1997 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 400 metres hurdles
These are the results of the Women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece.
Medalists
Results
Heats
First 3 of each Heat and the next 4 fastest qualified for the [|semifinals].| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Deon Hemmings | 54.42 | Q | ||
| 1 | Sally Gunnell | 54.53 | Q, SB | ||
| 3 | Kim Batten | 54.56 | Q | ||
| 3 | Susan Smith-Walsh | 54.61 | Q, NR | ||
| 1 | Ester Goossens | 54.84 | Q, NR | ||
| 3 | Yekaterina Bakhvalova | 55.08 | Q | ||
| 2 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | 55.17 | Q | ||
| 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | 55.25 | Q | ||
| 1 | Andrea Blackett | 55.26 | q | ||
| 10 | 3 | Karlene Haughton | 55.27 | q | |
| 11 | 2 | Anna Knoroz | 55.34 | Q | |
| 12 | 4 | Nezha Bidouane | 55.53 | Q | |
| 13 | 2 | Miriam Alonso | 55.57 | q, SB | |
| 14 | 4 | Silvia Rieger | 55.64 | Q | |
| 15 | 2 | Gudrun Arnardottir | 55.76 | q | |
| 16 | 4 | Debbie-Ann Parris | 55.84 | Q | |
| 17 | 3 | Judit Szekeres | 55.99 | ||
| 18 | 4 | Irina Lenskaya | 56.05 | ||
| 19 | 4 | Natalya Torshina | 56.64 | ||
| 20 | 4 | Ryan Tolbert | 56.67 | ||
| 21 | 2 | Donalda Duprey | 56.73 | ||
| 22 | 1 | Tatyana Ledovskaya | 56.88 | ||
| 23 | 3 | Carla Barbarino | 57.05 | ||
| 24 | 3 | Rikke Ronholt | 57.26 | ||
| 25 | 1 | Rebecca Russell-Buchanan | 57.79 | ||
| 26 | 1 | Christina Panagou | |||
| 27 | 2 | Inicia Coelho da Fonseca |
Semifinals
First 4 of each Semifinal qualified directly for the [|final].| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 2 | Nezha Bidouane | 53.48 | Q, AR | ||
| 1 | Kim Batten | 53.67 | Q | ||
| 2 | Deon Hemmings | 53.82 | Q | ||
| 1 | Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova | 54.02 | Q, NR | ||
| 2 | Tonja Buford-Bailey | 54.48 | Q | ||
| 1 | Debbie-Ann Parris | 54.72 | Q | ||
| 1 | Susan Smith-Walsh | 54.72 | Q | ||
| 2 | Andrea Blackett | 54.74 | Q, NR | ||
| 2 | Gudrun Arnardottir | 54.93 | |||
| 10 | 1 | Yekaterina Bakhvalova | 55.02 | ||
| 11 | 1 | Silvia Rieger | 55.08 | ||
| 12 | 2 | Anna Knoroz | 55.28 | ||
| 13 | 1 | Karlene Haughton | 55.33 | ||
| 14 | 1 | Miriam Alonso | 55.49 | SB | |
| 15 | 2 | Ester Goossens | 56.17 | ||
| 2 | Sally Gunnell |