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

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 15–18 August at the Olympic Stadium.[1] There were 47 competitors from 33 nations.[2] The event was won by Kerron Clement of the United States, the nation's 19th victory in the men's long hurdles. Clement (silver in 2008) became the ninth man to win multiple medals in the event. Both Kenya and Turkey earned their first medals in the men's 400 metres hurdles, the former with Boniface Mucheru Tumuti's silver and the latter with Yasmani Copello's bronze.

Men's 400 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Interior view of the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, where the men's 400m hurdles took place.
VenueEstádio Olímpico João Havelange
Dates15 August 2016 (quarterfinals)
16 August 2016 (semifinals)
18 August 2016 (final)
Competitors47 from 33 nations
Winning time47.73
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kerron Clement
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Boniface Mucheru Tumuti
 Kenya
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Yasmani Copello
 Turkey
← 2012
2020 →

Background

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This was the 26th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

There were several major absences from the competition: the 2012 Olympic champion Félix Sánchez did not return to defend his title as he had retired, Johnny Dutch (the world-leading athlete that season) had faltered at the American Olympic Trials, and the 2015 World Championships runner-up Denis Kudryavtsev was ineligible due to the Russian team ban for doping. The top contender was Kerron Clement – the 2008 Olympic silver medalist (and 2012 eighth-place finisher) showing a return of form to place second on the world rankings. The 2012 Olympic medalists Javier Culson of Puerto Rico (bronze) and American Michael Tinsley (silver) were other strong entrants, as was the 2016 European Champion Yasmani Copello of Turkey. Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago was another returning finalist from 2012. Nicholas Bett (Kenya's reigning world champion) was present but ranked outside the world's top forty.[3][4][2]

Algeria and Cape Verde each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

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The final started with a false start. Javier Culson realized his mistake and walked off the track in tears before the disqualification card could be shown to him. On the restart, Yasmani Copello, the Cuban free agent running for Turkey in lane 2 was the first over the first hurdles. By the third barrier, Kerron Clement in 5, Annsert Whyte in 6 and Boniface Mucheru Tumuti in 7 had pulled even. Through the next two hurdles, Clement edged ahead with Whyte just marginally behind him. Through the final turn, Clement pushed his lead out to half a stride over Whyte, with Tumuti very close to Whyte on the outside. By the ninth barrier, Tumuti pulled even with Whyte. Clement was already on the ground after the hurdle before Copello began to rise. Another stride back in a battle to stay out of last place was Thomas Barr. But through what remained of the home straight, Clement began to come back to the field as Tumuti pulled ahead of Whyte, while Barr and Copello was making a final charge at all three. In the run in, Clement strained to successfully hold off Tumuti, to take the gold, while Copello closed strongly, barely holding off a late rush by Barr for bronze as Whyte faded.[5]

Behind Clement, all the other athletes set national records for their countries except last place Haron Koech, who watched Tumuti take the Kenyan record in front of him and Whyte.[6]

The medals were presented by Issa Hayatou, IOC member, Cameroon and Víctor López, Council Member of the IAAF.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 400 metres hurdles event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 49.40 seconds. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both outdoor and indoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 400 metres hurdles.[7][8] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Competition format

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The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The number of semifinals returned to 3 after being reduced to 2 in 2012. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 6 quarterfinal heats with between 7 and 8 athletes each. The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals along with the next fastest 6 overall. The 24 semifinalists were divided into 3 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 2 in each semifinal and next 2 fastest overall advancing to the 8-man final.[2]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows:

World record   Kevin Young (USA) 46.78 Barcelona, Spain 6 August 1992
Olympic record   Kevin Young (USA) 46.78 Barcelona, Spain 6 August 1992
World Leading   Johnny Dutch (USA) 48.10 Kingston, Jamaica 11 June 2016
Area Time Athlete Nation
Africa (records) 47.10 Samuel Matete   Zambia
Asia (records) 47.53 Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily   Saudi Arabia
Europe (records) 47.37 Stephane Diagana   France
North, Central America
and Caribbean
(records)
46.78 WR Kevin Young   United States
Oceania (records) 48.28 Rohan Robinson   Australia
South America (records) 47.84 Bayano Kamani   Panama

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time
  Algeria Abdelmalik Lahoulou Heats 48.62
  Norway Karsten Warholm Heats 48.49
  Finland Oskari Mörö Heats 49.04
  Seychelles Ned Justeen Azemia Heats 50.74
  Ireland Thomas Barr Semifinals 48.39
  Kenya Boniface Mucheru Tumuti Final 47.78
  Turkey Yasmani Copello Final 47.92
  Ireland Thomas Barr Final 47.97
  Estonia Rasmus Mägi Final 48.40

