2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres hurdles

Throughout the 2019 season two names topped the 400 hurdles list. The same two topped the semi-final round. Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin, but which one would be the favorite? McLaughlin had more superior times and had beaten Muhammad 2 to 1. The 1, Muhammad had to set the world record to beat McLaughlin and win the USA Championships on a rain soaked track in Des Moines. And McLaughlin was still improving. She ran those fast times while still a teenager, turning 20 late in the season.

In the final, Muhammad did what she had to do, she went out hard. She was first over the first hurdle and continued to pull ahead, making up the stagger on Sage Watson to her outside before the end of the turn. But McLaughlin was not giving up too much ground, two lanes to the inside, passing Rushell Clayton between them just after entering the backstretch. Before the end of the backstretch, Muhammad had made up another stagger on two time World Champion Zuzana Hejnová. Through the final turn, both were well in front, Muhammad taking the hurdles about a full stride ahead of McLaughlin. When they hit the home straight, Muhammad had about a 3 metre lead. That gap stayed consistent over the final two barriers, but coming off the final hurdle, McLaughlin made up a meter in the first three steps and she was coming on fast. The gap was closing as the finish line neared. Both athletes leaned for the line with Muhammad holding on for a half metre victory. Clayton finished a second and a half back to take bronze.

Muhammad had beaten her own world record set just two months earlier by .04. She ran 52.16. McLaughlin had run the #3 time in history, 52.23. The only thing separating the two was Muhammad's previous world record run. Just as in the 1995 World Championships, two American hurdlers had pushed each other to be the #1 and 2 performers in history.

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date	Location
World	52.20	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	28 Jul 2019	Des Moines, United States
Championship	52.42	Melaine Walker	JAM	20 Aug 2009	Berlin, Germany
World leading	52.20	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	28 Jul 2019	Des Moines, United States
African	52.90	Nezha Bidouane	MAR	25 Aug 1999	Sevilla, Spain
Asian	53.96	Han Qing	CHN	9 Sep 1993	Beijing, China
		Song Yinglan	CHN	17 Nov 2001	Guangzhou, China
NACAC	52.20	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	28 Jul 2019	Des Moines, United States
European	52.34	Yuliya Pechonkina	RUS	8 Aug 2003	Tula, Russia
Oceanian	53.17	Debbie Flintoff-King	AUS	28 Sep 1998	Seoul, South Korea

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
4 October	Final	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	52.16	WR CR

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), is as follows:[3]