2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres
The men's 400 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 28, 29 and 30.
Going into the Championships, defending champion LaShawn Merritt was serving a 2-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 prior to 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. At 18 years, 363 days old, James became the youngest ever world medallist for the men's 400 m.
Medalists
Records
Prior to the competition, the established records were as follows.| World record | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | |
| Championship record | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | |
| World Leading | 44.61 | London, Great Britain | 5 August 2011 | |
| African record | 44.10 | Stuttgart, Germany | 9 September 2006 | |
| Asian record | 44.56 | Budapest, Hungary | 12 August 1988 | |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | 43.18 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | |
| South American record | 44.29 | Seville, Spain | 26 August 1999 | |
| European record | 44.33 | Rome, Italy | 3 September 1987 | |
| Oceanian record | 44.38 | Seoul, South Korea | 26 September 1988 |
Qualification standards
Schedule
Results
Heats
Qualification: First 4 in each heat and the next 4 fastest advance to the [|semifinals].| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | LaShawn Merritt | 44.35 | Q, WL | |
| 2 | 3 | Kévin Borlée | 44.77 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Rondell Bartholomew | 44.82 | Q | |
| 4 | 1 | Renny Quow | 44.84 | Q, SB | |
| 5 | 2 | Jermaine Gonzales | 45.12 | Q | |
| 5 | 4 | Kirani James | 45.12 | Q | |
| 7 | 1 | Greg Nixon | 45.16 | Q | |
| 7 | 4 | Jonathan Borlée | 45.16 | Q | |
| 9 | 3 | Rabah Yousif | 45.20 | Q | |
| 10 | 1 | Tabarie Henry | 45.22 | Q | |
| 11 | 5 | Chris Brown | 45.29 | Q | |
| 12 | 5 | Martyn Rooney | 45.30 | Q, SB | |
| 13 | 4 | Ramon Miller | 45.31 | Q, SB | |
| 14 | 5 | Oscar Pistorius | 45.39 | Q | |
| 15 | 5 | Femi Seun Ogunode | 45.42 | Q, SB | |
| 16 | 2 | Jamaal Torrance | 45.44 | Q | |
| 17 | 5 | Nery Brenes | 45.47 | q | |
| 18 | 2 | Marcin Marciniszyn | 45.51 | Q | |
| 19 | 3 | Yuzo Kanemaru | 45.51 | Q | |
| 20 | 2 | Demetrius Pinder | 45.53 | Q | |
| 21 | 1 | Riker Hylton | 45.54 | q | |
| 22 | 3 | Pavel Trenikhin | 45.55 | q, PB | |
| 23 | 4 | William Collazo | 45.89 | Q | |
| 24 | 2 | Erison Hurtault | 46.10 | q | |
| 25 | 4 | Park Bong-Go | 46.42 | SB | |
| 26 | 5 | Tony McQuay | 46.76 | ||
| 27 | 4 | Pako Seribe | 46.97 | ||
| 28 | 1 | Mathieu Gnanligo | 47.01 | ||
| 29 | 4 | Augusto Stanley | 47.31 | ||
| 30 | 1 | Nelson Stone | 47.86 | ||
| 31 | 5 | Ahmed Mohamed Al-Merjabi | 47.99 | ||
| 32 | 3 | Arnold Sorina | 48.76 | SB | |
| 33 | 4 | Bahaa Al Farra | 49.04 | PB | |
| 34 | 2 | Nicolau Palanca | 49.37 | SB | |
| 35 | 1 | Kerfalla Camara | 49.74 | PB | |
| 36 | 2 | Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Rositi | 50.12 | ||
| 5 | Abdou Razack Rabo Samma | ||||
| 3 | Arismendy Peguero | ||||
| 3 | Gary Kikaya |
Semifinals
Qualification: First 2 in each heat and the next 2 fastest advance to the final.| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | LaShawn Merritt | 44.76 | Q | |
| 2 | 3 | Jermaine Gonzales | 44.99 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Kévin Borlée | 45.02 | Q | |
| 4 | 3 | Jonathan Borlée | 45.14 | Q | |
| 5 | 3 | Rondell Bartholomew | 45.17 | q | |
| 6 | 2 | Kirani James | 45.20 | Q | |
| 7 | 3 | Femi Seun Ogunode | 45.41 | q, SB | |
| 8 | 1 | Rabah Yousif | 45.43 | ||
| 9 | 3 | Greg Nixon | 45.51 | ||
| 10 | 2 | Tabarie Henry | 45.53 | Q | |
| 11 | 2 | Chris Brown | 45.54 | ||
| 12 | 3 | Pavel Trenikhin | 45.68 | ||
| 13 | 1 | Renny Quow | 45.72 | ||
| 14 | 2 | Jamaal Torrance | 45.73 | ||
| 15 | 3 | Demetrius Pinder | 45.87 | ||
| 16 | 1 | Ramon Miller | 45.88 | ||
| 17 | 2 | Nery Brenes | 45.93 | ||
| 18 | 2 | Marcin Marciniszyn | 45.94 | ||
| 19 | 2 | Martyn Rooney | 46.09 | ||
| 20 | 1 | Yuzo Kanemaru | 46.11 | ||
| 21 | 1 | William Collazo | 46.13 | ||
| 22 | 3 | Oscar Pistorius | 46.19 | ||
| 23 | 1 | Erison Hurtault | 46.41 | ||
| 24 | 2 | Riker Hylton | 46.99 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 5 | Kirani James | 44.60 | |||
| 4 | LaShawn Merritt | 44.63 | |||
| 6 | Kévin Borlée | 44.90 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Jermaine Gonzales | 44.99 | ||
| 5 | 8 | Jonathan Borlée | 45.07 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Rondell Bartholomew | 45.45 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Tabarie Henry | 45.55 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Femi Seun Ogunode | 45.55 |