2016 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m hurdles (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter hurdles
gender	Women
Attendees	48 athletes from 33 countries
Competition location	Estádio Nilton Santos
Competition phase	August 15, 2016 (preliminary round) August 16, 2016 (semi-finals) August 18, 2016 (final)
Medalists Dalilah Muhammad ( USA )   Sara Petersen ( DEN )   Ashley Spencer ( USA )

The women's 400-meter hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro took place on August 15, 16 and 18, 2016 at the Estádio Nilton Santos . 48 athletes took part.

The American Dalilah Muhammad became the Olympic champion . The Danish Sara Petersen won the silver medal. Bronze went to the American Ashley Spencer .

Jackie Baumann started for Germany and was eliminated in the preliminary round.
The Swiss Petra Fontanive and Léa Sprunger also failed in the preliminary round.
Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic Champion	Natalja Antjuch ( Russia )	52.70 s	London 2012
world champion	Zuzana Hejnová ( Czech Republic )	53.50 s	Beijing 2015
European champion	Sara Slott Petersen ( Denmark )	55.12 s	Amsterdam 2016
North / Central America / Caribbean Champion	Tiffany Williams ( USA )	54.35 s	San José 2015
South America Champion	Déborah Rodríguez ( Uruguay )	56.33 s	Lima 2015
Asian champion	Kemi Adekoya ( Bahrain )	54.31 s	Wuhan 2015
African champion	Wenda Nel ( South Africa )	54.86 s	Durban 2016
Oceania champion	Betty Burua ( Papua New Guinea )	59.10 s	Cairns 2015

Existing records

World record	Julija Pechonkina ( Russia )	52.34 s	Tula , Russia	August 8, 2003
Olympic record	Melaine Walker ( Jamaica )	52.64 s	Beijing Final , People's Republic of China	August 20, 2008

Note: All times are based on Rio local time ( UTC-3 ).

Preliminary round

As sixth of her preliminary run, the German Jackie Baumann did not reach the next round

The Swiss Léa Sprunger was eliminated as fifth in her preliminary run

The Moroccan Hayat Lambarki was seventh in her preliminary run and was eliminated

A seventh place in her preliminary run was not enough for the Belgian Axelle Dauwens to reach the next lap

Fifth place in her preliminary round was not enough for the French Phara Anacharsis to be in the semifinals

The preliminary round was carried out in six runs. The first three athletes of each run qualified for the semi-finals. In addition, the six fastest drivers, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

August 15, 2016, 9:50 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Ristananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.88
2	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	55.54
3	Ayomide Folorunso	Italy	55.78
4th	Stina Troest	Denmark	56.06
5	Sydney McLaughlin	United States	56.32
6th	Petra Fontanive	Switzerland	56.80
7th	Zurian Hechavarría	Cuba	57.28
8th	Maureen Jelagat Maiyo	Kenya	57.97

Run 2

August 15, 2016, 9:58 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Joanna Linkiewicz	Poland	56.07
2	Janieve Russell	Jamaica	56.13
3	Grace Claxton	Puerto Rico	56.40
4th	Tia-Adana Belle	Barbados	56.68
5	Sparkle McKnight	Trinidad and Tobago	56.80
6th	Jackie Baumann	Germany	59.04
7th	Drita Islami	Macedonia	1: 01.18 min
8th	Chanice Chase	Canada	1: 02.83 min

Run 3

August 15, 2016, 10:06 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Ashley Spencer	United States	55.12
2	Leah Nugent	Jamaica	55.66
3	Viktoria Tkachuk	Ukraine	56.14
4th	Denisa Rosolová	Czech Republic	56.36
5	Léa Sprunger	Switzerland	56.58
6th	Amalie Iuel	Norway	56.75
7th	Hayat Lambarki	Morocco	1: 00.83 min
8th	Lilit Harutjunjan	Armenia	1: 03.13 min

Run 4

August 15, 2016, 10:14 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Sara Petersen	Denmark	55.20
2	Wenda Nel	South Africa	55.55
3	Emilia Ankiewicz	Poland	55.89
4th	Yadisleidy Pedroso	Italy	55.91
5	Janeil Bellille	Trinidad and Tobago	56.25
6th	Kazzjarina Belanovich	Belarus	56.55
7th	Axelle Dauwens	Belgium	57.68
8th	Ghofrane Mohamed	Syria	58.85

Run 5

August 15, 2016, 10:22 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Dalilah Muhammad	United States	55.33
2	Noelle Montcalm	Canada	56.07
3	Hanna Titimez	Ukraine	56.24
4th	Lauren Wells	Australia	56.26
5	Phara Anacharsis	France	56.64
6th	Vera Barbosa	Portugal	57.28
7th	Nguyễn Thị Huyền	Vietnam	57.87
8th	Natalia Asanova	Uzbekistan	1: 02.37 min

