European Athletics Championships 1978/400 m men

12th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 400-meter run
city	Prague , Czechoslovakia today Czech Republic
Stadion	Evžena Rošického Stadium
Attendees	25 athletes from 14 countries
Competition phase	August 30th (preliminary) August 31st (semi-finals) September 1st (final)
Medalist
gold	Franz-Peter Hofmeister ( FRG )
silver	Karel Kolář ( TCH )
bronze	Francis Demarthon ( FRA )

The stadium Evžena Rošického of Prague
in 2009

The 400-meter race of the men at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was from August 30 to September 1, 1978 in the stadium Evžena Rošického of Prague held.

The German 200 meter vice- European champion from 1971 Franz-Peter Hofmeister became European champion . Second place went to the Czechoslovak Karel Kolář . The French Francis Demarthon won the bronze medal.

Existing records

World record	43.86 s	Lee Evans	OS Mexico City , Mexico	October 18, 1968
European record	44.70 s	Karl Honz	Munich , Federal Republic of Germany (now Germany )	July 21, 1972
Championship record	45.04 s		EM Rome , Italy	4th September 1974

The existing EM record was not set at these European championships and was not improved.

Preliminary round

August 30, 1978, 5:15 p.m.

The preliminary round was held in four runs. The first three athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - and the four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals.

Forward 1

Sixth place in the first heat was not enough for Koen Gijsbers for the semi-finals

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Karel Kolář	Czechoslovakia	46.33
2	Jerzy Pietrzyk	Poland	46.75
3	Viktor Burakov	Soviet Union	47.18
4th	Zeljko Knapic	Yugoslavia	47.51 SB
5	Cornelien Gombault	France	47.91 PB
6th	Mike Bayle	Luxembourg	48.71 PB
7th	Alfons Brydenbach	Belgium	53.05

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Franz-Peter Hofmeister	BR Germany	46.28
2	Richard Ashton	Great Britain	46.63
3	Miroslav Tulis	Czechoslovakia	46.77
4th	Maurice Volnar	France	46.94 PB
5	Eddy De Leeuw	Belgium	47.27
6th	Koen Gijsbers	Netherlands	47.65 SB

Frank Schaffer was eliminated in the preliminary round as sixth in his race

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Lothar war	BR Germany	46.57
2	Francis Demarthon	France	46.73
3	Glen Cohen	Great Britain	47.05
4th	Jens Hansen	Denmark	47.28 PB
5	Rijk van den Berghe	Belgium	47.55 SB
6th	Ossi Karttunen	Finland	48.02 SB

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Bernd Herrmann	BR Germany	46.50
2	Terry Whitehead	Great Britain	46.61
3	Ryszard Podlas	Poland	46.81
4th	Stefano Malinverni	Italy	47.03 SB
5	Markku Kukkoaho	Finland	47.33 SB
6th	Frank Schaffer	GDR	47.59 SB

Eddy De Leeuw (here in 2013) made it to the semi-finals and was eliminated there in sixth place in his race

Ryszard Podlas (here in 2013) did not reach the final by finishing sixth in his semifinal run

Semifinals

August 31, 1978

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

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Jerzy Pietrzyk	Poland	46.27
2	Karel Kolář	Czechoslovakia	46.28
3	Lothar war	BR Germany	46.33
4th	Terry Whitehead	Great Britain	46.69
5	Glen Cohen	Great Britain	46.91
6th	Eddy De Leeuw	Belgium	47.17 SB
7th	Stefano Malinverni	Italy	47.18
8th	Maurice Volnar	France	47.50

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Bernd Herrmann	BR Germany	46.09 SB
2	Franz-Peter Hofmeister	BR Germany	46.18
3	Francis Demarthon	France	46.26
4th	Richard Ashton	Great Britain	46.32
5	Miroslav Tulis	Czechoslovakia	46.37 SB
6th	Ryszard Podlas	Poland	46.59 SB
7th	Viktor Burakov	Soviet Union	46.91 SB
8th	Jens Hansen	Denmark	47.35

final

Jerzy Pietrzyk did not finish in this final

September 1, 1978, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Franz-Peter Hofmeister	BR Germany	45.73 SB
2	Karel Kolář	Czechoslovakia	45.77 PB
3	Francis Demarthon	France	45.97 SB
4th	Lothar war	BR Germany	46.22 SB
5	Terry Whitehead	Great Britain	46.23 SB
6th	Richard Ashton	Great Britain	46.34
7th	Bernd Herrmann	BR Germany	46.69
DNF	Jerzy Pietrzyk	Poland

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Prague 1978 from european-athletics.org, accessed July 27, 2019
• European Championship 1978 Prague, Men 400m on todor66.com, accessed July 27, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1978 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed July 27, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men 400m European Championship 1974 Rome, p. 428, Spanish / English (PDF, 13,363 kB) at european-athletics.org, accessed on July 27, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1978, 400 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on July 27, 2019
• 12th European Athletics Championships 1978 in Prague, Czechoslovakia from ifosta.de, accessed on July 27, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400m men , accessed July 27, 2019
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 400 m Men , p. 10 (PDF, 271 kB), Spanish / English, accessed on July 27, 2019