Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games – Men's 400 metres

Men's 400 metres
at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Men's 400 metres ; at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Venue	City of Manchester Stadium
Dates	26 July 2002 (heats); 26 July 2002 (quarter finals); 27 July 2002 (semi finals); 28 July 2002 (final);
Competitors	48 from 26 nations
Winning time	45.07
Medalists
	← 1998 2006 →

Official Video

The men's 400 metres event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place between 26 and 28 July at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Michael Blackwood won the gold medal with a time of 45.07 seconds giving Jamaica its second victory in the event after Bert Cameron claimed the title in 1982. Canadian Shane Niemi placed second, taking the silver medal in 45.09. He finished ahead of world champion Avard Moncur of the Bahamas who won the bronze.^[1]^[2]

This was the ninth running of the 400 metres event at the Commonwealth Games after converting to metric at the 1970 Edinburgh Games. A 440 yard event was contested between 1930 and 1966. 48 competitors from 26 nations entered the event.^[3] The 1999 world indoor champion Jamie Baulch withdrew from the event as he had failed to recover from a hamstring injury. His Welsh team mate and defending champion Iwan Thomas also chose not to contest the event.^[4]^[5]^[6] However, both men were part of the quartet who won silver the 4 × 400 metres relay held later in the meet.^[7] Mark Richardson, the silver medallist from Kuala Lumpur, withdrew from the Games in June due to an achilles injury.^[8] Sri Lankan Sugath Thilakaratne, who won the bronze four year prior, narrowly missed reaching the final, finishing sixth in the second semi final.^[9] The other notable absentee was Greg Haughton, the Olympic and world bronze medallist who missed the Games over a dispute with the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.^[6]^[10]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing records were as follows:

Records before the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Record	Time (s)	Athlete (nation)	Meet	Location	Date	Ref
World record	43.18	Michael Johnson (USA)	World Championships	Seville, Spain	29 August 1996	^[3]
Commonwealth record	44.17	Innocent Egbunike (NGR)	Weltklasse Zürich	Zurich, Switzerland	19 August 1987	^[11]
Games record	44.52	Iwan Thomas (WAL)	Commonwealth Games	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	18 September 1998	^[3]

Results

Heats

The heats were held on 26 July, starting at 13:26 in the afternoon.^[3]

Qualification Rules: First 4 in each heat (Q) and the best 4 of remaining athletes (q) advance to the quarter finals.

Heat 1

Results of heat 1
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	45.72	Q
2	Marcus la Grange	South Africa	45.95	Q
3	Sean Baldock	England	46.02	Q
4	Clinton Hill	Australia	46.11	Q
5	Fidelis Gadzama	Nigeria	46.37	q, SB
6	Quincy Anthony	Antigua and Barbuda	46.76	q
	Nabi Wallace	Dominica	DQ

Heat 2

Results of heat 2
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Alleyne Francique	Grenada	46.36	Q
2	Jared Deacon	England	46.52	Q
3	Wilan Louis	Barbados	46.69	Q
4	Enefiok Udo-Obong	Nigeria	46.77	Q
5	Lulu Basinyi	Botswana	47.62	q
6	Micha Charles	Dominica	50.44
7	Reonardo Harvey	Turks and Caicos Islands	50.76	NR

Heat 3

Results of heat 3
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Michael Blackwood	Jamaica	46.68	Q
2	Sugath Thilakaratne	Sri Lanka	46.80	Q
3	Tim Benjamin	Wales	46.89	Q
4	Paul McKee	Northern Ireland	47.02	Q
5	Lupo Kumitau	Niue	59.38
	Timothy Munnings	Bahamas	DQ
	Musa Audu	Nigeria	DQ

Heat 4

Results of heat 4
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Chris Brown	Bahamas	46.39	Q
2	Pete Coley	Jamaica	46.45	Q
3	Damian Barry	Trinidad and Tobago	46.59	Q
4	Chris Lloyd	Dominica	46.90	Q
5	Sahr Thomas	Sierra Leone	48.36	q, SB
6	Kevin Arthurton	Saint Kitts and Nevis	48.48
	Clement Abai	Papua New Guinea	DNS