Run 6

August 15, 2016, 10:30 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Eilidh Doyle	Great Britain	55.46
2	Say Watson	Canada	55.93
3	Olena Kolesnychenko	Ukraine	56.61
4th	Amaka Ogoegbunam	Nigeria	56.96
5	Satomi Kubokura	Japan	57.34
6th	Marzia Caravelli	Italy	57.77
7th	Sharolyn Scott	Costa Rica	58.27
8th	Alexandra Romanova	Kazakhstan	59.36

Semifinals

The semifinals consisted of three runs. The first two athletes of each run qualified for the final. In addition, the two fastest times, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Run 1

The Ukrainian Hanna Titimez took fourth place in her semi-final and was eliminated

As eighth of her semi-final run, the Czech Denisa Rosolová did not make it to the final

August 16, 2016, 9:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	54.55
2	Ristananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.80
3	Joanna Linkiewicz	Poland	55.35
4th	Stina Troest	Denmark	56.00
5	Sydney McLaughlin	United States	56.22
6th	Noelle Montcalm	Canada	56.28
7th	Ayomide Folorunso	Italy	56.37
8th	Olena Kolesnychenko	Ukraine	56.77

Run 2

August 16, 2016, 9:17 pm

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Ashley Spencer	United States	54.92
2	Janieve Russell	Jamaica	54.92
3	Eilidh Doyle	Great Britain	54.99
4th	Hanna Titimez	Ukraine	55.27
5	Yadisleidy Pedroso	Italy	55.78
6th	Wenda Nel	South Africa	55.83
7th	Emilia Ankiewicz	Poland	56.99
8th	Denisa Rosolová	Czech Republic	57.39

Run 3

August 16, 2016, 9:24 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Dalilah Muhammad	United States	53.89
2	Sara Slott Petersen	Denmark	54.55
3	Leah Nugent	Jamaica	54.98
4th	Say Watson	Canada	55.44
5	Grace Claxton	Puerto Rico	55.85
6th	Janeil Bellille	Trinidad and Tobago	56.06
7th	Lauren Wells	Australia	56.83
8th	Viktoria Tkachuk	Ukraine	56.87

final

The last hurdle:
Muhammad in the middle in front of Petersen and Spencer, Hejnová and Tracey on the left, Nugent and Doyle on the right

August 18, 2016, 10:15 p.m.

All three Jamaicans and two Americans qualified for the final. The field was completed by one starter each from Denmark, Great Britain and the Czech Republic

Because of her performances in the Olympic season and her strong semifinals, US athlete Dalilah Muhammad was the favorite. The Olympic champion of 2012 Natalja Antjuch from Russia was missing due to the lock on Russian athletes by the World Association of Athletics Federations IAAF . The strongest competitors were the double world champion from 2013 and 2015 Zuzana Hejnová from the Czech Republic and the Danish European champion Sara Petersen.

Muhammad was already leading at the first hurdle. She had already compensated for the curve specification of the Petersen running one lane further out at the end of the first curve. Petersen was able to make up some ground between the ninth and tenth hurdles, but Muhammad controlled the pace and clearly won ahead of Petersen. At the beginning of the home straight Hejnová and the Jamaican Janieve Russell fought for bronze, three meters behind were the American Ashley Spencer and the British Eilidh Doyle. Russell fell behind at the last two hurdles, while Spencer caught up with Hejnová and also overtook the Czech. That brought her the bronze medal before Hejnová. Places five to seven went to Jamaican Ristananna Tracey, Leah Nugent and Russell. Doyle was eighth.

Sara Petersen won Denmark's first medal in this discipline.

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)	annotation
1	Dalilah Muhammad	United States	53.13
2	Sara Slott Petersen	Denmark	53.55	NO
3	Ashley Spencer	United States	53.72
4th	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	53.92
5	Ristananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.15
6th	Leah Nugent	Jamaica	54.45
7th	Janieve Russell	Jamaica	54.56
8th	Eilidh Doyle	Great Britain	54.61

• 

  Olympic Champion:
  Dalilah Muhammad, USA

• 

  Silver medalist:
  Sara Petersen from Denmark

• 

  Bronze medalist:
  Ashley Spencer USA

• 

  The Czech Zuzana Hejnová took fourth place

• 

  The Jamaican Ristananna Tracey finished fifth

• 

  Leah Nugent from Jamaica came in sixth

• 

  The Jamaican Janieve Russel was Olympic seventh

• 

  The British Elidh Doyle took eighth place

Web links

• Results Book Rio 2016, Official Report at library.olympic.org, accessed October 13, 2018
• Results on the website of the IAAF World Athletics Association 400 m hurdles women (English), accessed on October 13, 2018
• Sports-Reference, result of the 400 m hurdles women (English), accessed on October 13, 2018

Video

• 400 hurdles Rio 2016 on youtube.com, published October 23, 2016, accessed October 13, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 797 , accessed on October 13, 2018