Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles
| Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
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| Venue | Estadio Olímpico Universitario | ||||||||||||
| Date | October 13–15 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 30 from 24 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 48.1 WR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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David Hemery |
 Great Britain
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Gerhard Hennige |
 West Germany
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John Sherwood |
Great Britain
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The Men's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 13–15 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario.
In the final, David Hemery took the race out hard. By the final straightaway he had an ever growing lead over the world record holder . Hemery continued to pour it on, taking seven tenths of a second out of the world record, a huge improvement. Vanderstock struggled between the final barrier and the finish line, his 2 metre advantage over field evaporated. Gerhard Hennige, then John Sherwood edged past him at the line.
The men's 400m hurdles competition started with four heats, where the four fastest runners from each race qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The top four competitors from each semifinals group advanced to the final.
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Heat 1
Heat 2
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