400m champions and records
Men’s competitions are dominated by the USA, which notched up all of the top ten times run in the last 41 years!
That the 400m fastest time is hard to improve is evident: since Lee Evans’ time of 43’’86 of October 1968, and Michael Johnson’s current record of 43’’18 of August 1999 (it’s already been 10 years…) there is an improvement of only 68 hundredths of a second, ie 1,6%.
There is more variety among the ladies: the top time times, all recorded since 1984, are shared among seven countries: the USA with 3 times (but none in the first six!), Czechoslovakia with 2, and Germany (GDR), France, the Soviet Union, Australia and Mexico with one.
Top all-time athletes - men
(Updated 3 October 2008.)
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
43.18
|
Michael Johnson
|
United States
|
26 August 1999
|
Seville
|
|
2.
|
43.29
|
Harry 'Butch' Reynolds
|
United States
|
17 August 1988
|
Zürich
|
|
3.
|
43.45
|
Jeremy Wariner
|
United States
|
31 August 2007
|
Osaka
|
|
4.
|
43.50
|
Quincy Watts
|
United States
|
5 August 1992
|
Barcelona
|
|
5.
|
43.75
|
LaShawn Merritt
|
United States
|
21 August 2008
|
Beijing
|
|
6.
|
43.81
|
Danny Everett
|
United States
|
26 June 1992
|
New Orleans
|
|
7.
|
43.86
|
Lee Evans
|
United States
|
18 October 1968
|
Mexico City
|
|
8.
|
43.87
|
Steve Lewis
|
United States
|
28 September 1988
|
Seoul
|
|
9.
|
43.97
|
Larry James
|
United States
|
18 October 1968
|
Mexico City
|
|
10.
|
44.05
|
Angelo Taylor
|
United States
|
23 June 2007
|
Indianapolis
|
Top all-time athletes - ladies
(Updated 3 October 2008.)
|
Rank
|
Time
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
47.60
|
Marita Koch
|
East Germany
|
6 October 1985
|
Canberra
|
|
2.
|
47.99
|
Jarmila Kratochvílová
|
Czechoslovakia
|
10 August 1983
|
Helsinki
|
|
3.
|
48.25
|
Marie-José Pérec
|
France
|
29 July 1996
|
Atlanta
|
|
4.
|
48.27
|
Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina
|
Soviet Union
|
6 October 1985
|
Canberra
|
|
5.
|
48.59
|
Taťána Kocembová
|
Czechoslovakia
|
10 August 1983
|
Helsinki
|
|
6.
|
48.63
|
Cathy Freeman
|
Australia
|
29 July 1996
|
Atlanta
|
|
7.
|
48.70
|
Sanya Richards
|
United States
|
16 September 2006
|
Athens
|
|
8.
|
48.83
|
Valerie Brisco-Hooks
|
United States
|
6 August 1984
|
Los Angeles
|
|
9.
|
48.89
|
Ana Guevara
|
Mexico
|
27 August 2003
|
Paris Saint-Denis
|
|
10.
|
49.05
|
Chandra Cheeseborough
|
United States
|
6 August 1984
|
Los Angeles
|
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article “400m” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/400m