Heat 5

Results of heat 5
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Daniel Caines	England	47.37	Q
2	Shane Niemi	Canada	47.87	Q
3	Jeffrey Masvanhise	Zimbabwe	48.04	Q
4	Fernando Augustin	Mauritius	48.12	Q
5	Evans Marie	Seychelles	49.01
6	Jeffrey Bai	Papua New Guinea	50.45

Heat 6

Results of heat 6
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Sanjay Ayre	Jamaica	46.82	Q
2	Johnson Kubisa	Botswana	46.84	Q
3	Young Talkmore Nyongani	Zimbabwe	46.96	Q
4	Simon Pierre	Trinidad and Tobago	47.72	Q
5	Moses Kamut	Vanuatu	49.57
	John Fuller	Sierra Leone	DQ
	Jamie Baulch	Wales	DNS

Heat 7

Results of heat 7
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Eric Milazar	Mauritius	47.31	Q
2	Rohan Pradeep Kumara	Sri Lanka	47.70	Q
3	California Molefe	Botswana	48.39	Q
4	Mowen Boino	Papua New Guinea	48.97	Q
	Lewis Banda	Zimbabwe	DQ
	Frank Turay	Sierra Leone	DNS
	Sylvester Chishiba	Zambia	DNS

Quarter finals

The quarter finals were held on 26 July, starting at 19:12 in the evening.^[12]^[13]

Qualification: First 4 of each heat qualified directly (Q) for the semi finals.

Quarter final 1

Results of quarter final 1
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Eric Milazar	Mauritius	46.02	Q
2	Michael Blackwood	Jamaica	46.07	Q
3	Clinton Hill	Australia	46.28	Q
4	Johnson Kubisa	Botswana	46.70	Q
5	Fidelis Gadzama	Nigeria	47.05
6	Rohan Pradeep Kumara	Sri Lanka	47.14
7	Jeffrey Masvanhise	Zimbabwe	47.50
8	Mowen Boino	Papua New Guinea	48.74

Quarter final 2

Results of quarter final 2
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Shane Niemi	Canada	46.49	Q
2	Sanjay Ayre	Jamaica	46.49	Q
3	Jared Deacon	England	46.66	Q
4	Chris Brown	Bahamas	46.71	Q
5	California Molefe	Botswana	46.74
6	Young Talkmore Nyongani	Zimbabwe	47.14
7	Quincy Anthony	Antigua and Barbuda	47.61
	Simon Pierre	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF

Quarter final 3

Results of quarter final 3
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	46.11	Q
2	Marcus la Grange	South Africa	46.19	Q
3	Sean Baldock	England	46.26	Q
4	Paul McKee	Northern Ireland	46.47	Q
5	Wilan Louis	Barbados	46.60
6	Pete Coley	Jamaica	47.03
7	Chris Lloyd	Dominica	47.91
8	Sahr Thomas	Sierra Leone	49.60

Quarter final 4

Results of quarter final 4
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Alleyne Francique	Grenada	45.93	Q
2	Daniel Caines	England	46.11	Q
3	Sugath Thilakaratne	Sri Lanka	46.48	Q
4	Tim Benjamin	Wales	46.54	Q
5	Fernando Augustin	Mauritius	47.06
6	Lulu Basinyi	Botswana	47.93
	Damian Barry	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF
	Enefiok Udo-Obong	Nigeria	DNF

Semi finals

The semi finals were held on 27 July, starting at 20:04 in the evening.^[9]

Qualification: First 4 of each heat qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Semi final 1

Results of semi final 1
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Alleyne Francique	Grenada	45.06	Q
2	Shane Niemi	Canada	45.08	Q, SB
3	Chris Brown	Bahamas	45.11	Q, SB
4	Michael Blackwood	Jamaica	45.12	Q
5	Marcus la Grange	South Africa	45.51
6	Sean Baldock	England	45.71	SB
7	Paul McKee	Northern Ireland	45.91
8	Jared Deacon	England	46.07

Semi final 2

Results of semi final 2
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Daniel Caines	England	44.98	Q, PB
2	Eric Milazar	Mauritius	45.04	Q, SB
3	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	45.30	Q
4	Clinton Hill	Australia	45.41	Q, PB
5	Sanjay Ayre	Jamaica	45.43
6	Sugath Thilakaratne	Sri Lanka	45.79
7	Tim Benjamin	Wales	45.89
8	Johnson Kubisa	Botswana	46.28

