# 1969 European Athletics Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 1969 European Athletics Championships was held in Athens, Greece, at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on 16, 17, and 18 September 1969.

## Medalists

| Gold | Jan Werner Poland |
| Silver | Jean-Claude Nallet France |
| Bronze | Stanisław Grędziński Poland |

## Results
### Final

18 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Jan Werner | Poland | 45.75 | CR |
| | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 45.81 | |
| | Stanisław Grędziński | Poland | 45.83 | |
| 4 | Jacques Carette | France | 45.92 | |
| 5 | Aleksandr Bratchikov | Soviet Union | 45.94 | NR |
| 6 | Andrzej Badeński | Poland | 46.09 | |
| 7 | Boris Savchuk | Soviet Union | 46.38 | |
| 8 | Sergio Bello | Italy | 46.63 | |

### Semi-finals

17 September

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andrzej Badeński | Poland | 46.4 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 46.6 | Q |
| 3 | Jacques Carette | France | 46.7 | Q |
| 4 | Boris Savchuk | Soviet Union | 46.7 | Q |
| 5 | Claudio Trachelio | Italy | 46.9 | |
| 6 | John Robertson | Great Britain | 47.0 | |
| 7 | Martin Winbolt-Lewis | Great Britain | 47.2 | |
| 8 | Yuriy Zorin | Soviet Union | 47.8 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stanisław Grędziński | Poland | 46.4 | Q |
| 2 | Aleksandr Bratchikov | Soviet Union | 46.5 | Q |
| 3 | Jan Werner | Poland | 46.5 | Q |
| 4 | Sergio Bello | Italy | 47.0 | Q |
| 5 | Colin Campbell | Great Britain | 47.2 | |
| 6 | Gilles Bertould | France | 47.2 | |
| 7 | Ulf Rönner | Sweden | 47.4 | |
| 8 | Manuel Gayoso | Spain | 47.6 | |

### Heats

16 September

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andrzej Badeński | Poland | 46.9 | Q |
| 2 | Claudio Trachelio | Italy | 47.0 | Q |
| 3 | Boris Savchuk | Soviet Union | 47.3 | Q |
| 4 | Gilles Bertould | France | 47.6 | Q |
| 5 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 48.4 | |
| 6 | Georgi Bozhkov | Bulgaria | 48.5 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jean-Claude Nallet | France | 47.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jan Werner | Poland | 47.8 | Q |
| 3 | John Robertson | Great Britain | 47.8 | Q |
| 4 | Manuel Gayoso | Spain | 48.1 | Q |
| 5 | Emile Jung | Luxembourg | 48.6 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stanisław Grędziński | Poland | 46.6 | Q |
| 2 | Aleksandr Bratchikov | Soviet Union | 46.7 | Q |
| 3 | Colin Campbell | Great Britain | 46.8 | Q |
| 4 | Sergio Bello | Italy | 47.2 | Q |
| 5 | Willy Vandenwyngaerden | Belgium | 47.5 | |
| 6 | Richard Simonsen | Norway | 47.8 | |
| 7 | Haris Dimitriou | Greece | 48.8 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yuriy Zorin | Soviet Union | 46.5 | Q |
| 2 | Jacques Carette | France | 46.7 | Q |
| 3 | Martin Winbolt-Lewis | Great Britain | 46.7 | Q |
| 4 | Ulf Rönner | Sweden | 46.9 | Q |
| 5 | Barcelo de Carvalho | Portugal | 47.2 | |
| 6 | Ramon Magarinos | Spain | 48.0 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.
* Belgium (1)
* Bulgaria (1)
* France (3)
* Greece (1)
* Italy (2)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (3)
* Portugal (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Spain (2)
* Sweden (1)
* Great Britain (3)
* Yugoslavia (1)