2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres
| Men's 400 metres at the 2015 World Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wayde van Niekerk fourth fastest in history | ||||||||||
| Venue | Beijing National Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates |
23 August (heats) 24 August (semifinals) 26 August (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 44 from 27 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 43.48 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The men's 400 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 23, 24 and 26 August.[1][2]
Summary
Since 2008, all of the major gold medals had been won by either reigning Olympic champion Kirani James or defending champion LaShawn Merritt. In the final, both were out ahead, along with Wayde van Niekerk and Isaac Makwala, Africans with none of those credentials. Through the final turn, van Niekerk took sole possession of the lead, Makwala passed James to hit the home stretch with a slight advantage in second. Far off the pace was Luguelín Santos. Down the home stretch, Makwala was unable to hold his position and was passed by a burst from James. James was unable to hold that burst, Merritt cruised past James but was unable to make any headway on van Niekerk's lead.[3] Merritt made a desperate lean that actually cost him time but was well beaten, Santos followed Merritt down the home stretch to take fourth beating the National Record he set in the semi-final round.[4] van Niekerk's 43.48 improved upon his own African Record, putting him at number 4 on the all-time list. For the first time in history, three men broke 44 seconds. Merritt set the fastest non-winning time of all time at 43.65 seconds. In fact, places 2, 3 and 4 were all the fastest ever in that position.[5]
Records
Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:[6]
| World record |  |
43.18 | Sevilla, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| Championship record | ||||
| World Leading |  |
43.72 | La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland | 5 July 2015 |
| African Record | ||||
| Asian Record |  |
44.27 | La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland | 5 July 2015 |
| NACAC record | |
43.18 | Sevilla, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| South American Record |  |
44.29 | Sevilla, Spain | 26 August 1999 |
| European Record |  |
44.33 | Rome, Italy | 3 September 1987 |
| Oceanian record |  |
44.38 | Seoul, South Korea | 26 September 1988 |
| The following records were established during the competition: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian Record |  |
43.93 | Beijing, China | 23 August 2015 |
| World Leading |  |
43.48 | Beijing, China | 26 August 2015 |
| African Record | ||||
Qualification standards
| Entry standards[7] |
|---|
| 45.50 |
Schedule
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| 23 August 2015 | 11:10 | Heats |
| 24 August 2015 | 20:05 | Semifinals |
| 26 August 2015 | 21:25 | Final |
All times are local times (UTC+8)
Results
| KEY: | Q | Qualified | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |
Heats
Qualification: Best 3 (Q) and next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.[8]
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Semifinals
Qualification: Best 2 (Q) and next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.[9]
Final
The final was held at 21:25.[10]
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 6 | Wayde van Niekerk | | 43.48 | WL, AR |
 | 8 | LaShawn Merritt | | 43.65 | PB |
 | 5 | Kirani James |  | 43.78 | SB |
| 4 | 7 | Luguelín Santos |  | 44.11 | NR |
| 5 | 4 | Isaac Makwala | | 44.63 | |
| 6 | 3 | Rabah Yousif |  | 44.68 | |
| 7 | 2 | Machel Cedenio |  | 45.06 | |
| 8 | 9 | Yousef Masrahi | | 45.15 |
References
- ↑ "Beijing 2015: Timetable". Beijing 2015. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ↑ Start list
- ↑ "World Championships 2015: Wayde van Niekerk wins 400m gold and is taken to hospital with exhaustion". Daily Telegraph. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "World Championships: Wayde van Niekerk wins superb 400m". BBC Sport. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "Wayde van Niekerk wins men's 400m final at world championships". Guardian. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ↑ "Records & Lists – 400 meters". IAAF. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
- ↑ IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 – Standards (PDF), IAAF, 2014, retrieved 17 August 2015
- ↑ Heats results
- ↑ Semifinals results
- ↑ Final results