Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles

Women's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Muhammad running to victory in the women's 400m hurdles final
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	15 August 2016 (heats) 16 August 2016 (semifinals) 18 August 2016 (final)
Competitors	48 from 33 nations
Winning time	53.13
Medalists
Dalilah Muhammad   United States   Sara Petersen   Denmark   Ashley Spencer   United States

Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics
List of athletes
Qualification
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4 × 100 m relay		men		women
4 × 400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The women's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 15–18 August.^[1]

Summary

Muhammad celebrating

The 2012 Olympic champion Natalya Antyukh could not have entered due to Russia's team doping ban. Of the medallists from the 2012 Olympics and 2015 World Championships only Czech athlete Zuzana Hejnová was present, though her form had been lacking that season. The three American medallists of that period did not qualify at the American trials, which were headed by Dalilah Muhammad in a world-leading 52.88 seconds. Top-four ranked Shamier Little and Georganne Moline were beaten by Ashley Spencer and 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin there. Janieve Russell of Jamaica ranked third for the season but had fitness issues in preparation. Eilidh Doyle, Sara Slott Petersen and Wenda Nel were the only other entrants with times under 54.5 seconds that year.^[2][3]

In the final, Dalilah Muhammad went out aggressively, with a clear lead over the first hurdle. She made up the stagger on Sara Petersen to her outside before the end of the first turn. When they hit the backstretch the positions revealed Peterson was clearly out second best. She continued to lead own the backstretch and through the turn, with Peterson trying to keep pace from behind with further to run around the turn. Its an all or nothing strategy, the only question is if she would tie up in the last 100. Muhammad had to stretch her strides to get over the eighth hurdle, a tip to Petersen that Muhammad might come back. Petersen made a run at Muhammad, perhaps achieving a slight gain between the ninth and tenth hurdle. But Muhammad didn't tie up, the gap didn't shrink and Muhammad had a clear victory. At the eight hurdle, two time world champion and the only returning medalist from 2012 Zuzana Hejnová and Janieve Russel were in a battle for bronze. Ashley Spencer and Eilidh Doyle were in a battle for dead last place, 3 metres behind the bronze medal battle. Over the last two hurdles, Russel faded, while Hejnová stayed about the same distance behind Petersen. But Spencer was in a different gear, running the last hundred like a 100 metre hurdler, passing three Jamaicans and Hejnová then continuing her rush, making a run at Petersen.

Petersen broke her own Danish National Record while winning silver.

The following evening the medals were presented by Nita Ambani, IOC member, India and Nawal El Moutawakel, Council Member of the IAAF.

Competition format

The women's 400 m hurdles competition had three rounds: a heats round with six races, three semi-finals, and a single final. The top three from each heat and the six fastest non-qualifiers progress to the semi-final stage. The top two of each semi-final and the two fastest non-qualifiers of that round compete in the final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Yuliya Pechenkina (RUS)	52.34	Tula, Russia	8 August 2003
Olympic record	Melaine Walker (JAM)	52.64	Beijing, China	20 August 2008
2016 World leading	Dalilah Muhammad (USA)	52.88	Eugene, United States	10 July 2016

The following national record was established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Time	Notes
Denmark	Sara Petersen (DEN)	Final	53.55 s

Schedule

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

Results

Heats

Qualification rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	7	Tracey, RistanannaRistananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.88	Q
2	4	Hejnová, ZuzanaZuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	55.54	Q
3	1	Folorunso, AyomideAyomide Folorunso	Italy	55.78	Q
4	6	Troest, StinaStina Troest	Denmark	56.06	q
5	2	McLaughlin, SydneySydney McLaughlin	United States	56.32	q
6	3	Fontanive, PetraPetra Fontanive	Switzerland	56.80
7	8	Hechavarría, ZurianZurian Hechavarría	Cuba	57.28
8	5	Maiyo, Maureen JelagatMaureen Jelagat Maiyo	Kenya	57.97

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	7	Linkiewicz, JoannaJoanna Linkiewicz	Poland	56.07	Q
2	3	Russel, JanieveJanieve Russel	Jamaica	56.13	Q
3	6	Claxton, GraceGrace Claxton	Puerto Rico	56.40	Q
4	8	Belle, Tia-AdanaTia-Adana Belle	Barbados	56.68
5	2	McKnight, SparkleSparkle McKnight	Trinidad and Tobago	56.80
6	4	Baumann, JackieJackie Baumann	Germany	59.04
7	5	Islami, DritaDrita Islami	Macedonia	1:01.18
8	1	Chase-Taylor, ChaniceChanice Chase-Taylor	Canada	1:02.83

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Spencer, AshleyAshley Spencer	United States	55.12	Q
2	7	Nugent, LeahLeah Nugent	Jamaica	55.66	Q
2	6	Tkachuk, ViktoriyaViktoriya Tkachuk	Ukraine	56.14	Q
3	8	Rosolova, DenisaDenisa Rosolova	Czech Republic	56.36	q
4	1	Sprunger, LeaLea Sprunger	Switzerland	56.58
5	3	Iuel, AmalieAmalie Iuel	Norway	56.75
6	4	Lambarki, HayatHayat Lambarki	Morocco	1:00.83
7	2	Harutyunyan, LilitLilit Harutyunyan	Armenia	1:03.13

