2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres hurdles


The men's 400 metres hurdles at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 15, 16 and 18 August.
The United States hurdling team was by far the strongest entered by any country, comprising defending champion Kerron Clement, two-time Olympic champion Angelo Taylor, 2005 World Champion Bershawn Jackson, and the emerging Johnny Dutch. The world-leading 400 m hurdler L.J. van Zyl, veterans Danny McFarlane and Félix Sánchez, and the improving Isa Phillips and Javier Culson were also identified as possible medal contenders.
In the heats, Briton Dai Greene completed an unexpected and comfortable win, while seventeen-year-old Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago surprised with a senior national record to qualify for the semis. In the semi-finals, van Zyl failed to qualify, following his pattern of poor performances at the biggest races of the season. Dutch and Phillips also failed to make the cut. Clement and Sánchez lead the way in the first semi, while Jackson and Greene took the top two spots in the other [|final].
In the final, Clement, Jackson and Culson all started the race well. However, it was the favourite, Clement, who took the gold medal: he was ahead at the final straight and did not relinquish his position, recording a world-leading time to win. Culson set a Puerto Rican record to take the silver, while Jackson fended off a challenge from national-record-breaking Gordon to keep third and win the bronze.
Although Clement's winning time was the second slowest in the history of the Championships, it remained a close race for the silver and bronze medals, with just 0.6 seconds between the silver medallist and seventh-placed Greene. The race had a breadth of ages, with Trinidadian Gordon becoming the youngest ever finalist of any men's sprint event at the Championships, and 37-year-old McFarlane being the oldest ever to do the same feat. Clement became the third man to win two consecutive world titles in the event, after Ed Moses and Félix Sánchez.

Medalists

GoldSilverBronze
Kerron Clement
'		Javier Culson
'		Bershawn Jackson

Records

Prior to the competition, the following records were as follows.
World record46.78Barcelona, Spain6 August 1992
Championship record47.18Stuttgart, Germany19 August 1993
World leading47.94Monaco28 July 2009
African record47.10Zürich, Switzerland7 August 1991
Asian record47.53Sydney, Australia27 September 2000
North American record46.78Barcelona, Spain6 August 1992
South American record47.84Helsinki, Finland7 August 2005
European record47.37Lausanne, Switzerland5 July 1995
Oceanian record48.28Atlanta, United States31 July 1996

Qualification standards

Schedule

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat and the next 4 fastest advance to the [|semifinals].
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
3Kerron Clement48.39Q
3Danny McFarlane48.65Q
3Jehue Gordon48.66Q, NR
4Dai Greene48.76Q
3Félix Sánchez48.76q, SB
1Isa Phillips48.99Q
1Periklis Iakovakis49.12Q, SB
2Javier Culson49.27Q
3Omar Cisneros49.27q
102Bershawn Jackson49.34Q
111Johnny Dutch49.38Q
122Kazuaki Yoshida49.45Q, PB
134L. J. van Zyl49.48Q
141Andrés Silva49.51q, NR
152Tristan Thomas49.53q
161Kenji Narisako49.60
174Brendan Cole49.63Q
184Angelo Taylor49.64
193Michaël Bultheel49.67PB
204Fadil Bellaabouss49.73
214Aleksandr Derevyagin49.83
222Rhys Williams49.88
231Stanislav Melnykov50.41
241Mahau Suguimati51.05
251Jussi Heikkilä51.42
262Ibrahima Maïga51.70
273Jonathan Williams52.41
2Josef RobertsonDQ
2Héni KechiDQ
3Joseph G. AbrahamDQ
4Kurt CoutoDQ
4Ali Obaid ShirookDNF

Key: NR = National record, PB = Personal best, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

Semifinals

Qualification: First 3 in each semifinal and the next 2 fastest advance to the final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
11Kerron Clement48.00Q, SB
22Bershawn Jackson48.23Q
32Dai Greene48.27Q, PB
41Félix Sánchez48.34Q, SB
51Javier Culson48.43Q
61Danny McFarlane48.49q
72Periklis Iakovakis48.73Q, SB
81Jehue Gordon48.77q
91L. J. van Zyl48.80
102Isa Phillips48.93
112Omar Cisneros49.21
122Johnny Dutch49.28
131Andrés Silva49.34NR
142Tristan Thomas49.76
151Brendan Cole49.92
162Kazuaki Yoshida50.34

Key: NR = National record, PB = Personal best, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Kerron Clement47.91 WL
Javier Culson48.09NR
Bershawn Jackson48.23
4Jehue Gordon48.26NR
5Periklis Iakovakis48.42SB
6Danny McFarlane48.65
7Dai Greene48.68
8Félix Sánchez50.11

Key: NR = National record, SB = Seasonal best, WL = World leading