Women's 400 metres world record progression

The first world record in the 400 m for women (athletics) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the World Athletics, in 1957.

To June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 27 world records in the event. Their 2009 record progression list, however, lists 26 records.^[1]

Indoor records are run over two laps of a shorter 200 metres track. "y" indicates marks were set over the 440 yards (402.34 m) imperial distance, and an asterisk indicates a record was repeated. All records since Kratochvílová's 49.59 in 1982 were ratified by the IAAF.^[2]

Women's indoor 400 metres world record progression

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Location of race	Date
Manual timing
59.2	Nadezhda Smirnova	Soviet Union	Leningrad, Soviet Union	March 17, 1951
58.6	Polina Solopova	Soviet Union	Leningrad, Soviet Union	March 1, 1953
58.1	Helga Henning	West Germany	Stuttgart, West Germany	March 11, 1961
56.5*	Margarete Buscher	West Germany	West Berlin	March 9, 1963
56.5	Helga Henning	West Germany	West Berlin	March 9, 1963
55.8y	Judith Pollock	Australia	San Francisco, United States	January 9, 1965
55.6y	Judith Pollock	Australia	Boston, United States	January 16, 1965
55.6y	Judith Pollock	Australia	New York City, United States	January 28, 1965
54.0	Janell Smith	United States	West Berlin	April 7, 1965
54.0*	Colette Besson	France	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	March 8, 1969
Automatic timing
55.29	Natalia Pechonkina	Soviet Union	Madrid, Spain	March 9, 1968
53.01	Marylin Neufville	Jamaica	Vienna, Austria	March 14, 1970
52.44	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	Gothenburg, Sweden	March 10, 1974
52.28	Rita Wilden	West Germany	Dortmund, West Germany	February 7, 1976
52.26	Rita Wilden	West Germany	Munich, West Germany	February 22, 1976
51.80	Marita Koch	East Germany	Milan, Italy	February 24, 1977
51.57	Marita Koch	East Germany	Milan, Italy	February 24, 1977
51.14	Marita Koch	East Germany	San Sebastián, Spain	March 13, 1977
49.64	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	Vienna, Austria	January 28, 1981
49.59	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	Milan, Italy	March 7, 1982
49.26	Femke Bol	Netherlands	Apeldoorn, Netherlands	February 19, 2023
49.24	Femke Bol	Netherlands	Apeldoorn, Netherlands	February 18, 2024
49.17	Femke Bol	Netherlands	Glasgow, United Kingdom	March 2, 2024

Time	Auto	Athlete	Nationality	Location of race	Date
57.0y		Marlene Mathews	Australia	Sydney, Australia	6 January 1957[1]
57.0y		Marise Chamberlain	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	16 February 1957[1]
56.3y		Nancy Boyle	Australia	Sydney, Australia	24 February 1957[1]
55.2		Polina Lazareva	Soviet Union	Moscow, Soviet Union	10 May 1957[1]
54.0		Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	Minsk, Soviet Union	8 June 1957[1]
53.6		Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	Moscow, Soviet Union	6 July 1957[1]
53.4+		Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	Krasnodar, Soviet Union	12 September 1959[1]
53.4		Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	14 September 1962[1]
51.9		Shin Geum-Dan	North Korea	Pyongyang, North Korea	23 October 1962[1]
51.7	51.72	Nicole Duclos	France	Athens, Greece	18 September 1969[1]
51.7	51.74	Colette Besson	France	Athens, Greece	18 September 1969[1]
51.0	51.02	Marilyn Neufville	Jamaica	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	23 July 1970[1]
51.0	51.08	Monika Zehrt	East Germany	Paris, France	4 July 1972[1]
49.9		Irena Szewińska	Poland	Warsaw, Poland	22 June 1974[1]

(y) indicates time for 440 yards (402.34 metres), ratified as a record for this event
(+) plus sign denotes en route time during longer race

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.

From 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.^[1]

Riitta Salin's 50.14 from 1974 was the fastest recorded result to that time.

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Location of race	Date	Duration of record
50.14	Riitta Salin	Finland	Rome, Italy	4 September 1974[1]	1 year, 8 months and 5 days
49.77	Christina Brehmer	East Germany	Dresden, East Germany	9 May 1976[1]	1 month and 13 days
49.75	Irena Szewińska	Poland	Bydgoszcz, Poland	22 June 1976[1]	1 month and 7 days
49.29	Irena Szewińska	Poland	Montreal, Canada	29 July 1976[1]	1 year, 11 months and 3 days
49.19	Marita Koch	East Germany	Leipzig, East Germany	2 July 1978[1]	1 month and 17 days
49.03	Marita Koch	East Germany	Potsdam, East Germany	19 August 1978[1]	12 days
48.94	Marita Koch	East Germany	Prague, Czechoslovakia	31 August 1978[1]	10 months and 29 days
48.89	Marita Koch	East Germany	Potsdam, East Germany	29 July 1979[1]	6 days
48.60	Marita Koch	East Germany	Turin, Italy	4 August 1979[1]	3 years, 1 month and 4 days
48.16	Marita Koch	East Germany	Athens, Greece	8 September 1982[1]	11 months and 2 days
47.99	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	Helsinki, Finland	10 August 1983[1]	2 years, 1 month and 26 days
47.60*	Marita Koch	East Germany	Canberra, Australia	6 October 1985[1]	40 years, 4 months and 12 days

*Koch's record of 47.60 still stands as the fastest 400m ever run by a woman, although this is controversial. As Yahoo! Sports summarized in 2025, leaked documents from East Germany "specified dosages and dates for Koch's alleged use of the steroid Oral-Turinabol. Despite that, Koch has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, telling the BBC in 2014 that she has 'a clear conscience.' ... Track and field's governing body can't remove Koch's record because she never tested positive for banned substances and because the World Anti-Doping Association's 10-year statute of limitations has long expired."^[3] Had Koch's record previously been removed or if she were to admit to using PEDs, which would allow for the record to be retroactively revoked, the new record in the women's 400m would be held by American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a former hurdler, who recorded a 47.78 on 18 September 2025 at the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo.^[4]