2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres

None thumb|right|LaShawn Merritt, Kirani James, and Kévin Borlée.thumb|110px|Official Video The men's 400 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 28, 29 and 30. The winning margin was 0.03 seconds. Going into the Championships, defending champion LaShawn Merritt was serving a two-year ban. The ban was still in effect during the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, so Merritt was unable to compete. Ordinarily, since 1997, the defending champion is automatically invited to the championships, but the United States stipulates that the champion must compete in the national championships. It took a special decision by USATF to allow Merritt to enter. Merritt had minimal racing opportunities before the championships. In qualifying, ordinarily athletes try to use the minimum effort to advance to the next round, but Merritt ran the year's world leading time of 44.35 in heat 3. The media focused on double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who ran 45.39 to qualify into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Merritt ran a more controlled and relaxed 44.76 in semi 1, while Jermaine Gonzales controlled semi 3 in 44.99 and 18-year-old Kirani James ran an easy 45.20 to take semi 2. Rondell Bartholomew also qualified, placing two athletes from tiny Grenada in the final. Also twins Kévin and Jonathan Borlée placed two athletes from Belgium in the final. While his time from the trials would have made the final, Pistorius ran 46.19 in his semi and did not advance. Kirani James won the final beating LaShawn Merritt on the line with a time of 44.60.https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/14721116 Kirani James captures 400m gold 30 August 2011 BBC Sport 30 August 2011https://www.reuters.com/article/us-athletics-world-men-idUSTRE77T2RK20110830 Teenager James wins thrilling gold for Grenada 30 August 2011 Reuters 30 August 2011 At 18 years, 363 days old, James became the youngest ever world medallist for the men's 400 m. World Championship Statistics Handbook https://www.iaaf.org/ebooks/2017/WCH/index.html#page=49 IAAF 2017-08-03 Medalists GoldSilverBronzeKirani JamesGrenada 2011 WorldLaShawn MerrittUnited States 2011 WorldKévin BorléeBelgium 2011 World Records Prior to the competition, the established records were as follows. World recordMichael Johnson USA43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999Championship recordWorld LeadingKirani James GRN44.61London, Great Britain5 August 2011African recordGary Kikaya COD44.10Stuttgart, Germany9 September 2006Asian recordMohamed Amer Al-Malky OMA44.56Budapest, Hungary12 August 1988North, Central American and Caribbean recordMichael Johnson USA43.18Seville, Spain26 August 1999South American recordSanderlei Parrela BRA44.29Seville, Spain26 August 1999European recordThomas Schönlebe GDR44.33Rome, Italy3 September 1987Oceanian recordDarren Clark AUS44.38Seoul, South Korea26 September 1988 Qualification standards A timeB time 45.25 45.70 Schedule Date Time RoundAugust 28, 2011 11:15 HeatsAugust 29, 2011 20:00 SemifinalsAugust 30, 2011 21:45 Final Results KEY:qFastest non-qualifiersQQualifiedNRNational recordPBPersonal bestSBSeasonal best Heats Qualification: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals. Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 LaShawn Merritt United States 2011 World 44.35 Q, WL 2 3 Kévin Borlée Belgium 2011 World 44.77 Q 3 1 Rondell Bartholomew Grenada 2011 World 44.82 Q 4 1 Renny Quow Trinidad and Tobago 2011 World 44.84 Q, SB 5 2 Jermaine Gonzales Jamaica 2011 World 45.12 Q 5 4 Kirani James Grenada 2011 World 45.12 Q 7 1 Greg Nixon United States 2011 World 45.16 Q 7 4 Jonathan Borlée Belgium 2011 World 45.16 Q 9 3 Rabah Yousif Sudan 2011 World 45.20 Q 10 1 Tabarie Henry U.S. Virgin Islands 2011 World 45.22 Q 11 5 Chris Brown Bahamas 2011 World 45.29 Q 12 5 Martyn Rooney Great Britain 2011 World 45.30 Q, SB 13 4 Ramon Miller Bahamas 2011 World 45.31 Q, SB 14 5 Oscar Pistorius South Africa 2011 World 45.39 Q 15 5 Femi Seun Ogunode Qatar 2011 World 45.42 Q, SB 16 2 Jamaal Torrance United States 2011 World 45.44 Q 17 5 Nery Brenes Costa Rica 2011 World 45.47 q 18 2 Marcin Marciniszyn Poland 2011 World 45.51 Q 19 3 Yuzo Kanemaru Japan 2011 World 45.51 Q 20 2 Demetrius Pinder Bahamas 2011 World 45.53 Q 21 1 Riker Hylton Jamaica 2011 World 45.54 q 22 3 Pavel Trenikhin Russia 2011 World 45.55 q, PB 23 4 William Collazo Cuba 2011 World 45.89 Q 24 2 Erison Hurtault Dominica 2011 World 46.10 q 25 4 Park Bong-Go South Korea 2011 World 46.42 SB 26 5 Tony McQuay United States 2011 World 46.76 27 4 Pako Seribe Botswana 2011 World 46.97 28 1 Mathieu Gnanligo Benin 2011 World 47.01 29 4 Augusto Stanley Paraguay 2011 World 47.31 30 1 Nelson Stone Papua New Guinea 2011 World 47.86 31 5 Ahmed Mohamed Al-Merjabi Oman 2011 World 47.99 32 3 Arnold Sorina Vanuatu 2011 World 48.76 SB 33 4 Bahaa Al Farra Palestine 2011 World 49.04 PB 34 2 Nicolau Palanca Angola 2011 World 49.37 SB 35 1 Kerfalla Camara Guinea 2011 World 49.74 PB 36 2 Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Rositi Brunei 2011 World 50.12 99 5 Abdou Razack Rabo Samma Niger 2011 World 99.99 DSQ 99 3 Arismendy Peguero Dominican Republic 2011 World 99.99 DNS 99 3 Gary Kikaya Democratic Republic of the Congo 2011 World 99.99 DNS Semifinals Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final. Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 LaShawn Merritt United States 2011 World 44.76 Q 2 3 Jermaine Gonzales Jamaica 2011 World 44.99 Q 3 1 Kévin Borlée Belgium 2011 World 45.02 Q 4 3 Jonathan Borlée Belgium 2011 World 45.14 Q 5 3 Rondell Bartholomew Grenada 2011 World 45.17 q 6 2 Kirani James Grenada 2011 World 45.20 Q 7 3 Femi Seun Ogunode Qatar 2011 World 45.41 q, SB 8 1 Rabah Yousif Sudan 2011 World 45.43 9 3 Greg Nixon United States 2011 World 45.51 10 2 Tabarie Henry U.S. Virgin Islands 2011 World 45.53 Q 11 2 Chris Brown Bahamas 2011 World 45.54 12 3 Pavel Trenikhin Russia 2011 World 45.68 13 1 Renny Quow Trinidad and Tobago 2011 World 45.72 14 2 Jamaal Torrance United States 2011 World 45.73 15 3 Demetrius Pinder Bahamas 2011 World 45.87 16 1 Ramon Miller Bahamas 2011 World 45.88 17 2 Nery Brenes Costa Rica 2011 World 45.93 18 2 Marcin Marciniszyn Poland 2011 World 45.94 19 2 Martyn Rooney Great Britain 2011 World 46.09 20 1 Yuzo Kanemaru Japan 2011 World 46.11 21 1 William Collazo Cuba 2011 World 46.13 22 3 Oscar Pistorius South Africa 2011 World 46.19 23 1 Erison Hurtault Dominica 2011 World 46.41 24 2 Riker Hylton Jamaica 2011 World 46.99 Final thumb|right|The finish. Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Kirani James Grenada 2011 World 44.60 4 LaShawn Merritt United States 2011 World 44.63 6 Kévin Borlée Belgium 2011 World 44.90 4 3 Jermaine Gonzales Jamaica 2011 World 44.99 5 8 Jonathan Borlée Belgium 2011 World 45.07 6 2 Rondell Bartholomew Grenada 2011 World 45.45 7 7 Tabarie Henry U.S. Virgin Islands 2011 World 45.55 8 1 Femi Seun Ogunode Qatar 2011 World 45.55 References External links 400 metres results at IAAF website 400 Category:400 metres at the World Athletics Championships