World Athletics Championships 1997/400 m hurdles for women

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Women
Attendees	27 athletes from 20 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 5th (preliminary) August 6th (semi-finals) August 8th (final)
Medalists Nezha Bidouane ( MAR )   Deon Hemmings ( JAM )   Kim Batten ( USA )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The women's 400-meter hurdles at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held from August 5th to 8th, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

The world champion was the Moroccan Nezha Bidouane , who set a new African record in the semifinals and finals. Second place went to the Jamaican Olympic champion in 1996 and third in the 1995 World Cup, Deon Hemmings , who won bronze on the final day of these world championships in her country's 4 x 400 meter relay . Third was the US defending champion, Olympic runner-up in 1996 and world record holder Kim Batten. On the final day, she also received silver with her 4 x 400 meter relay.

Existing records

World record	52.61 s	Kim Batten	World Cup 1995 in Gothenburg , Sweden	August 11, 1995
World championship record

The existing world championship record was not set and not improved at these world championships.

Two continental records and five other national records were set:

• Continental records:
  • 53.48 s (African record) - Nezha Bidouane ( Morocco ), 2nd semi-final on August 6th
  • 52.97 s (African record) - Nezha Bidouane (Morocco), final on August 8th
• National records:
  • 54.84 s - Ester Goossens ( Netherlands ), 1st lead on August 5th
  • 54.61s - Susan Smith ( Ireland ), 3rd lead on August 5th
  • 54.02 s - Tetiana Tereshchuk ( Ukraine ), 1st semi-final on August 6th
  • 54.74s - Andrea Blackett ( Barbados ), 2nd semi-finals on August 6th
  • 53.81s - Tetjana Tereshchuk (Ukraine), final on August 6th

Preliminary round

August 5, 1997, 5:35 p.m.

The preliminary round was held in four runs. The first four athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the quarter-finals.

Forward 1

August 5, 1997, 8:35 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Deon Hemmings	Jamaica	0054.42 s
2	Sally Gunnell	Great Britain	0054.53 s
3	Ester Goossens	Netherlands	0054.84 s NO
4th	Andrea Blackett	Barbados	0055.26 s
5	Tazzjana Ljadouskaja	Belarus	0056.88 s
6th	Rebecca Buchanan	United States	0057.79 s
7th	Christína Panágou	Greece	1: 01.14 min

Forward 2

August 5, 1997, 8:41 am

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Tetiana Tereshchuk	Ukraine	55.18 s
2	Tonja Buford-Bailey	United States	55.25 s
3	Anna Knoros	Russia	55.34 s
4th	Miriam Alonso	Spain	55.57 s
5	Guðrún Arnardóttir	Iceland	55.76 s
6th	Donalda Duprey	Canada	56.73 s
7th	Inicia da Fonseca	Sao Tome and Principe	1: 01.39 min

Forward 3

August 5, 1997, 8:47 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Kim Batten	United States	54.56 s
2	Susan Smith	Ireland	54.61 s NO
3	Ekaterina Bachvalova	Russia	55.08 s
4th	Karlene Haughton	Jamaica	55.27 s
5	Judit Szekeres	Hungary	55.99 s
6th	Carla Barbarino	Italy	57.05 s
7th	Rikke Rønholt	Denmark	57.26 s

Irina Lenskiy (here in 2013) missed the semifinals by one place

Forward 4

August 5, 1997, 8:53 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	time
1	Nezha Bidouane	Morocco	55.53 s
2	Silvia Rieger	Germany	55.63 s
3	Debbie-Ann Parris	Jamaica	55.84 s
4th	Irina Lenskiy	Ukraine	56.05 s
5	Natalija Torzina	Kazakhstan	55.64 s
6th	Ryan Tolbert	United States	55.67 s

Semifinals

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

Semi-final run 1

August 6, 1997, 7:50 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Kim Batten	United States	53.67
2	Tetiana Tereshchuk	Ukraine	54.02 NO
3	Debbie-Ann Parris	Jamaica	54.72
4th	Susan Smith	Ireland	54.72
5	Ekaterina Bachvalova	Russia	55.02
6th	Silvia Rieger	Germany	55.08
7th	Karlene Haughton	Jamaica	55.33
8th	Miriam Alonso	Spain	55.49

Semi-final run 2

Sally Gunnell, 1992 Olympic champion, 1993 world champion and 1991 runner-up world champion, did not take part in her semi-final race

August 6, 1997, 7:58 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Nezha Bidouane	Morocco	53.48 AF
2	Deon Hemmings	Jamaica	53.82
3	Tonja Buford-Bailey	United States	54.48
4th	Andrea Blackett	Barbados	54.74 NO
5	Guðrún Arnardóttir	Iceland	54.93
6th	Anna Knoros	Russia	55.28
7th	Ester Goossens	Netherlands	56.17
DNS	Sally Gunnell	Great Britain

final

World champion with African record: Nezha Bidouane

August 8, 1997, 8:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Nezha Bidouane	Morocco	52.97 AF
2	Deon Hemmings	Jamaica	53.09
3	Kim Batten	United States	53.52
4th	Tetiana Tereshchuk	Ukraine	53.81 NO
5	Debbie-Ann Parris	Jamaica	54.19
6th	Tonja Buford-Bailey	United States	54.77
7th	Susan Smith	Ireland	55.25
8th	Andrea Blackett	Barbados	55.63

• 

  Susan Smith came in seventh place

• 

  Eighth place for Andrea Blackett

Video

• 1997 World Championships Women's 400 Meters Hurdles nezha bidouane , video posted March 10, 2010 on youtube.com, accessed July 3, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 4, 2020
• Women 400m Hurdles Athletics VI World Championship 1997 Athens (GRE) at todor66.com, accessed May 18, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Women 400m Hurdles, Athens 1997, p. 306f (PDF; 10.3 MB), English, accessed on July 3, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 400 m hurdles women on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on July 3, 2020