 45.22 | |
| | 1 | Sunder Nix | United States (USA) | 45.24 | |
| 4 | 7 | Erwin Skamrahl | West Germany (FRG) | 45.37 | |
| 5 | 3 | Hartmut Weber | West Germany (FRG) | 45.49 | |
| 6 | 6 | Thomas Schönlebe | East Germany (GDR) | 45.50 | |
| 7 | 8 | Michael Paul | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.80 | |
| 8 | 2 | Gerson A. Souza | Brazil (BRA) | 45.91 | |