2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres


The women's 400 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, from 30 September to 3 October 2019.

Summary

The 2019 season saw only four women break 50 seconds. World leader Shaunae Miller-Uibo did it three times. Salwa Eid Naser broke it once, coming back against a challenge from Aminatou Seyni. Naser was consistently under 51, five times during the 2019 IAAF Diamond League season. Seyni was not allowed to compete in the 400 metres because of the new IAAF testosterone rule. Shericka Jackson was the fourth to break 50 at the Jamaican championships.
Those athletes were the ones to watch in the final. With multi-toned hair, the tall Miller-Uibo started like she meant business, gaining on the stagger against defending champion Phyllis Francis to her outside and by the backstretch, Francis had already made up the stagger on Justyna Święty-Ersetic to her outside. In the center of the track, Naser had also already made up the stagger on Wadeline Jonathas to her outside. Miller-Uibo and Naser hit the 200 meter split marks virtually even. Through the final turn, Naser was moving faster, opening up 4 metres by the home straight. The first time Miller-Uibo was able to see Naser, she was already behind. That final straight is usually Miller-Uibo's territory. She began stretching out her long strides to reel Naser in. Miller-Uibo steadily gained on Naser, pulling in three metres, but it wasn't enough. Miller-Uibo set a new personal best, 48.37, which became the #6 400 metre race of all time. Naser beat her with 48.14, the #3 400 of all time. Jackson held off the American duo of Jonathas and Francis, all personal bests under 50 seconds. Like all previous top 10 women's races, there were two close competitors battling to the line.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
RecordAthleteDateLocation
World47.60Marita Koch6 Oct 1985Canberra, Australia
Championship47.99Jarmila Kratochvílová10 Aug 1983Helsinki, Finland
World Leading49.05Shaunae Miller-Uibo27 Apr 2019Gainesville, United States
African49.10Falilat Ogunkoya29 Jul 1996Atlanta, United States
Asian49.08Salwa Eid Naser20 Jul 2018Monaco
North, Central American and Caribbean48.70Sanya Richards-Ross16 Sep 2006Athens, Greece
South American49.64Ximena Restrepo5 August 1992Barcelona, Spain
European47.60Marita Koch6 Oct 1985Canberra, Australia
Oceanian48.63Cathy Freeman29 Jul 1996Atlanta, United States

The following records were set at the competition:
RecordAthleteDate
World Leading48.14Salwa Eid Naser3 Oct 2019
Asian48.14Salwa Eid Naser3 Oct 2019
Bahraini48.14Salwa Eid Naser3 Oct 2019
North, Central American and Caribbean48.37Shaunae Miller-Uibo3 Oct 2019
Bahamian48.37Shaunae Miller-Uibo3 Oct 2019

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time, was as follows:
DateTimeRound
30 September18:20Heats
1 October20:50Semi-finals
3 October23:50Final

Results

Heats

The first three in each heat and the next six fastest qualified for the final.
RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
123Wadeline Jonathas50.57Q
242Galefele Moroko50.59Q,
362Salwa Eid Naser50.74Q
412Phyllis Francis50.77Q
528Shericka Jackson51.13Q
639Shakima Wimbley51.17Q
726Bendere Oboya51.21Q,
843Stephenie Ann McPherson51.21Q
955Shaunae Miller-Uibo51.30Q
1027Lisanne de Witte51.31q
1138Iga Baumgart-Witan51.34Q
1168Justyna Święty-Ersetic51.34Q
1345Favour Ofili51.51Q,
1432Laviai Nielsen51.52Q
1564Paola Morán51.58Q
1629Emily Diamond51.66q,
1747Aliyah Abrams51.73q
1856Déborah Sananes51.76Q
1925Patience Okon George51.77q
2048Kendall Ellis51.82q
2149Roxana Gómez51.85q
2258Mary Moraa51.85Q
2324Eleni Artymata51.90
2437Tiffani Silva51.96
2552Polina Miller51.96
2665Kseniya Aksyonova51.99
2736Aiyanna Stiverne52.03
2814Sada Williams52.14Q
2922Alyona Mamina52.15
3046Maggie Barrie52.16
3133Leni Shida52.22
3213Lada Vondrová52.23Q
3363Madeline Price52.24
3454Anna Kiełbasińska52.25
3557Anastasia Le-Roy52.26
3659Irini Vasiliou52.31
3767Anjali Devi52.33
3835Maria Benedicta Chigbolu52.63
3917Anita Horvat52.73
4016Cátia Azevedo52.79
4166Amandine Brossier52.81
4218Christine Botlogetswe53.27
4334Janet Richard54.33
4444Gabriella O'Grady54.99
4515Hellen Syombua57.07
4669Aishath Himna Hassan59.91
4753Kenza Sosse1:06.76
19Ingrid Yahoska Narvaez

Semi-finals

The first two in each heat and the next two fastest qualified for the final.

Final

The final was started on 3 October at 23:50.
RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
5Salwa Eid Naser48.14',
7Shaunae Miller-Uibo48.37'
3Shericka Jackson49.47
46Wadeline Jonathas49.60
58Phyllis Francis49.61
64Stephenie Ann McPherson50.89
79Justyna Święty-Ersetic50.95
82Iga Baumgart-Witan51.29