Men's 400 metres hurdles world record progression
Introduction The first '''world record''' in the '''men's 400 metres hurdles''' was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.That inaugural record was the performance by Charles Bacon at the 1908 Olympics.Three athletes, all from the United States, have had long-standing records. Glenn Hardin broke the world record three times and was the record holder for over 21 years, between 1932 and 1953.Edwin Moses set his first record in 1976 and improved his own world record three times. He held the record from 1976 until 1992, when it was beaten by Kevin Young with a time of 46.78 seconds at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.Young’s record stood for 29 years, until Karsten Warholm broke it during the Diamond League event at his homefield of Bislett during Bislett games in 2021.The new world record was at 46.70.On August 3, 2021, Warholm broke his record again in the Tokyo Olympics 400 meter hurdle final. The world record is now 45.94.As of June 21, 2009, 21 world records have been ratified by the IAAF in the event.
Progression 1912–76 TimeAutoAthleteDateLocation55.0  July 22, 1908  London54.0    August 16, 1920  Antwerp53.8    October 4, 1925  Paris52.6y    July 2, 1927  Lincoln52.0    July 4, 1928  Philadelphia52.0  51.85   August 1, 1932  Los Angeles51.8    June 30, 1934  Milwaukee50.6    July 26, 1934  Stockholm50.4  September 20, 1953  Budapest49.5    June 29, 1956  Los Angeles49.2    August 6, 1958  Budapest49.2    September 14, 1962  Belgrade49.1    September 13, 1964  Los Angeles48.8  48.94   September 11, 1968  Echo Summit48.1  October 15, 1968  Mexico City47.8  47.82   September 2, 1972  Munich"y" denotes time for 440 yards (402.34 m) which was ratified as a world record in this event.The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.
Progression post-1976   Ratified  Not ratified  Ratified but later rescinded  Pending ratificationFrom 1975, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting January 1, 1977, the IAAF required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.John Akii-Bua's 1972 Olympic gold medal run was the fastest recorded fully electronic 400 metre race to that time, at 47.82.TimeAthleteDateLocation47.82    September 2, 1972  Munich47.64    July 25, 1976  Montreal47.45    June 11, 1977  Westwood, Los Angeles47.13    July 3, 1980  Milan47.02    August 31, 1983  Koblenz46.78    August 6, 1992  Barcelona46.70    July 1, 2021 Oslo45.94    Aug 3, 2021  Tokyo
See also *Women's 400 metres hurdles world record progression*Hurdling
References
External links * 400 Metres Hurdles All Time List from the IAAF