WCH Tokyo 25 facts and figures: women's 400m

Last three sets of World Athletics Championships medallists

2023: 1 Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – 48.76, 2 Natalia Kaczmarek (POL) – 49.57, 3 Sada Williams (BAR) – 49.60
2022: 1 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) – 49.11, 2 Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – 49.60, 3 Sada Williams (BAR) – 49.75
2019: 1 Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) – 48.14, 2 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) – 48.37, 3 Shericka Jackson (JAM) – 49.47

Last two sets of Olympic medallists

2024: 1 Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – 48.17, 2 Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) – 48.53, 3 Natalia Kaczmarek (POL) – 48.98
2020: 1 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) – 48.36, 2 Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – 49.20, 3 Allyson Felix (USA) – 49.46

Fastest winning times in World Athletics Championships history

47.99 – Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH/CZE), 1983
48.14 – Salwa Eid Naser (BRN), 2019
48.76 – Marileidy Paulino (DOM), 2023

Slowest winning time in World Athletics Championships history

49.92 – Phyllis Francis (USA), 2017

Best marks on Japanese soil

48.36 1 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) - Tokyo (Olympics) 06.08.2021
49.13 1 Marie-José Pérec (FRA) - Tokyo (World Championships) 27.08.1991
49.18 1 Olha Brzygina (URS/UKR) - Tokyo 21.09.1985

Best marks on Asian soil

48.14 1 Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) - Doha (World Championships) 03.10.2019
48.36 1 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) - Tokyo (Olympics) 06.08.2015
48.37 1 Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) - Doha (World Championships) 03.10.2019

Biggest winning margins

0.81s – 2023: Marileidy Paulino (DOM) – 48.76, Natalia Kaczmarek (POL) – 49.57
0.68s – 1995: Marie-José Pérec (FRA) – 49.28, Pauline Davis (BAH) – 49.96
0.60s – 1983: Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH/CZE) – 47.99, Tatiána Kocembová (TCH/CZE) – 48.59

​​Smallest winning margins

0.00s – 2013: Christine Ohuruogu (GBR) – 49.41, Amantle Montsho (BOT) – 49.41
0.02s – 1997: Cathy Freeman (AUS) – 49.77, Sandie Richards (JAM) – 49.79
0.02s – 2001: Amy Mbacké Thiam (SEN) – 49.86, Lorraine Fenton (JAM) – 49.88

Best mark by round

Heat — 49.90 Marileidy Paulino (DOM), 2023
Quarterfinal — 50.08 Sandie Richards (JAM), 1997
Semifinal — 49.50 Natalia Kaczmarek (POL), 2023
Final — 47.99 Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH/CZE), 1983

Multiple winners

1991/95 - Marie-Jose Perec (FRA)
1997/99 - Cathy Freeman (AUS)
2007/13 - Christine Ohuruogu (GBR)

Winners by country

4 - United States
2 - France
2 - Australia
2 - Great Britain
2 - Bahamas
1 - Czechoslovakia
1 - Soviet Union
1 - Senegal
1 - Mexico
1 - Botswana
1 - Bahrain
1 - Dominican Republic

Five historic facts

• Jarmila Kratochvílová’s (CZE/TCH) still-standing championship record of 47.99 from Helsinki in 1983 was the first world record to be set at the World Championships 
• In the 42-year history of the World Championships, Cathy Freeman (AUS) remains the only athlete to win back-to-back titles in the women's 400m in 1997 and 1999
• There have been six sub-48 second performances in the history of the World Championships. Marileidy Paulino’s (DOM) winning time of 48.76 in Budapest in 2023 was the third fastest winning time and the fifth fastest time in World Championships history
• The last repeat world champion was Christine Ohuruogu (GBR) who won gold in Osaka in 2007 before regaining her title six years later in 2023 in Moscow
• Shericka Jackson (JAM) is the only athlete to have won medals at the World Championships in the 100m, 200m and 400m

​​Potential storylines

• Can Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) become the first athlete to win world titles in both the 400m hurdles and the 400m?
• Can Marileidy Paulino become the first athlete this century to win back-to-back world titles in the women’s 400m?
• Could we see three or more athletes break the 49 second-barrier in the 400m final for the first time at the World Championships? Could Kratochvilova's long-standing championship record of 47.99, a world record at the time, be threatened as well? 
• Will Marita Koch's (GDR/GER) historic world record of 47.60 celebrate its 40th birthday? Koch ran the world record at the World Cup in Canberra on 6 October 1985
• All eight athletes broke the 50 second-barrier in the semifinal, the first time this has ever happened in a major championships. Martina Weil's (CHI) 49.88 was the fastest non-qualifying time for a 400m final
• McLaughlin-Levrone's time of 48.29 was the third fastest time in World Championships history. It was also an American record (Sanya Richards-Ross set the previous record of 48.70 19 years to the day that SML broke it) and stadium record, beating Shaunae Miller-Uibo's 48.36 from the Tokyo Olympics
• The fastest four times at the semifinal stage of a World Championships were all recorded in the semifinals in Tokyo: McLaughlin-Levrone 48.29, Amber Anning (GBR) 49.38, Nickisha Pryce (JAM) 49.46, Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) 49.47
• 13 athletes on the entry-list have season’s bests under the 50 second-barrier. 17 athletes have sub-50 second lifetime bests
• With a 31/12/2008 date-of-birth Esther Mayadjim Mingueyam (CHA) is the youngest athlete registered for the championships