The women's 400 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 10–12 August.Start list

Heats started with Christine Ohuruogu 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 was lucky Amantle Montsho 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 Amantle Montsho took it out, Hastings in lane 3 making up the stagger on Christine Ohuruogu in 4. Francena McCorory 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, Christine Ohuruogu 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 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'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:

World record47.60Canberra, Australia6 October 1985Championship record47.99Helsinki, Finland10 August 1983World Leading49.33Monaco19 July 2013African Record49.10Atlanta, GA, United States29 July 1996Asian Record49.81Beijing, China11 September 1993North, Central American and Caribbean record48.70Athens, Greece16 September 2006South American record49.64Barcelona, Spain5 August 1992European Record47.60Canberra, Australia6 October 1985Oceanian record48.63Atlanta, GA, United States29 July 1996

Qualification standards A timeB time 51.55 52.35

Schedule Date Time Round10 August 2013 18:05 Heats11 August 2013 20:05 Semifinals12 August 2013 21:15 Final

Results KEY:QQualifiedqFastest non-qualifiersNRNational recordPBPersonal bestSBSeasonal best

Heats Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advanced to the semifinals.Heats Results

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 6 Christine Ohuruogu 50.20 Q 2 3 7 Francena McCorory 50.56 Q 3 2 3 Natasha Hastings 50.64 Q 4 4 5 Kseniya Ryzhova 50.69 Q 5 5 5 Amantle Montsho 50.75 Q 6 4 2 Novlene Williams-Mills 50.83 Q 7 3 4 Stephanie McPherson 50.98 Q 8 5 2 Regina George 51.01 Q 9 4 3 Nataliya Pyhyda 51.17 Q, SB 10 1 3 Antonina Krivoshapka 51.27 Q 11 3 2 Libania Grenot 51.43 Q, SB 12 1 5 Ashley Spencer 51.48 Q 13 4 6 Bianca Răzor 51.51 Q, PB 14 1 4 Kineke Alexander 51.62 Q, SB 15 3 8 Floria Gueï 51.75 Q 16 2 1 Marie Gayot 51.83 Q 17 1 6 Omolara Omotoso 51.98 Q 18 4 4 Tjipekapora Herunga 52.01 q, SB 19 4 8 Chiara Bazzoni 52.14 q 20 4 7 Esther Cremer 52.17 q 21 5 6 Patricia Hall 52.20 Q 22 2 2 Amy Mbacké Thiam 52.24 Q 23 1 8 Agne Šerkšnienė 52.28 q, PB 24 2 4 Moa Hjelmer 52.39 25 5 7 Aauri Bokesa 52.44 Q 26 1 7 Olesea Cojuhari 52.45 27 5 4 Jennifer Carey 52.62 28 5 8 Caitlin Sargent 52.63 29 2 8 Joelma Sousa 53.01 30 3 5 Alicia Brown 53.26 31 1 2 Kadecia Baird 53.73 32 3 6 Zhao Yanmin 54.03 33 2 7 Gretta Taslakian 54.56 34 3 3 Sade Sealy 55.45 35 2 5 Phumlile Ndzinisa 56.36 5 3 Maureen Jelagat Maiyo 163.3Lane infringement

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

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 5 Amantle Montsho 49.56 Q 2 2 4 Christine Ohuruogu 49.75 Q, SB 3 3 5 Francena McCorory 49.86 Q, PB 4 2 5 Natasha Hastings 49.94 Q, SB 5 3 4 Antonina Krivoshapka 49.99 Q 5 3 3 Stephanie McPherson 49.99 q 7 2 6 Novlene Williams-Mills 50.34 q 8 2 3 Libania Grenot 50.47 SB 9 1 3 Kseniya Ryzhova 50.48 Q 10 1 6 Regina George 50.84 PB 11 3 6 Nataliya Pyhyda 51.02 PB 12 2 7 Floria Gueï 51.42 PB 13 1 7 Bianca Răzor 51.49 PB 14 3 7 Marie Gayot 51.54 PB 15 2 8 Kineke Alexander 51.64 16 1 4 Ashley Spencer 51.80 17 3 1 Aauri Bokesa 51.94 18 1 2 Chiara Bazzoni 52.11 19 1 1 Tjipekapora Herunga 52.28 20 2 1 Amy Mbacké Thiam 52.37 21 3 8 Omolara Omotoso 52.38 22 3 2 Esther Cremer 52.42 23 2 2 Agne Šerkšnienė 52.48 24 1 8 Patricia Hall 52.62

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

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Christine Ohuruogu 49.41 NR 5 Amantle Montsho 49.41 2 Stephanie McPherson 49.99 4 3 Natasha Hastings 50.30 5 6 Francena McCorory 50.68 6 7 Kseniya Ryzhova 50.98 7 1 Novlene Williams-Mills 51.49 8 Antonina Krivoshapka 49.78

References

External links 400 metres results at IAAF website