PROFILPELAJAR.COM

The women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 17, 18 and 20 August.

In the four major championships between 2004 and 2008, the twelve available medals were won by eleven different athletes. Yuliya Pechonkina was the only athlete to reach the podium twice in that period, having won the 2005 World Championships and won the silver at the same event two years later.^[1] With such a quick turnover, it was expected that new athletes would again be possible medallists, especially as Pechonkina and reigning champion Jana Pittman-Rawlinson had withdrawn prior to the competition.^[2]^[3] However, 2005 medallist Lashinda Demus appeared to be a likely contender, having set the world-leading time of 52.63 seconds a month before the competition (significantly faster than any other athlete at that point in the season). Angela Moroșanu, Josanne Lucas were amongst the season's fastest hurdlers, but the gold and silver medallists from the Beijing Olympics, Melaine Walker and Sheena Tosta had not shown strong form.^[1]

Demus and Moroşanu recorded the fastest times on the first day of the competition, which saw no surprise eliminations. Kaliese Spencer was the third fastest, making her seem a possible finalist.^[4] Reigning Olympic champion Walker was the fastest in the semi-finals, with Lucas the second fastest in a national record time. Spencer, winner of the second race, was initially disqualified but was reinstated upon review.^[5]^[6] Amaka Ogoegbunam, a Nigerian athlete, tested positive for metenolone (an anabolic steroid) after the semi-finals, becoming the second athlete of the competition to fail a drugs test after Jamel Chatbi.^[7]

In the final race, Demus and Walker started fastest, with Lucas and Spencer not far behind. Demus took the lead near the final stretch but took the last two hurdles badly, allowing Walker to pass her to take the gold medal. Walker's time of 52.42 s was a Championship record and North American record, and only 0.08 seconds away from Pechonkina's world record. Bronze medallist Lucas had improved her national record by a significant amount (0.78 seconds) and fourth placed Spencer had set a new personal best.^[8]

Walker had won despite modest performances in the season prior to the competition, while Demus failed to match her world-leading time she had set at the Herculis meeting in Monaco. Walker's run, which capped an Olympic and World double, was the second fastest in the history of the event. Josanne Lucas had significantly improved over the course of a year, knocking two seconds off her personal best, demonstrating her potential as a future medallist.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Melaine Walker Jamaica (JAM)	Lashinda Demus United States (USA)	Josanne Lucas Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)

Records before the Championships

World record	Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS)	52.34	Tula, Russia	8 August 2003
Championship record	Kim Batten (USA)	52.61	Gothenburg, Sweden	11 August 1995
World leading	Lashinda Demus (USA)	52.63	Monaco	28 July 2009
African record	Nezha Bidouane (MAR)	52.90	Sevilla, Spain	25 August 1999
Asian record	Han Qing (CHN)	53.96	Beijing, China	9 September 1993
North American record	Kim Batten (USA)	52.61	Gothenburg, Sweden	11 August 1995
South American record	Lucimar Teodoro (BRA)	55.84	Belém, Brazil	24 May 2009
European record	Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS)	52.34	Tula, Russia	8 August 2003
Oceanian record	Debbie Flintoff-King (AUS)	53.17	Seoul, South Korea	28 September 1988

Qualification standards

A time	B time
55.50	56.55

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
August 17, 2009	18:15	Heats
August 18, 2009	20:15	Semifinals
August 20, 2009	20:15	Final

