The first
world record
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
in the
400 m
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...
for men (
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as
World Athletics
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
, in 1912. The IAAF ratified Charles Reidpath's 48.2 s performance set at that year's Stockholm Olympics as a world record, but it also recognized the superior mark over run by Maxie Long in 1900 as a world record.
Up to and including 2021, World Athletics has ratified 24 world records in the event.
[
]
The following tables show the world record progression in the men's 400 metres, as ratified by World Athletics.
Records 1912–1976
(+) plus sign denotes en route time during longer race
"y" denotes time for
440 yards
The 440-yard dash, or quarter-mile race, is a sprint race in track and field competitions.
In many countries, athletes compete in the 440 yard dash (402.336 m) – which corresponds to a quarter mile. Many athletic tracks are 440 yards ...
, ratified as a record for this event
"A" indicates that the time was set at altitude.
The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.
Records post-1976
From 1975, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting January 1, 1977, the IAAF required
fully automatic timing
Fully automatic timing (abbreviated FAT) is a form of race timing in which the clock is automatically activated by the starting device, and the finish time is either automatically recorded, or timed by analysis of a photo finish. The system is ...
to the hundredth of a second for these events.
[
Lee Evans' 1968 Olympic gold medal victory time of 43.86 was the fastest recorded result to that time.
Excluding times run at high altitude (above 1,000 metres), the progression of automatic times is shown below.
]
References
Men's world athletics record progressions
World record men
Notes
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