400 metres hurdles


The 400 metres hurdles is a hurdling event in track and field. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women.
On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once around the stadium. Runners stay in their lanes the entire way after starting out of the blocks and must clear ten hurdles that are evenly spaced around the track. The hurdles are positioned and weighted so that they fall forward if bumped into with sufficient force, to prevent injury to the runners. Although there is no longer any penalty for knocking hurdles over, runners prefer to clear them cleanly, as touching them during the race slows runners down.
The current men's and women's world record holders are Karsten Warholm with 45.94 seconds and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone with 50.37 seconds. Compared to the 400 metres run, the hurdles race takes the men about three seconds longer and the women four seconds longer. Men clear hurdles that are high, while women negotiate barriers.
The 400 m hurdles was held for both sexes at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The first championship for women came at the 1980 World Championships in Athletics – being held as a one-off due to the lack of a race at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

History

The first awards in a men's 400 m hurdles race were given in 1860 when a race was held in Oxford, England, over a course of 440 yards. While running the course, participants had to clear twelve wooden hurdles, over 100 centimetres tall, that had been spaced in even intervals.
To reduce the risk of injury, somewhat more lightweight constructions were introduced in 1895 that runners could push over. However, until 1935 runners were disqualified if they pushed over more than three hurdles in a race and records were only officially accepted if the runner in question had cleared all hurdles clean and left them all standing.
The 400 m hurdles became an Olympic event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. At the same time, the race was standardized; thus, virtually identical races could be held and the finish times compared to one other. As a result, the official distance was fixed to 400 metres, or one lap of the stadium, and the number of hurdles was reduced to ten. The official height of the hurdles was set to. The hurdles are now placed on the course with a run-up to the first hurdle of 45 metres, distance between the hurdles of 35 metres each, and home stretch from the last hurdle to finish line of 40 metres.
The first documented 400 m hurdles race for women took place in 1971. In 1974, the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as World Athletics, introduced the event officially as a discipline, with hurdles at the lower height of. The women's race was not run at the Olympics until the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles where it was first staged with the first Men's World Champion having been crowned the year before at the inaugural World Athletics Championships. A special edition of the Women's 400m Hurdles took place in the 1980 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in response to the Women's 400m Hurdles not being included at the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and Liberty Bell Classic.
Many athletic commentators and officials have often brought up the idea of lifting the height of the women's 400 m hurdles to incorporate a greater requirement of hurdling skill. This is a view held by German athletic coach Norbert Stein, "All this means that the women's hurdles for specialists, who are the target group to be dealt with in this discussion, is considerably depreciated in skill demands when compared to the men's hurdles. It should not be possible in the women's hurdles that the winner is an athlete whose performance in the flat sprint is demonstrably excellent but whose technique of hurdling is only moderate and whose anthropometric characteristics are not optimal. This was the case at the World Championships in Seville and the same problem can often be seen at international and national meetings."

Hurdling technique

In terms of technique and endurance, the 400-metre hurdles is arguably the most demanding event in the sprints and hurdles group. Athletes must be able to run a fast 400-metre flat time, maintain a good hurdling technique, and have a unique awareness of stride pattern between hurdles. The ideal time difference between an athlete's 400 time and their 400 hurdles time should be between 1.5 and 3 seconds. This variation depends on the specific qualities of the athlete: At the professional level, the women's hurdles are smaller than the men's which usually makes the average time difference smaller for female athletes. In 2024, the two fastest 400 hurdlers in the world are also two of the fastest women in the open 400, based on their relay split compared to other athletes. To be able to maintain a good hurdling technique throughout the race it is important to work on step patterns. The number of steps an athlete takes during a 400 hurdles is called rhythm. Most 400 hurdlers know how many steps they are going to take in between each hurdle, starting from the block. The distance between the block and the first hurdle is 45 meters, which allows the fastest women to take 21 to 23 steps, while the fastest men can get down to 19 or 20. After the first one, the hurdles are 35 meters apart, and the tenth one is placed at 40 meters from the finish line. The internal steps from hurdle two to hurdle ten vary depending on the athlete's abilities, speed, technique, and personal preferences. The most skilled athletes can change their rhythm depending on how fast they need, or want, to run. For example, Karsten Warholm ran 13 steps up to hurdle seven, then decided to switch to 15 steps for the last three hurdles at the Paris Olympics, because he is more comfortable going over hurdles with his dominant leg. An even number of steps in between the hurdles implies alternating which leg goes over it first, while an uneven number of steps allows for going over the hurdles with the same leg. Furthermore, athletes must possess anaerobic endurance over the final 150 to 100 metres of the race as, at this point, lactate will accumulate in the body from anaerobic glycolysis.