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Petersen, SaraSara Petersen	Denmark	55.20	Q
2	1	Nel, WendaWenda Nel	South Africa	55.55	Q
3	4	Ankiewicz, EmiliaEmilia Ankiewicz	Poland	55.89	Q
4	7	Pedroso, YadisleidyYadisleidy Pedroso	Italy	55.91	q
5	3	Bellille, JaneilJaneil Bellille	Trinidad and Tobago	56.25	q
6	2	Belanovich, KatsiarynaKatsiaryna Belanovich	Belarus	56.55
7	8	Dauwens, AxelleAxelle Dauwens	Belgium	57.68
8	6	Almouhamad, GhfranGhfran Almouhamad	Syria	58.85

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	Muhammad, DalilahDalilah Muhammad	United States	55.33	Q
2	7	Montcalm, NoelleNoelle Montcalm	Canada	56.07	Q
3	6	Titimets, HannaHanna Titimets	Ukraine	56.24	Q
4	1	Wells, LaurenLauren Wells	Australia	56.26	q
5	2	Anacharsis, PharaPhara Anacharsis	France	56.64
6	4	Barbosa, VeraVera Barbosa	Portugal	57.28
7	5	Nguyễn, Thị HuyềnThị Huyền Nguyễn	Vietnam	57.87
8	8	Asanova, NatalyaNatalya Asanova	Uzbekistan	1:02.37

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	6	Doyle, EilidhEilidh Doyle	Great Britain	55.46	Q
2	1	Watson, SageSage Watson	Canada	55.93	Q
3	3	Kolesnychenko, OlenaOlena Kolesnychenko	Ukraine	56.61	Q
4	2	Ogoegbunam, AmakaAmaka Ogoegbunam	Nigeria	56.96
5	5	Kubokura, SatomiSatomi Kubokura	Japan	57.34
6	8	Caravelli, MarziaMarzia Caravelli	Italy	57.77
7	7	Scott, SharolynSharolyn Scott	Costa Rica	58.27
8	4	Romanova, AleksandraAleksandra Romanova	Kazakhstan	59.36

Semifinals

Qualification rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Hejnová, ZuzanaZuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	54.55	Q, SB
2	5	Tracey, RistanannaRistananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.80	Q
3	6	Linkiewicz, JoannaJoanna Linkiewicz	Poland	55.35
4	1	Troest, StinaStina Troest	Denmark	56.00	SB
5	2	McLaughlin, SydneySydney McLaughlin	United States	56.22
6	3	Montcalm, NoelleNoelle Montcalm	Canada	56.28
7	7	Folorunso, AyomideAyomide Folorunso	Italy	56.37
8	8	Kolesnychenko, OlenaOlena Kolesnychenko	Ukraine	56.77

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Spencer, AshleyAshley Spencer	United States	54.87	Q
2	4	Russel, JanieveJanieve Russel	Jamaica	54.92	Q
3	3	Doyle, EilidhEilidh Doyle	Great Britain	54.99	q
4	7	Titimets, HannaHanna Titimets	Ukraine	55.27
5	1	Pedroso, YadisleidyYadisleidy Pedroso	Italy	55.78	SB
6	6	Nel, WendaWenda Nel	South Africa	55.83
7	8	Ankiewicz, EmiliaEmilia Ankiewicz	Poland	56.99
8	2	Rosolová, DenisaDenisa Rosolová	Czech Republic	57.39

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	Muhammad, DalilahDalilah Muhammad	United States	53.89	Q
2	5	Petersen, SaraSara Petersen	Denmark	54.55	Q
3	6	Nugent, LeahLeah Nugent	Jamaica	54.98	q, PB
4	4	Watson, SageSage Watson	Canada	55.44
5	7	Claxton, GraceGrace Claxton	Puerto Rico	55.85	PB
6	2	Bellille, JaneilJaneil Bellille	Trinidad and Tobago	56.06	SB
7	1	Wells, LaurenLauren Wells	Australia	56.83
8	8	Tkachuk, ViktoriyaViktoriya Tkachuk	Ukraine	56.87

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
01 !	3	Muhammad, DalilahDalilah Muhammad	United States	53.13
02 !	4	Petersen, SaraSara Petersen	Denmark	53.55	NR
03 !	5	Spencer, AshleyAshley Spencer	United States	53.72	PB
4	6	Hejnová, ZuzanaZuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	53.92	SB
5	7	Tracey, RistanannaRistananna Tracey	Jamaica	54.15	PB
6	2	Nugent, LeahLeah Nugent	Jamaica	54.45	PB
7	8	Russel, JanieveJanieve Russel	Jamaica	54.56
8	1	Doyle, EilidhEilidh Doyle	Great Britain	54.61

References