Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres hurdles
| Women's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
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Muhammad running to victory in the women's 400m hurdles final
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| Venue | Olympic Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 15 August 2016 (heats) 16 August 2016 (semifinals) 18 August 2016 (final) |
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| Competitors | 48 from 33 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 53.13 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Dalilah Muhammad |
 United States
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Sara Petersen |
 Denmark
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Ashley Spencer |
United States
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The women's 400 metres hurdles competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was held at the Olympic Stadium between 15–18 August.
The 2012 Olympic champion Natalya Antyukh could not have entered due to Russia's team doping ban. Of the medallists from the 2012 Olympics and 2015 World Championships only Czech athlete Zuzana Hejnová was present, though her form had been lacking that season. The three American medallists of that period did not qualify at the American trials, which were headed by Dalilah Muhammad in a world-leading 52.88 seconds. Top-four ranked Shamier Little and Georganne Moline were beaten by Ashley Spencer and 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin there. Janieve Russell of Jamaica ranked third for the season but had fitness issues in preparation. Eilidh Doyle, Sara Slott Petersen and Wenda Nel were the only other entrants with times under 54.5 seconds that year.
In the final, Dalilah Muhammad went out aggressively, with a clear lead over the first hurdle. She made up the stagger on Sara Petersen to her outside before the end of the first turn. When they hit the backstretch the positions revealed Peterson was clearly out second best. She continued to lead own the backstretch and through the turn, with Peterson trying to keep pace from behind with further to run around the turn. Its an all or nothing strategy, the only question is if she would tie up in the last 100. Muhammad had to stretch her strides to get over the eighth hurdle, a tip to Petersen that Muhammad might come back. Petersen made a run at Muhammad, perhaps achieving a slight gain between the ninth and tenth hurdle. But Muhammad didn't tie up, the gap didn't shrink and Muhammad had a clear victory. At the eight hurdle, two time world champion and the only returning medalist from 2012 Zuzana Hejnová and Janieve Russel were in a battle for bronze. Ashley Spencer and Eilidh Doyle were in a battle for dead last place, 3 metres behind the bronze medal battle. Over the last two hurdles, Russel faded, while Hejnová stayed about the same distance behind Petersen. But Spencer was in a different gear, running the last hundred like a 100 metre hurdler, passing three Jamaicans and Hejnová then continuing her rush, making a run at Petersen.
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Wikipedia