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

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

was held at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

on 15, 16 and 18 August. The world-leader prior to the competition,

Sanya Richards Sanya Richards-Ross (née Richards; born February 26, 1985) is a retired Jamaican-American track and field athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being th ...

, was regarded as the favourite in the event, although her previous failure to convert circuit dominance to major championship success raised some doubts. Reigning Olympic and world 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 ...

entered the championships as only the 25th fastest in the world that year, although a low-key run up also preceded her previous victories. Jamaicans

Shericka Williams Shericka Williams (born 17 September 1985 in Black River, St. Elizabeth) is a Jamaican former sprinter. Together with Novlene Williams, Ronetta Smith and Lorraine Fenton she won a silver medal in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2005 World Cham ...

and

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 ...

were predicted as possible medallists, while Russian

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 ...

held the second fastest time in the world prior to the tournament. All the favoured athletes made it through the heats and Motswana

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 ...

, a 2008 Olympic finalist, had the fastest time of the day with 50.65 seconds. Unusually, two of the race favourites, Richards and Ohuruogu, faced each other in the first round, with the Richards taking first place. The two faced each other again in the semi-finals, and Richards again beat the defending champion. The other two semi-finals were much faster, however, with five athletes breaking 50 seconds. Shericka Williams and

Debbie Dunn Debbie Dunn (born 26 March 1978) is an American sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. Originally from Jamaica, she attended Fairmont Heights High School in Maryland, then Norfolk State University, and became an American citizen in 200 ...

set personal bests to qualify in the second final, and Montsho and Williams-Mills had run season's best to qualify – Aliann Pompey's national record was not enough to reach the final. In the final, Richards started the race quickly, leading the first 100 m. Krivoshapka pulled slightly ahead of her at the halfway, but Richards regained the lead on the final bend. She remained in front through the home straight and won in a world-leading 49 seconds flat. Williams overtook Krivoshapka on the final stretch to take silver with a personal best of 49.32 seconds, and the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

retained third place for the bronze. Williams-Mills was close behind for fourth place, but it was Ohuruogu's fifth-place finish that drew more attention.Landells, Steve (2009-08-18)
Event Report - Women's 400m - Final
.

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 ...

. Retrieved on 2009-08-19. Richards, often the fastest 400 m runner on the athletics circuit, won her first major gold medal of her career with the 38th sub-50 clocking of her career – the most of any athlete. After a lacklustre season, the 2007 World Champion Ohuruogu could not repeat the performance that had made her Olympic champion the previous year. Shericka Williams had twice lowered her personal best, and her silver medal-winning performance was 0.02 seconds outside of

Lorraine Fenton Lorraine Fenton (born Lorraine Graham on 8 September 1973 in Manchester) is a retired Jamaican athlete who specialized in the 400 metres. Career Her career highlight came when she won the Olympic silver medal in 2000, being the first Jamaican ...

's Jamaican record.Reid, Paul A. (2009-08-19)
Former coach lauds Williams' silver at World Championships
. ''

Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...

''. Retrieved on 2009-08-20. Krivoshapka's bronze was Russia's first medal in the event in the post-Soviet era.

Medalists

Records

Qualification standards

Schedule

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat(Q) and the next 6 fastest(q) advance to the

semifinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Key: PB = Personal best, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each semifinal(Q) and the next 2 fastest(q) advance to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Key: DNF = Did not finish, NR = National record, PB = Personal best, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

Final

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best, WL = World leading (in a given season)

References

;General
400 metre results

. Retrieved on 2009-08-16. *Landells, Steve (2009-08-15)
Event Report - Women's 400m - Heats

. Retrieved on 2009-08-16. ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:2009 World Championships In Athletics - Women's 400 Metres

400 metres at the World Athletics Championships 2009 in women's athletics