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1997 World Championships in Athletics Athens, Greece

1997 6th IAAF World Championships - Athens - Women's 400m Hurdles

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Details: Parent Category: World Championships in Athletics; Category: 1997 World Championships in Athletics Athens, Greece; Last Updated: 26 July 2020; Hits: 286

Host City: Athens. Greece

Format: First round (First 3 & 4 fastest to semi-finals) (Aug 5)

Dates: August 1–10. 1997

Format: Semi-finals (First 4 to final) (Aug 6)

Nations participating: 198

Athletes participating: 1882

Main venue: Olympic Stadium

Overview by IAAF

The form book pointed to a battle royal between defending champion and world record holder Batten and her Olympic conqueror Hemmings. They did indeed battle it out far ahead of the rest until Batten made a serious mistake at the eighth hurdle and the Jamaican appeared to have the race locked up. However. Bidouane – who had pulled off a shock win over Batten and Hemmings in Rome in June – had other ideas. Buoyed up by an African record of 53.48 in winning her semi. the Moroccan took no notice of her rivals’ furious pace – touching down after the sixth hurdle in 28.44 as against Hemmings’ 27.76 – and consequently found herself with plenty left for the closing stages. A distant fourth entering the finishing straight. she drew level with Batten at the last hurdle and edged past an astonished Hemmings in the final few strides for victory in 52.97. Until this race Bidouane’s international championship career had hardly set the world aflame. A semi-finalist at the 1991 Worlds and 1992 Olympics. she failed to finish her heat at the 1993 World Championships. was disqualified in her heat two years later and had to miss the Atlanta Olympics because of Achilles tendon surgery. She became the second Moroccan woman to win a major 400m hurdles title. Nawal El Moutawakel having triumphed at the 1984 Olympics. A sad footnote: Making an encouraging comeback after injury. Gunnell (the 1993 champion in world record time) clocked her best time for three years with 54.53 in her heat only to re-injure herself warming down and being forced to withdraw from her semi-final. It was the end of a brilliant career.

These are the results of the Women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens. Greece.

	400m Hurdles			*8 August*
Event report women 400 m hurdles final Moroccan Nezha Bidouane won the first women’s gold medal in the World Championships for her country by winning the 400 metres hurdles in a new African record of 52.97. Running from lane 3, Bidouane seemed out of contention in the initial stages, and by the 200 metres mark she was a well back in 4th place. The 1996 Olympic champion, Jamaican Deon Hemmings was the early leader, with the defending champion, 1997 world leader and world record holder, American Kim Batten, also moving fast. At the 300 metres mark, Hemmings was 1st, Batten 2nd and Bidouane 3rd, still some 5 metres behind the others. At the last hurdle Bidouane caught Batten and went after Hemmings. With an amazing closing drive, she took the lead in the final steps and celebrated at the finish line. Hemmings’s time, 53.09 was a season best. Batten finished in 53.52. The victor joins her countrywoman, Nawal El Moutawakel now a member of the IAAF Council, in winning gold in the 400 hurdles in a major championship. El Moutawakel won at the 1984 Olympics.
	Final
1	Nezha Bidouane	MAR	18 Sep 69	52.97
2	Deon Hemmings	JAM	9 Oct 68	53.09
3	Kim Batten	USA	29 Mar 69	53.52
4	Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova	UKR	11 Oct 69	53.81
5	Debbie Parris-Thymes	JAM	24 Mar 73	54.19
6	Tonja Buford-Bailey	USA	13 Dec 70	54.77
7	Susan Smith-Walsh	IRL	14 Sep 71	55.25
8	Andrea Blackett	BAR	24 Jan 76	55.63

	Semifinals			*6 August*
	Heat 1
1	Kim Batten	USA	29 Mar 69	53.67
2	Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova	UKR	11 Oct 69	54.02
3	Debbie Parris-Thymes	JAM	24 Mar 73	54.72
4	Susan Smith-Walsh	IRL	14 Sep 71	54.72
5	Yekaterina Bakhvalova	RUS	29 Oct 72	55.02
6	Silvia Rieger	GER	14 Nov 70	55.08
7	Karlene Haughton	CAN	18 Oct 72	55.33
8	Miriam Alonso	ESP	6 Jun 70	55.49
	Heat 2
1	Nezha Bidouane	MAR	18 Sep 69	53.48
2	Deon Hemmings	JAM	9 Oct 68	53.82
3	Tonja Buford-Bailey	USA	13 Dec 70	54.48
4	Andrea Blackett	BAR	24 Jan 76	54.74
5	Gudrún Arnardóttir	ISL	24 Sep 71	54.93
6	Anna Knoroz	RUS	30 Jul 70	55.28
7	Ester Goossens	NED	21 Feb 72	56.17
-	Sally Gunnell	GBR		DNS

