Men · World record

400 Metres

The current record and its documented progression: 31 ratified records from 1900 to 2016.

Current record

43.03

Wayde van NiekerkRSARio de Janeiro · 14 Aug 2016

10 years standing0.15 s improvementAll-time top 50 →

Record progression

Each step is a documented record; red marks the fully automatic timing era

1900 · 47.8 Maxie Long1912 · 48.2 Charles Reidpath1916 · 47.4 Ted Meredith1924 · 47.6 Eric Liddell1928 · 47.0 Emerson Spencer1932 · 46.4 Ben Eastman1932 · 46.2 Bill Carr1936 · 46.1 Archie Williams1939 · 46.0 Rudolf Harbig1941 · 46.0 Grover Klemmer1948 · 46.0 Herb McKenley1948 · 45.9 Herb McKenley1950 · 45.8 George Rhoden1955 · 45.4 Lou Jones1956 · 45.2 Lou Jones1960 · 44.9 Otis Davis1960 · 44.9 Carl Kaufmann1963 · 44.9 Adolph Plummer1964 · 44.9 Mike Larrabee1967 · 44.5 Tommie Smith1968 · 44.1 Larry James1968 · 43.8 Lee Evans1968 · 43.86 Lee Evans1988 · 43.29 Butch Reynolds1999 · 43.18 Michael Johnson2016 · 43.03 Wayde van Niekerk1967 · 44.95 Lee Evans1971 · 44.60 John Smith1976 · 44.26 Alberto Juantorena1987 · 44.10 Butch Reynolds1988 · 43.93 Butch Reynolds 43.0348.20

19001936 · Williams 46.11960 · Davis 44.91988 · Reynolds 43.291988 · Reynolds 43.93

Documented records

31 ratified · 4 at altitude · most recent first · Wikipedia (EN) revision 1341834243, imported 2 Sep 2026

MarkAthleteNationVenueDateStood
43.8A Lee Evans USA Mexico City, Mexico 18 Oct 1968 0 d
44.1A Larry James USA Echo Summit, USA 14 Sep 1968 34 d
44.5 Tommie Smith USA San Jose, USA 20 May 1967 71 d
44.9 Mike Larrabee USA Los Angeles, USA 12 Sep 1964 2 yrs
44.9 Adolph Plummer USA Tempe, USA 25 May 1963 1 yr
44.9 Carl Kaufmann GER Rome, Italy 6 Sep 1960 2 yrs
44.9 Otis Davis USA Rome, Italy 6 Sep 1960 0 d
45.2 Lou Jones USA Los Angeles, USA 30 Jun 1956 4 yrs
45.4A Lou Jones USA Mexico City, Mexico 18 Mar 1955 1 yr
45.8 George Rhoden JAM Eskilstuna, Sweden 22 Aug 1950 4 yrs
45.9 Herb McKenley JAM Milwaukee, USA 2 Jul 1948 2 yrs
46.0 Herb McKenley JAM Berkeley, USA 5 Jun 1948 27 d
46.0 Grover Klemmer USA Philadelphia, USA 6 Jun 1941 6 yrs
46.0 Rudolf Harbig GER Frankfurt am Main, Germany 12 Aug 1939 1 yr
46.1 Archie Williams USA Chicago, USA 19 Jun 1936 3 yrs
46.2 Bill Carr USA Los Angeles, USA 5 Aug 1932 3 yrs
46.4 Ben Eastman USA Palo Alto, California, USA 26 Mar 1932 132 d
47.0 Emerson Spencer USA Palo Alto, USA 12 May 1928 3 yrs
47.6 Eric LiddellEric Liddell's 1924 Olympic Games victory was initially ratified as a world record by the IAAF, despite being slower than Ted Meredith's mark from 1916. The IAAF rescinded the record on August 7, 1928. GBR Paris, France 11 Jul 1924 3 yrs
47.4 Ted Meredith USA Cambridge, USA 27 May 1916 8 yrs
48.2 Charles Reidpath USA Stockholm, Sweden 13 Jul 1912 3 yrs
47.8 Maxie Long USA New York, USA 29 Sep 1900 11 yrs

Rows link to a profile only where the athlete appears on a published list. Struck marks were rescinded or never ratified, and A marks a performance at altitude; both come from the source article's own key and markers, and eras are kept as it lists them. Nothing is inferred.