European Athletics Championships 1986/400 m men

14th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 400-meter run
city	Stuttgart
Stadion	Neckar Stadium
Attendees	25 athletes from 13 countries
Competition phase	August 27th (preliminary) August 28th (semi-finals) August 29th (final)
Medalist
gold	Roger Black ( GBR )
silver	Thomas Schönlebe ( GDR )
bronze	Mathias Schersing ( GDR )

The Stuttgart stadium - today the Mercedes-Benz Arena in 2011

The men's 400-meter run at the European Athletics Championships in 1986 was held from August 27 to 29, 1986 in the Neckar Stadium in Stuttgart .

In this competition there were two medals, silver and bronze, for the runners from the GDR. The European champion was the Briton Roger Black . He won ahead of Thomas Schönlebe and Mathias Schersing .

Records

Existing records

World record	43.86 s	Lee Evans	OS Mexico City , Mexico	October 18, 1968
European record	44.50 s	Erwin Skamrahl	Munich , FR Germany	July 26, 1983
EM record	44.72 s	Hartmut Weber	EM Athens , Greece	September 9, 1982

Record improvement

European champion Roger Black improved the existing championship record in the final on August 29 by thirteen hundredths of a second to 44.59 s.  

Preliminary round

August 27, 1986, 6:25 p.m.

The preliminary round was held in four runs. The first four athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the semi-finals.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Roger Black	Great Britain	45.40
2	Antonio Sánchez	Spain	45.78
3	Erwin Skamrahl	BR Germany	46.11
4th	Arjen Visserman	Netherlands	46.12
5	Mauro Zuliani	Italy	46.53
6th	Ismail Mačev	Yugoslavia	47.52
7th	Fikret Tulumtaş	Turkey	48.97

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Philip Brown	Great Britain	46.00
2	Mathias Schersing	GDR	46.04
3	Derek O'Connor	Ireland	46.09
4th	Jörg Vaihinger	BR Germany	46.23
5	Vladimir Prosin	Soviet Union	46.32
6th	Gusztáv Menczer	Hungary	46.40

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Derek Redmond	Great Britain	45.75
2	Ralf Lübke	BR Germany	45.88
3	Alexander Kurochkin	Soviet Union	46.18
4th	Aldo Canti	France	46.23
5	Ángel Heras	Spain	46.41
6th	Gerry Delaney	Ireland	46.88

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Thomas Schönlebe	GDR	45.54
2	Roberto Ribaud	Italy	45.69
3	Yann Quentrec	France	45.77
4th	Arkady Kornilov	Soviet Union	46.09
5	Željko Knapić	Yugoslavia	47.81
DSQ	Marcel Arnold	Switzerland

Semifinals

August 28, 1986, 5:35 p.m.

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	Roger Black	Great Britain	45.33
2	Mathias Schersing	GDR	45.38
3	Aldo Canti	France	45.62
4th	Erwin Skamrahl	BR Germany	45.81
5	Yann Quentrec	France	45.89
6th	Alexander Kurochkin	Soviet Union	46.01
7th	Roberto Ribaud	Italy	46.22
8th	Philip Brown	Great Britain	46.61

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Derek Redmond	Great Britain	45.35
2	Thomas Schönlebe	GDR	45.42
3	Antonio Sánchez	Spain	45.71
4th	Ralf Lübke	BR Germany	45.72
5	Derek O'Connor	Ireland	45.94
6th	Jörg Vaihinger	BR Germany	46.36
7th	Arkady Kornilov	Soviet Union	46.42
8th	Arjen Visserman	Netherlands	46.66

final

European champion Roger Black - here as a TV presenter in 2011

August 29, 1986, 8:45 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Roger Black	Great Britain	44.59 CR
2	Thomas Schönlebe	GDR	44.63
3	Mathias Schersing	GDR	44.85
4th	Derek Redmond	Great Britain	45.25
5	Ralf Lübke	BR Germany	45.35
6th	Antonio Sánchez	Spain	45.41
7th	Aldo Canti	France	45.93
8th	Erwin Skamrahl	BR Germany	46.38

• 

  Vice European Champion Thomas Schönlebe

• 

  Bronze medalist Mathias Schersing

• 

  Derek Redmond (here in 2007) took fourth place

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Stuttgart 1986 at european-athletics.org, accessed on August 28, 2019
• Men 400m European Championship 1986 Stuttgart on todor66.com, accessed on August 28, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1986 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on August 28, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men 400m European Championship 1986 Stuttgart, p. 444 (PDF, 13,363 kB), Spanish / English at european-athletics.org, accessed on August 28, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1986, 100 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on August 28, 2019
• 14th European Athletics Championships 1986 in Stuttgart, Germany from ifosta.de, accessed on August 28, 2019

Video

• Roger Black 400m Gold Medal at European Championships in 1986 , published July 17, 2015 on youtube.com (English), accessed August 31, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400m men , accessed August 28, 2019
2. ↑ Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 400 m Men , p. 10 (PDF, 271 kB), Spanish / English, accessed on August 28, 2019