Schedule

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All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

Date Time Round
Monday, 15 August 2016 11:35 Quarterfinals
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 21:35 Semifinals
Thursday, 18 August 2016 12:00 Final

Results

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Quarterfinals

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Qualification rules: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.[9]

Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 8 Abdelmalik Lahoulou   Algeria 48.62 Q, NR
2 7 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti   Kenya 48.91 Q
3 2 Kerron Clement   United States 49.17 Q
4 4 Yuki Matsushita   Japan 49.60
5 5 Miles Ukaoma   Nigeria 49.84
6 3 Marcio Teles   Brazil 50.41
7 6 Jeffery Gibson   Bahamas 52.77

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Yasmani Copello   Turkey 49.52 Q
2 6 Eric Alejandro   Puerto Rico 49.54 Q
3 1 Mahau Suguimati   Brazil 49.77 Q
4 8 Jaak-Heinrich Jagor   Estonia 49.78
5 2 Kariem Hussein   Switzerland 49.80
6 7 Amadou Ndiaye   Senegal 49.91
7 4 Martin Kucera   Slovakia 51.47
8 3 Maoulida Daroueche   Comoros 52.32

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 2 Karsten Warholm   Norway 48.49 Q, NR
2 3 Javier Culson   Puerto Rico 48.53 Q, SB
3 8 Rasmus Mägi   Estonia 48.55 Q, SB
4 7 Roxroy Cato   Jamaica 48.56 q, SB
5 6 Miloud Rahmani   Algeria 49.73
6 1 Dmitriy Koblov   Kazakhstan 49.87
7 5 José Luis Gaspar   Cuba 50.58
8 4 Ned Justeen Azemia   Seychelles 50.74 NR

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 7 Keisuke Nozawa   Japan 48.62 Q, PB
2 3 Thomas Barr   Ireland 48.93 Q, SB
3 8 Eric Cray   Philippines 49.05 Q
4 4 Jaheel Hyde   Jamaica 49.24 q
5 1 Sergio Fernandez   Spain 49.31 q
6 5 Sebastian Rodger   Great Britain 49.54
7 6 Le Roux Hamman   South Africa 49.72
8 2 Jehue Gordon   Trinidad and Tobago 49.90 SB

Quarterfinal 5

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 1 Annsert Whyte   Jamaica 48.37 Q, PB
2 7 Jack Green   Great Britain 48.96 Q, SB
3 4 Byron Robinson   United States 48.98 Q
4 5 Oskari Mörö   Finland 49.04 q, NR
5 2 Michael Bultheel   Belgium 49.37 q, SB
6 3 Kurt Couto   Mozambique 49.74 SB
7 6 Lindsay Hanekom   South Africa 50.22
8 Nicholas Kiplagat Bett   Kenya DQ R168.7b

Quarterfinal 6

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Haron Koech   Kenya 48.77 Q, PB
2 8 L.J. Van Zyl   South Africa 49.12 Q
3 5 Andres Silva   Uruguay 49.21 Q, SB
4 7 Jordin Andrade   Cape Verde 49.35 q
5 6 Mohamed Sghaier   Tunisia 50.09 SB
6 1 Michael Tinsley   United States 50.18
7 3 Chen Chieh   Chinese Taipei 50.65
8 2 Patryk Dobek   Poland 50.66

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 8 Kerron Clement   United States 48.26 Q, SB
2 6 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti   Kenya 48.85 Q, SB
3 1 Sergio Fernandez   Spain 48.87
4 5 Abdelmalik Lahoulou   Algeria 49.08
5 2 Jaheel Hyde   Jamaica 49.17
6 3 Keisuke Nozawa   Japan 49.20
7 7 Eric Cray   Philippines 49.37
8 4 Jack Green   Great Britain 49.54

Semifinal 2

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Annsert Whyte   Jamaica 48.32 Q, PB
2 5 Javier Culson   Puerto Rico 48.46 Q, SB
3 6 Yasmani Copello   Turkey 48.61 q
4 7 Rasmus Mägi   Estonia 48.64 q
5 3 L.J. Van Zyl   South Africa 49.00
6 1 Jordin Andrade   Cape Verde 49.32
7 2 Oskari Mörö   Finland 49.75
8 8 Mahau Suguimati   Brazil 49.77

