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

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

was held at the

Luzhniki Stadium Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...

on 10–12 August. Heats started with

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 ...

leading 6 others under 51 with an exceptionally fast 50.20. 50 seconds was the order of the semifinal day. Six finalists dipped under 50, and

Kseniya Ryzhova Kseniya Olegovna Ryzhova, née Vdovina (russian: Ксения Олеговна Рыжова; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian track and field sprint athlete, originally from Lipetsk. She was the 2013 World Champion in 4 × 400 m relay (running t ...

was lucky

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 ...

had gapped the first semi with the leading qualifier of 49.56. Ryzhova cruised in with a 50.48 to be the second automatic qualifier. Five others ran personal bests attempting to qualify. The fast semifinals slowed the majority of the field. Only the medalists improved their times. From the gun Natasha Hastings and defending champion

took it out, Hastings in lane 3 making up the stagger on

in 4.

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 ...

held her own and came off the final turn with Montsho but as Montsho aimed at the finish, the others went backward. With 50 metres to go,

had worked her way from several metres down in the turn and had pulled even, looking like a good bet for silver. But she had other ideas. A steady stretch run put both a diving Ohuruogu and Montsho on the line at the same time. And that was what was posted 49.41, the same time for both. It took a look at the photo finish to determine that Ohuruogu had won by 4 thousandths of a second. Running a more even pace 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 ...

came off the turn even with Ohuruogu and made a stretch run of her own, overtaking the Americans and Stephanie McPherson to get a bronze medal that she later lost following a doping violation. In the process of running a personal best to win the championship, Ohuruogu also got

Kathy Smallwood-Cook Kathryn Jane Cook (née Smallwood; born 3 May 1960) is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze med ...

's 29-year-old British national record (from the 1984 Olympics) that had so far evaded her through her career, a career that had included two Olympic medals, including the gold in 2008, and a previous World Championship.

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) advanced 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 ...

Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advanced 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 ...

Final

The final was held at 21:15.Final Results
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References

External links

400 metres results
at IAAF website {{DEFAULTSORT:2013 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 400 metres

400 metres at the World Athletics Championships 2013 in women's athletics