Block start

When preparing to hurdle, the blocks should be set so that the athlete arrives at the first hurdle leading on the desired leg without inserting a stutter step. A stutter step is when the runner has to chop his or her stride down to arrive on the "correct" leg for take off. Throughout the race, any adjustments to stride length stride speed should be made several strides out from the hurdle because a stutter or being too far from the hurdle at takeoff will result in loss of momentum and speed.

Hurdling

At the beginning of the take-off, the knee must be driven toward the hurdle and the foot then extended. The leg position when extended must be stretched out, in a position of a split. The knee should be slightly bent when crossing the hurdle. Unless an athlete's body has great flexibility, the knee must be slightly bent to allow a forward body lean. Unlike the 110m hurdles, a significant forward body lean is not that necessary due to the hurdles being lower. However, the trail leg must be kept bent and short to provide a quick lever action allowing a fast hurdle clearance. The knee should pull through under the armpit and should not be flat across the top of the hurdle.
It is also important that the hurdler does not reach out on the last stride before the hurdle as this will result in a longer bound being made to clear the hurdle. This will also result in a loss of momentum if the foot lands well in front of the center of gravity.

Stride length

Using a left lead leg on the bends allows the hurdler to run closer to the inside of the lane and cover a shorter distance. Additionally, if the left leg is used for the lead, then the athlete's upper body can be leaned to the left, making it easier to bring the trail leg through. Additionally, an athlete hurdling with a right leg lead around the bends must take care that they do not inadvertently trail their foot or toe around the hurdle rather than passing over the top, which would lead to a disqualification from the race. Depending on the height and strength of the athlete, men work toward a stride pattern of 13 to 15 steps between each hurdle, and women work toward a stride pattern of 15 to 17. This does not include the landing step from the previous hurdle. Edwin Moses was the first man to keep 13 strides throughout an entire race. Weaker athletes will typically hold a longer step pattern throughout the race so that they do not bound or reach with each step, which also results in a loss of speed. These patterns are ideal because it allows the hurdler to take off from their predominant leg throughout the race without switching legs. However, fatigue from the race will knock athletes off their stride pattern and force them to switch legs. At an early age, many coaches train their athletes to hurdle with both legs. This is a useful skill to learn, since, as a runner tires, their stride length may decrease, resulting in the need either to add a stutter stride, or to take a hurdle on the other leg. Even though some athletes prefer using their dominant leg as lead, every professional knows how to go over hurdles with both legs. Some athletes have started choosing an even rhythm.

Continental records

Men

  • Correct as of September 2025.
Time AthleteNationDatePlace
1145.943 August 2021Tokyo
2246.173 August 2021Tokyo
346.2816 August 2025Chorzów
3446.2919 July 2022Eugene
546.3916 September 2023Eugene
646.4630 June 2024Eugene
646.469 August 2024Saint-Denis
846.5121 July 2023Monaco
946.5215 June 2023Oslo
946.5219 September 2025Tokyo
1146.5316 September 2023Eugene
1246.5415 June 2025Stockholm
1346.629 July 2023Eugene
1446.6330 May 2024Oslo
1546.6418 May 2024Los Angeles
1646.655 July 2025Eugene
1746.6712 July 2024Monaco
1846.6815 June 2025Stockholm
1946.701 July 2021Oslo
1946.7030 May 2024Oslo
1946.7028 August 2025Zurich
2246.715 July 2025Eugene
2346.723 August 2021Tokyo
2446.7312 July 2024Monaco
2546.766 July 2023Jessheim
446.786 August 1992Barcelona
546.9830 June 2018Paris
647.0231 August 1983Koblenz
747.0321 June 1998New Orleans
847.083 August 2021Tokyo
947.107 August 1991Zurich
1047.1119 September 2025Tokyo
1147.1925 September 1988Seoul
1247.2325 September 1988Seoul
1247.237 June 2024Eugene
1447.2426 June 2005Carson
1547.2529 August 2003Saint-Denis
1547.2518 August 2008Beijing
1747.309 August 2005Helsinki
1847.3421 August 2023Budapest
1947.375 July 1995Lausanne
2047.3810 July 1991Lausanne
2047.3821 August 2023Budapest
2247.4119 July 2022Eugene
2347.4228 June 2024Kingston
2347.4225 August 2024Chorzów
2547.439 August 2005Helsinki