Final

The final was held at 21:00 on 28 July.^[14]

Results of the final
Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Michael Blackwood	Jamaica	45.07
	Shane Niemi	Canada	45.09
	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	45.12
4	Daniel Caines	England	45.13
5	Alleyne Francique	Grenada	45.47
6	Eric Milazar	Mauritius	45.64
7	Chris Brown	Bahamas	45.67
8	Clinton Hill	Australia	46.00

References

^ "Blackwood takes 400m crown". BBC Sport. 28 July 2002. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Brown, Matthew (28 July 2002). "Edwards and Radcliffe, supremacy to savour - Commonwealth Games Day 3". IAAF. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Athletics - Men's 400m Heat Status". Manchester 2002. 26 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Brown, Matthew (26 July 2002). "A Shaw thing – Commonwealth Games Day 1". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ "Injured Baulch is relay doubt". BBC Sport. 26 July 2002. Archived from the original on 30 July 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ ^a ^b Mackay, Duncan (26 June 2002). "Thomas joins one-lap crocks". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ "England complete relay double". BBC Sport. 31 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Mackay, Duncan (12 June 2002). "Blighted runner pulls out of games". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ ^a ^b "Athletics - Men's 400m Semi Final Status". Manchester 2002. 27 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Brown, Matthew (25 July 2002). "Commonwealth Games - enough quality to silence the cynics". IAAF. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ Larsson, Peter (30 April 2006). "All-time men's best 400m". alltime-athletics.com. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ "2002 Commonwealth Games Athletics Schedule". Manchester 2002. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ "2002 Commonwealth Games Athletics Results". BBC Sport. 31 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
^ "Athletics - Men's 400m Final Status". Manchester 2002. 28 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[1] "Blackwood takes 400m crown". BBC Sport. 28 July 2002. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[2] Brown, Matthew (28 July 2002). "Edwards and Radcliffe, supremacy to savour - Commonwealth Games Day 3". IAAF. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.

[Heats-3] "Athletics - Men's 400m Heat Status". Manchester 2002. 26 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[4] Brown, Matthew (26 July 2002). "A Shaw thing – Commonwealth Games Day 1". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[5] "Injured Baulch is relay doubt". BBC Sport. 26 July 2002. Archived from the original on 30 July 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[Mackay-6] Mackay, Duncan (26 June 2002). "Thomas joins one-lap crocks". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[7] "England complete relay double". BBC Sport. 31 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[8] Mackay, Duncan (12 June 2002). "Blighted runner pulls out of games". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[semis-9] "Athletics - Men's 400m Semi Final Status". Manchester 2002. 27 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[10] Brown, Matthew (25 July 2002). "Commonwealth Games - enough quality to silence the cynics". IAAF. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[11] Larsson, Peter (30 April 2006). "All-time men's best 400m". alltime-athletics.com. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[12] "2002 Commonwealth Games Athletics Schedule". Manchester 2002. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[13] "2002 Commonwealth Games Athletics Results". BBC Sport. 31 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

[14] "Athletics - Men's 400m Final Status". Manchester 2002. 28 July 2002. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

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Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games

Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
Para-athletics
100 m blind	men
800 m wheelchair		women
v t e

v t e Commonwealth Games champions in men's 400 metres
440 yards (1930–1966)	1930: Alex Wilson (CAN) 1934: Godfrey Rampling (ENG) 1938: Bill Roberts (ENG) 1950: Edwin Carr (AUS) 1954: Kevan Gosper (AUS) 1958: Milkha Singh (IND) 1962: George Kerr (JAM) 1966: Wendell Mottley (TRI)
400 metres (1970–present)	1970: Charles Asati (KEN) 1974: Charles Asati (KEN) 1978: Rick Mitchell (AUS) 1982: Bert Cameron (JAM) 1986: Roger Black (ENG) 1990: Darren Clark (AUS) 1994: Charles Gitonga (KEN) 1998: Iwan Thomas (WAL) 2002: Michael Blackwood (JAM) 2006: John Steffensen (AUS) 2010: Mark Mutai (KEN) 2014: Kirani James (GRN) 2018: Isaac Makwala (BOT) 2022: Muzala Samukonga (ZAM)