# 2013 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 11–13 August. The winning margin was 0.66 seconds.
The final had the 2008 Olympic Champion/2009 World Champion LaShawn Merritt and current defending champion and Olympic champion Kirani James in lanes 6 and 5 respectively. At the gun, Merritt took it out hard, passing Luguelín Santos to his outside and leaving him a couple meters behind at the halfway mark. James worked hard along the backstretch and into the turn to keep up with Merritt reaching the final straight two meters back, Jonathan Borlée one meter further back while the rest of the field almost 5 meters back with Santos the last out of the turn. Then the long striding James began to flail in quicksand. As Merritt charged home for the personal best 43.74 win, James fell back through the field. In lane 4, Tony McQuay asserted himself against the rest of the field, the first to pass James and run home for the silver. Borlée was clearly the next but Santos came from dead last to catch him just before the line to take the bronze.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
| World record | Michael Johnson (USA) | 43.18 | Sevilla, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| Championship record | Michael Johnson (USA) | 43.18 | Sevilla, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| World Leading | Kirani James (GRN) | 43.96 | Saint-Denis, France | 6 July 2013 |
| African Record | Gary Kikaya (COD) | 44.10 | Stuttgart, Germany | 9 September 2006 |
| Asian Record | Mohamed Amer Al-Malky (OMA) | 44.56 | Budapest, Hungary | 12 August 1988 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Michael Johnson (USA) | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| South American Record | Sanderlei Parrela (BRA) | 44.29 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| 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 standards

| A time | B time |
| 45.28 | 45.60 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 11 August 2013 | 11:05 | Heats |
| 12 August 2013 | 20:05 | Semifinals |
| 13 August 2013 | 21:50 | Final |

## Results

| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advanced to the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 6 | LaShawn Merritt | United States (USA) | 44.92 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 7 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 45.00 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 4 | Tony McQuay | United States (USA) | 45.06 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Anderson Henriques | Brazil (BRA) | 45.13 | Q, PB |
| 5 | 3 | 8 | Deon Lendore | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.17 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 2 | Jarrin Solomon | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.19 | Q, PB |
| 7 | 5 | 8 | Javere Bell | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.20 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 8 | Luguelín Santos | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 45.23 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 2 | Jonathan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.24 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 7 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.32 | Q |
| 11 | 2 | 7 | Javon Francis | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.37 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | 6 | Matteo Galvan | Italy (ITA) | 45.39 | Q, PB |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | Yousef Masrahi | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 45.39 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 5 | Chris Brown | Bahamas (BAH) | 45.39 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 2 | Nigel Levine | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.41 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 45.44 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | 3 | Arman Hall | United States (USA) | 45.45 | q |
| 18 | 1 | 3 | Nick Ekelund-Arenander | Denmark (DEN) | 45.50 | Q |
| 19 | 3 | 5 | José Meléndez | Venezuela (VEN) | 45.82 | Q, PB |
| 20 | 5 | 3 | Gustavo Cuesta | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 45.93 | Q |
| 21 | 4 | 3 | Omar Johnson | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.97 | q |
| 22 | 2 | 4 | Brian Gregan | Ireland (IRL) | 46.04 | q |
| 23 | 1 | 5 | Nery Brenes | Costa Rica (CRC) | 46.16 | Q |
| 24 | 4 | 4 | Yuzo Kanemaru | Japan (JPN) | 46.18 | q |
| 25 | 3 | 7 | Vladimir Krasnov | Russia (RUS) | 46.23 | |
| 26 | 5 | 4 | Wayde van Niekerk | South Africa (RSA) | 46.37 | |
| 27 | 3 | 4 | LaToy Williams | Bahamas (BAH) | 46.65 | |
| 28 | 5 | 5 | Kevin Moore | Malta (MLT) | 47.52 | |
| 29 | 1 | 6 | Ramon Miller | Bahamas (BAH) | 47.53 | |
| 30 | 5 | 6 | Angelo Garland | Turks and Caicos Islands (TKS) | 48.65 | |
| 31 | 3 | 2 | Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Rositi | Brunei (BRU) | 49.98 | |
| 32 | 2 | 8 | Hamdinou Cheikh El Wely | Mauritania (MTN) | 52.33 | PB |
| | 1 | 7 | Yoandys Lescay | Cuba (CUB) | DQ | R 163.3 |
| | 4 | 6 | Daniel Aleman | Nicaragua (NCA) | DQ | R 163.3 |
| | 1 | 8 | Zaw Win Thet | Myanmar (MYA) | DQ | R 163.3 |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 6 | LaShawn Merritt | United States (USA) | 44.60 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | 8 | Yousef Masrahi | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 44.61 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | Tony McQuay | United States (USA) | 44.66 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.81 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 6 | Luguelín Santos | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 44.83 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 7 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 44.84 | q, NR |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | Jonathan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 44.85 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 5 | Anderson Henriques | Brazil (BRA) | 44.95 | q, PB |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | Kevin Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 45.03 | |
| 10 | 2 | 8 | Chris Brown | Bahamas (BAH) | 45.18 | SB |
| 11 | 3 | 5 | Jarrin Solomon | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.43 | |
| 12 | 2 | 4 | Deon Lendore | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 45.47 | |
| 13 | 3 | 2 | Arman Hall | United States (USA) | 45.54 | |
| 14 | 3 | 8 | Nigel Levine | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 45.60 | |
| 15 | 1 | 6 | Javon Francis | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.62 | |
| 16 | 2 | 5 | Matteo Galvan | Italy (ITA) | 45.69 | |
| 17 | 3 | 3 | Javere Bell | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.77 | |
| 18 | 1 | 7 | Nick Ekelund-Arenander | Denmark (DEN) | 45.89 | |
| 19 | 2 | 1 | Omar Johnson | Jamaica (JAM) | 45.89 | |
| 20 | 2 | 2 | Gustavo Cuesta | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 45.93 | |
| 21 | 1 | 2 | Brian Gregan | Ireland (IRL) | 45.98 | |
| 22 | 2 | 7 | José Meléndez | Venezuela (VEN) | 46.22 | |
| 23 | 1 | 1 | Yuzo Kanemaru | Japan (JPN) | 46.28 | |
| 24 | 3 | 1 | Nery Brenes | Costa Rica (CRC) | 46.34 | |

### Final

The final was held at 21:50.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | LaShawn Merritt | United States (USA) | 43.74 | PB, WL |
| | 4 | Tony McQuay | United States (USA) | 44.40 | PB |
| | 7 | Luguelín Santos | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 44.52 | SB |
| 4 | 8 | Jonathan Borlée | Belgium (BEL) | 44.54 | SB |
| 5 | 1 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 44.91 | |
| 6 | 3 | Yousef Masrahi | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 44.97 | |
| 7 | 5 | Kirani James | Grenada (GRN) | 44.99 | |
| 8 | 2 | Anderson Henriques | Brazil (BRA) | 45.03 | |