Semifinal 3

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Thomas Barr   Ireland 48.39 Q, NR
2 6 Haron Koech   Kenya 48.49 Q, PB
3 7 Byron Robinson   United States 48.65 PB
4 5 Karsten Warholm   Norway 48.81
5 1 Michael Bultheel   Belgium 49.46
6 8 Andres Silva   Uruguay 49.75
7 3 Eric Alejandro   Puerto Rico 49.95
2 Roxroy Cato   Jamaica DQ R168.7a

Final

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
  5 Kerron Clement   United States 0.227 47.73 SB
  7 Boniface Mucheru Tumuti   Kenya 0.165 47.78 NR
  2 Yasmani Copello   Turkey 0.186 47.92 NR
4 4 Thomas Barr   Ireland 0.191 47.97 NR
5 6 Annsert Whyte   Jamaica 0.167 48.07 PB
6 1 Rasmus Mägi   Estonia 0.182 48.40 NR
7 8 Haron Koech   Kenya 0.159 49.09
3 Javier Culson   Puerto Rico DQ R162.7

Results summary

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Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes
  Kerron Clement   United States 49.17 48.26 47.73 SB
  Boniface Mucheru Tumuti   Kenya 48.91 48.85 47.78 NR
  Yasmani Copello   Turkey 49.52 48.61 47.92 NR
4 Thomas Barr   Ireland 48.93 48.39 47.97 NR
5 Annsert Whyte   Jamaica 48.37 48.32 48.07 PB
6 Rasmus Mägi   Estonia 48.55 48.64 48.40 NR
7 Haron Koech   Kenya 48.77 48.49 49.09 PB
8 Javier Culson   Puerto Rico 48.53 48.46 DQ SB
9 Byron Robinson   United States 48.98 48.65 Did not advance PB
10 Karsten Warholm   Norway 48.49 48.81
11 Sergio Fernandez   Spain 49.31 48.87
12 L.J. Van Zyl   South Africa 49.12 49.00
13 Abdelmalik Lahoulou   Algeria 48.62 49.08 NR
14 Jaheel Hyde   Jamaica 49.24 49.17
15 Keisuke Nozawa   Japan 48.62 49.20 PB
16 Jordin Andrade   Cape Verde 49.35 49.32
17 Eric Cray   Philippines 49.05 49.37
18 Michael Bultheel   Belgium 49.37 49.46 SB
19 Jack Green   Great Britain 48.96 49.54 SB
20 Oskari Mörö   Finland 49.04 49.75 NR
21 Andres Silva   Uruguay 49.21 49.75 SB
22 Mahau Suguimati   Brazil 49.77 49.77
23 Eric Alejandro   Puerto Rico 49.54 49.95
24 Roxroy Cato   Jamaica 48.56 DQ SB
25 Sebastian Rodger   Great Britain 49.54 did not advance
26 Yuki Matsushita   Japan 49.60
27 Le Roux Hamman   South Africa 49.72
28 Miloud Rahmani   Algeria 49.73
29 Kurt Couto   Mozambique 49.74 SB
30 Jaak-Heinrich Jagor   Estonia 49.78
31 Kariem Hussein   Switzerland 49.80
32 Miles Ukaoma   Nigeria 49.84
33 Dmitriy Koblov   Kazakhstan 49.87
34 Jehue Gordon   Trinidad and Tobago 49.90 SB
35 Amadou Ndiaye   Senegal 49.91
36 Mohamed Sghaier   Tunisia 50.09 SB
37 Michael Tinsley   United States 50.18
38 Lindsay Hanekom   South Africa 50.22
39 Marcio Teles   Brazil 50.41
40 José Luis Gaspar   Cuba 50.58
41 Chen Chieh   Chinese Taipei 50.65
42 Patryk Dobek   Poland 50.66
43 Ned Justeen Azemia   Seychelles 50.74 NR
44 Martin Kucera   Slovakia 51.47
45 Maoulida Daroueche   Comoros 52.32
46 Jeffery Gibson   Bahamas 52.77
47 Nicholas Kiplagat Bett   Kenya DQ

References

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  1. ^ "Men's 400m hurdles". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "400 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  3. ^ Minshull, Phil (2016-08-10). Preview: men's 400m hurdles – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.
  4. ^ senior outdoor 2016 400 Metres Hurdles men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.
  5. ^ "Kerron Clement captures gold in 400 hurdles". USA Today. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Kerron Clement ends wait for 400m hurdles gold". BBC Sport. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  7. ^ "IAAF approves entry standards for Rio 2016 Olympic Games". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics". IAAF. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  9. ^ "400 Metres Hurdles - M. Heats". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 15 August 2016.