World Athletics Championships 1987/400 m for women

2. World Athletics Championships
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	34 athletes from 22 countries
venue	Rome
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 29th (preliminary) August 30th (semi-finals) August 31st (final)
Medalists Olha Bryshina ( URS )   Petra Müller ( GDR )   Kirsten Emmelmann ( GDR )

The Olympic Stadium in Rome in 2009

The women's 400-meter run at the World Athletics Championships in 1987 was held from August 29 to 31, 1987 in the Olympic Stadium in the Italian capital, Rome .

In this competition, the runners from the GDR won two medals, silver and bronze. World champion was Olha Bryshina , former Olha Wladykina from the Soviet Union . Before the third place in the European Championship in 1986 she won Petra Müller , later Petra Schersing. Bronze went to Kirsten Emmelmann , former Kirsten Siemon.

Existing records

World record	47.60 s	Marita Koch	Canberra , Australia	October 6, 1985
World championship record	47.99 s	Jarmila Kratochvílová	1983 World Cup in Helsinki , Finland	August 10, 1983

The World Cup record was not set and not improved at these World Cups.

Preliminary round

August 29, 1987

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

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Olha Bryshina	Soviet Union	51.62 s
2	Sandie Richards	Jamaica	52.07 s
3	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	52.49 s
4th	Francisca Chepkurui	Kenya	53.21 s
5	Assumpta Achuo Bei	Cameroon	54.18 s
DNS	Kungu Bankombo	Zaire
	Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha	India

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Petra Müller	GDR	51.68 s
2	Gisela Kinzel	BR Germany	52.34 s
3	Blanca Lacambra	Spain	52.46 s
4th	Fabienne Ficher	France	52.59 s
5	Maria Usifo	Nigeria	53.64 s
6th	Jocelyn Joseph	Netherlands Antilles	55.61 s
7th	Anna Cherry	St. Lucia	57.20 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Marija Pinigina	Soviet Union	51.38 s
2	Denean Howard	United States	52.06 s
3	Ute Thimm	BR Germany	52.48 s
4th	Cathy Rattray-Williams	Jamaica	52.64 s
5	Mercy Addy	Ghana	54.13 s
6th	Diana Dunrod	St. Kitts and Nevis	57.64 s
DNF	Mariam Zewde	Ethiopia

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Dagmar Neubauer	GDR	51.96 s
2	Lillie Leatherwood	United States	52.16 s
3	Marita Payne	Canada	52.21 s
4th	Josephine Singarayer	Malaysia	54.56 s
5	Nadine Mbitoloum	Chad	1: 01.71 min
DNS	Nawal el Moutawakil	Morocco
	Adina Valdez	Trinidad and Tobago

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Jillian Richardson	Canada	51.94 s
2	Olga Nazarova	Soviet Union	52.04 s
3	Maria Magnolia Figueirêdo	Brazil	52.29 s
4th	Helga Arendt	BR Germany	52.80 s
5	Judit Forgács	Hungary	53.15 s
6th	Esther Petitón	Cuba	52.50 s
7th	Vanessa Barlow	Western Samoa	1: 01.53 min

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Kirsten Emmelmann	GDR	51.62 s
2	Diane Dixon	United States	51.72 s
3	Ilrey Oliver	Jamaica	53.59 s
4th	Ruth Morris	American Virgin Islands	56.36 s
DNS	Sarmila Ray	Bangladesh
	Cosetta Campana	Italy

Semifinals

August 30, 1987

As fourth in her race, Dagmar Neubauer, formerly Dagmar Rübsam, was eliminated in the semifinals

From each of the three semi-finals, the first two athletes - highlighted in light blue - and the two fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the final.

Semi-final run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Marija Pinigina	Soviet Union	50.83
2	Jillian Richardson	Canada	50.91
3	Lillie Leatherwood	United States	50.95
4th	Dagmar Neubauer	GDR	52.15
5	Cathy Rattray-Williams	Jamaica	52.51
6th	Fabienne Ficher	France	52.58
7th	Helga Arendt	BR Germany	52.80
8th	Blanca Lacambra	Spain	54.72

Semi-final run 2

• 

  Denean Howard missed the final as third in the second semi-final by one place

• 

  Charmaine Crooks did not reach the final with fourth place in her semifinal race

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Petra Müller	GDR	50.15
2	Olha Bryshina	Soviet Union	50.88
3	Denean Howard	United States	51.28
4th	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	51.69
5	Maria Magnolia Figueirêdo	Brazil	52.24
6th	Gisela Kinzel	BR Germany	52.66
7th	Judit Forgács	Hungary	52.99
8th	Ilrey Oliver	Jamaica	53.35

Semi-final run 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Kirsten Emmelmann	GDR	50.53
2	Diane Dixon	United States	50.83
3	Olga Nazarova	Soviet Union	51.07
4th	Ute Thimm	BR Germany	51.23
5	Sandie Richards	Jamaica	51.54
6th	Marita Payne	Canada	51.75
7th	Francisca Chepkurui	Kenya	52.86
DNS	Maria Usifo	Nigeria

final

• 

  The European Championship third from 1986 Petra Müller, later Petra Schersing, became vice world champion

• 

  Bronze medalist Kirsten Emmelmann, former Kirsten Siemon

August 31, 1987

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Olha Bryshina	Soviet Union	49.38
2	Petra Müller	GDR	49.94
3	Kirsten Emmelmann	GDR	50.20
4th	Marija Pinigina	Soviet Union	50.53
5	Lillie Leatherwood	United States	50.83
6th	Jillian Richardson	Canada	51.03
7th	Diane Dixon	United States	51.13
8th	Olga Nazarova	Soviet Union	51.20

Web links

• IAAF World Championships in Athletics, 2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics , accessed March 31, 2020
• Women 400m Athletics II World Championship Rome (ITA) 1987 at todor66.com, accessed March 31, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Women 400 m, Rome 1987 (PDF 10.3 MB, p. 261f), English, accessed on March 31, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400 m women on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on March 31, 2020