The Women's
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...
at the
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011.
The United States topped the medal standings in th ...
was held at the
Daegu Stadium on August 27, 28 and 29.
The defending champion was
Sanya Richards-Ross and despite her poor form earlier in the season, she ran 49.66 seconds in
London just three weeks before the championships. The only faster athlete that year was Russian champion
Anastasiya Kapachinskaya
Anastasiya Alexandrovna Kapachinskaya (russian: Анастасия Александровна Капачинская; born November 20, 1979) is a Russian former sprint athlete. She was the 2003 World champion in the 200 m. She was disqualifie ...
, who had run a personal best of 49.35 sec. Three-time 200 m world champion,
Allyson Felix
Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 me ...
, was also challenging for the 400 m title, while
Amantle Montsho
Amantle Montsho (born July 4, 1983) is a female sprinter from Botswana who specializes in the 400 metres. She represented her country at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, reaching the final at the latter edition. She was the first woman to ...
(ranked third that year) had five straight wins on the
Diamond League
The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...
circuit. Jamaica's
Rosemarie Whyte
Rosemarie Whyte (born 8 September 1986) is the 2008 Jamaican national 400m champion. She represented Jamaica at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's ...
,
Novlene Williams-Mills
Novlene Hilaire Williams-Mills (''maiden name, née'', Williams; born 26 April 1982), is a retired Jamaican track and field athlete. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, 2007 World Championshi ...
and
Shericka Williams were also contenders, as was 2009 third placer
Antonina Krivoshapka
Antonina Vladimirovna Krivoshapka (russian: Антонина Владимировна Кривошапка; born 21 July 1987) is a Russian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where her team orig ...
.
The event started in controversy when reigning Olympic champion
Christine Ohuruogu
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion.
The Olympic champion in 2008, and s ...
was disqualified in her preliminary race for a
false start. 2011 was the first year of a new
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
rule allowing no leniency for a false start.
In the final, Montsho was a clear leader off of the turn, with Felix closing fast at the end to make the race close. This was Felix's personal best. Not only was this Montsho's personal best, but also the
national record for
Botswana. For the bronze medal,
Anastasia Kapachinskaya was faster down the final 80 metres to pull away from
Francena McCorory
Francena Lynette McCorory (born October 20, 1988) is a retired American track and field athlete, known primarily for running the 400 meters. She was the 2011 World bronze medalist in the 400 meters and was a member of the gold medal-winning 201 ...
, who had run her personal best in the semi-finals.
After the championships, Kapachinskaya was disqualified for a doping violation for having stanozol and turinabol in tests held during the 2008 Olympics. She received a lifetime ban. In 2017, McCorory was advanced to the bronze medal.
Medalists
Records
Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
Qualification standards
Schedule
Results
Heats
Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the
semifinals.
Semifinals
Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the
final.
Final
References
External links
400 metres resultsat IAAF website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 400 metres
400
__NOTOC__
Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...
400 metres at the World Athletics Championships
2011 in women's athletics