European Athletics Championships 1966/400 m women

8th European Athletics Championships
discipline	400-meter run for women
city	Budapest
Stadion	Népstadion
Participants	30 athletes from 16 countries
Competition phase	August 30th (preliminary) August 31st (semi-finals) September 1st (final)
Medalists
gold	Anna Chmelková ( TCH )
silver	Antónia Munkácsi ( HUN )
bronze	Monique Noirot ( FRA )

The Népstadion at an event
in 1953

The women's 400-meter run at the 1966 European Athletics Championships was held from August 30 to September 1, 1966 in Budapest's Népstadion .

Czechoslovak Anna Chmelková became European champion . She won ahead of the Hungarian Antónia Munkácsi. Bronze went to Monique Noirot from France.

Records

Existing records

World record	51.9 s	Shin Kim-dan	Pyongyang , North Korea	October 23, 1962
European record	52.2 s	Ann Packer	OS Tokyo , Japan	17th October 1964
Championship record	53.4 s	Marija Itkina	EM Belgrade , Yugoslavia	September 14, 1962

Record improvement

In the final on September 1st, Anna Chmelková improved the existing EM record by five tenths of a second to 52.9 seconds.  

Preliminary round

August 30, 1966, 5:10 p.m.

The preliminary round was carried out in five runs. The first three athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the fastest of the other runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Paola Pigni	Italy	54.8
2	Karin Wallgren	Sweden	55.3
3	Grażyna Chodorek	Poland	55.7
4th	Ljiljana Petnjarić	Yugoslavia	55.8
5	Lilita Zagere	Soviet Union	56.3
6th	Adile Dani	Albania	59.3 NO

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Anna Chmelková	Czechoslovakia	53.6 NO
2	Lia Louer	Netherlands	54.5
3	Deirdre Watkinson	Great Britain	54.9
4th	Sára Szenteleki	Hungary	54.9
5	Maeve Kyle	Ireland	55.4
6th	Brigitte Flach	GDR	56.0

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Zsuzsa Szabó	Hungary	54.6
2	Stans Brehm	Netherlands	54.9
3	Tove Bakkejord	Norway	55.1
4th	Natalia Runova	Soviet Union	55.2
5	Ika Maričić	Yugoslavia	55.2
6th	Francine Peyskens	Belgium	57.6 NO

Forward 4

Celina Gerwin, under her previous name Celina Jesionowska at the European Championships in 1954 and 1958 over 100 and 200 meters in the semi-finals, was eliminated here in sixth place in her preliminary run

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Rosemary Stirling	Great Britain	54.2
2	Berit Berthelsen	Norway	54.4
3	Hilda Slaman	Netherlands	54.7
4th	Évelyne Lebret	France	55.0
5	Libuše Macounová	Czechoslovakia	55.4
6th	Donata Govoni	Italy	55.9

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	54.0
2	Monique Noirot	France	54.4
3	Helga Henning	BR Germany	54.5
4th	Lyudmila Samotyosova	Soviet Union	54.6
5	Libuše Eichlerová	Czechoslovakia	55.3
6th	Celina Gerwin	Poland	55.9

Semifinals

August 31, 1966, 6:10 p.m.

In each of the two semi-finals, the first four athletes - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Run 1

Hilda Slaman (left) and Stans Brehm - each sixth in their semi-finals - did not reach the final

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Zsuzsa Szabó	Hungary	54.0
2	Anna Chmelková	Czechoslovakia	54.0
3	Berit Berthelsen	Norway	54.2 NO
4th	Lia Louer	Netherlands	54.4
5	Karin Wallgren	Sweden	54.5 NO
6th	Hilda Slaman	Netherlands	54.8
7th	Deirdre Watkinson	Great Britain	55.7
8th	Grażyna Chodorek	Poland	56.8

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	53.9
2	Monique Noirot	France	54.0
3	Helga Henning	BR Germany	54.2
4th	Lyudmila Samotyosova	Soviet Union	54.2
5	Rosemary Stirling	Great Britain	54.5
6th	Stans Brehm	Netherlands	54.9
7th	Tove Bakkejord	Norway	55.4
8th	Paola Pigni	Italy	55.6

final

September 1, 1966

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Anna Chmelková	Czechoslovakia	52.9 CR / NO
2	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	53.9
3	Monique Noirot	France	54.0
4th	Lyudmila Samotyosova	Soviet Union	54.0
5	Helga Henning	BR Germany	54.1 BR
6th	Berit Berthelsen	Norway	54.1 NO
7th	Zsuzsa Szabó	Hungary	54.3
8th	Lia Louer	Netherlands	55.0

• 

  Zsuzsa Szabó, silver medalist over 800 meters , finished seventh in this final

• 

  Lia Louer came in eighth

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Budapest 1966 at european-athletics.org, accessed May 30, 2019
• Women 400m European Championship 1966 Budapest on todor66.com, accessed May 30, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Women 400m European Championship 1962 Beograd, p. 403 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on May 30, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1966 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed May 30, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1966, 400 m women on sportschau.de, accessed on May 30, 2019
• 8th European Athletics Championships 1966 in Budapest, Hungary from ifosta.de, accessed on May 30, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400m women , accessed May 30, 2019
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 400 m Women , p. 51 (PDF, 271 kB), accessed on May 30, 2019 (French / English)