	Heats			*5 August*
	Heat 1
1	Deon Hemmings	JAM	9 Oct 68	54.42
2	Sally Gunnell	GBR	29 Jul 66	54.53
3	Ester Goossens	NED	21 Feb 72	54.84
4	Andrea Blackett	BAR	24 Jan 76	55.26
5	Tatyana Ledovskaya	BLR		56.88
6	Rebecca Russell-Buchanan	USA		57.79
7	Christina Panagou	GRE		1.01.14
	Heat 2
1	Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova	UKR	11 Oct 69	55.17
2	Tonja Buford-Bailey	USA	13 Dec 70	55.25
3	Anna Knoroz	RUS	30 Jul 70	55.34
4	Miriam Alonso	ESP	6 Jun 70	55.57
5	Gudrún Arnardóttir	ISL	24 Sep 71	55.76
6	Donalda Duprey	CAN		56.73
7	Inicia C. Da Fonseca	STP		1.01.39
	Heat 3
1	Kim Batten	USA	29 Mar 69	54.56
2	Susan Smith-Walsh	IRL	14 Sep 71	54.61
3	Yekaterina Bakhvalova	RUS	29 Oct 72	55.08
4	Karlene Haughton	CAN	18 Oct 72	55.27
5	Judit Szekeres	HUN	18 Nov 66	55.99
6	Carla Barbarino	ITA		57.05
7	Rikke Ronholt	DEN		57.26
	Heat 4
1	Nezha Bidouane	MAR	18 Sep 69	55.53
2	Silvia Rieger	GER	14 Nov 70	55.64
3	Debbie Parris-Thymes	JAM	24 Mar 73	55.84
4	Irina Lenskiy	UKR	12 Jun 71	56.05
5	Natalya Torshina	KZK		56.64
6	Ryan Tolbert	USA		56.67

Startlist

Heat 1 05 AUG 1997 08:35

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Andrea Blackett	BAR	57.35
2	Ester Goossens	NED
3	Christína Panágou	GRE
4	Deon Hemmings	JAM	52.82	53.18
5	Tatyana Ledovskaya	BLR	53.11	58.19
6	Rebecca Russell-Buchanan	USA	55.61	55.61
7	Sally Gunnell	GBR	52.74	55.30

Heat 2 05 AUG 1997 08:41

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Inicia C. Da Fonseca	STP	1:01.36	1:01.36
2	Anna Chuprina-Knoroz	RUS	54.11	55.02
3	Gudrún Arnardóttir	ISL	54.81	55.02
4	Tetiana Tereschuk-Antipova	UKR	54.41	54.41
5	Tonja Buford-Bailey	USA	52.62	54.25
6	Miriam Alonso	ESP	55.45	56.89
7	Donalda Duprey	CAN	55.42	56.23

Heat 3 05 AUG 1997 08:47

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
	Rikke Rønholt-Albertsen	DEN	57.04	57.04
1	Karlene Haughton	JAM	55.66	55.66
2	Carla Barbarino	ITA	56.66	56.66
3	Kim Batten	USA	52.61	52.97
4	Yekaterina Bakhvalova	RUS	54.69	54.69
5	Susan Smith-Walsh	IRL	54.93	55.26
6	Judit Szekeres	HUN	55.46	55.46

Heat 4 05 AUG 1997 08:53

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
2	Natalya Torshina-Alimzhanova	KAZ	54.53
3	Nezha Bidouane	MAR	54.05	54.05
4	Ryan Tolbert-Jackson	USA	54.21	54.21
5	Debbie-Ann Parris-Thymes	JAM	53.97	55.79
6	Silvia Rieger	GER	54.27	55.09
7	Irina Lenskiy	UKR	55.69	56.26