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 4 in each heat(Q) and the next 4 fastest(q) advance to the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	Lashinda Demus	United States (USA)	54.66	Q
2	4	Angela Moroșanu	Romania (ROM)	54.70	Q
3	1	Kaliese Spencer	Jamaica (JAM)	55.12	Q
4	3	Melaine Walker	Jamaica (JAM)	55.17	Q
5	4	Tiffany Ross-Williams	United States (USA)	55.25	Q
6	2	Nickiesha Wilson	Jamaica (JAM)	55.37	Q
7	3	Natalya Antyukh	Russia (RUS)	55.40	Q
8	1	Josanne Lucas	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	55.41	Q
9	1	Huang Xiaoxiao	China (CHN)	55.52	Q, SB
10	2	Anna Jesień	Poland (POL)	55.57	Q
11	5	Anastasiya Rabchenyuk	Ukraine (UKR)	55.63	Q
12	4	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic (CZE)	55.68	Q
13	2	Eilidh Child	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	55.96	Q
14	2	Sheena Tosta	United States (USA)	56.00	Q
15	1	Vania Stambolova	Bulgaria (BUL)	56.01	Q
16	2	Ieva Zunda	Latvia (LAT)	56.05	q, SB
17	5	Natalya Ivanova	Russia (RUS)	56.11	Q
18	4	Elena Churakova	Russia (RUS)	56.13	q
19	3	Perri Shakes-Drayton	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	56.49	Q
20	3	Sara Petersen	Denmark (DEN)	56.51	Q
21	4	Élodie Ouédraogo	Belgium (BEL)	56.60	q, SB
22	5	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	Nigeria (NGR)	56.62	Q
23	5	Jonna Tilgner	Germany (GER)	56.73	q
24	1	Satomi Kubokura	Japan (JPN)	56.91
25	3	Michelle Carey	Ireland (IRL)	56.91
26	2	Aurore Kassambara	France (FRA)	57.25
27	3	Kou Luogon	Liberia (LBR)	57.70
28	1	Tatyana Azarova	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	57.90
29	5	Carole Kaboud Mebam	Cameroon (CMR)	58.10
30	1	Hanna Titimets	Ukraine (UKR)	58.22
31	3	Laia Forcadell	Spain (ESP)	58.57
32	4	Yolanda Osana	Dominican Republic (DOM)	59.18
33	4	Aïssata Soulama	Burkina Faso (BUR)	59.20	SB
34	1	Déborah Rodríguez	Uruguay (URU)	59.21	NR
35	3	Merjen Ishangulyyeva	Turkmenistan (TKM)	1:00.75
36	2	Sayaka Aoki	Japan (JPN)	1:03.56
	2	Tsvetelina Kirilova	Bulgaria (BUL)	DQ
	4	Amaka Ogoegbunam	Nigeria (NGR)	DQ
	5	Muna Jabir Adam	Sudan (SUD)	DNS

Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each semifinal (Q) and the next 2 fastest(q) advance to the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Melaine Walker	Jamaica (JAM)	53.26	Q, SB
2	1	Josanne Lucas	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	53.98	Q, NR
3	1	Angela Moroșanu	Romania (ROM)	54.15	q
4	3	Lashinda Demus	United States (USA)	54.25	Q
5	2	Kaliese Spencer	Jamaica (JAM)	54.37	Q
6	2	Anastasiya Rabchenyuk	Ukraine (UKR)	54.49	Q, SB
7	2	Tiffany Ross-Williams	United States (USA)	54.79	q
8	2	Anna Jesień	Poland (POL)	54.82
9	3	Natalya Antyukh	Russia (RUS)	54.86	Q
10	3	Nickiesha Wilson	Jamaica (JAM)	54.89	SB
11	3	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic (CZE)	54.99
12	1	Huang Xiaoxiao	China (CHN)	55.40	SB
13	1	Natalya Ivanova	Russia (RUS)	56.08
14	2	Elena Churakova	Russia (RUS)	56.11
15	3	Vania Stambolova	Bulgaria (BUL)	56.12
16	3	Eilidh Child	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	56.21
17	1	Sheena Tosta	United States (USA)	56.31
18	2	Ieva Zunda	Latvia (LAT)	56.66
19	1	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	Nigeria (NGR)	56.80
20	3	Sara Petersen	Denmark (DEN)	56.99
21	3	Jonna Tilgner	Germany (GER)	57.11
22	2	Perri Shakes-Drayton	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	57.57
23	1	Élodie Ouédraogo	Belgium (BEL)	57.58
	2	Amaka Ogoegbunam	Nigeria (NGR)	~~58.56~~	DQ

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Melaine Walker	Jamaica (JAM)	52.42	CR, AR
	Lashinda Demus	United States (USA)	52.96
	Josanne Lucas	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	53.20	NR
4	Kaliese Spencer	Jamaica (JAM)	53.56	PB
5	Tiffany Ross-Williams	United States (USA)	53.83	SB
6	Natalya Antyukh	Russia (RUS)	54.11	PB
7	Anastasiya Rabchenyuk	Ukraine (UKR)	54.78
8	Angela Moroșanu	Romania (ROM)	55.04