The men's 400 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.

The winning margin was 0.63 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 400 metres has been won by more than 0.6 seconds at these championships since the introduction of fully automatic timing, although the winning margin in the 1938 European Athletics Championships was a hand-timed 0.8 seconds.

Medalists Gold Karl Honz Silver David Jenkins Bronze Bernd Herrmann

Results Final 4 September Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Karl Honz 45.04 CR David Jenkins 45.67 Bernd Herrmann 45.78 4 Markku Kukkoaho 45.84 5 Ossi Karttunen 45.87 6 Michael Fredriksson 46.12 7 Erik Carlgren 46.15 8 Francis Demarthon 46.90

Semi-finals 3 September

Semi-final 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Karl Honz 46.24 Q 2 Francis Demarthon 46.28 Q 3 Markku Kukkoaho 46.29 Q 4 Erik Carlgren 46.51 Q 5 Jürgen Utikal 46.62 6 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 46.64 7 Per-Olof Sjöberg 46.68 8 Roger Jenkins 47.30

Semi-final 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 David Jenkins 45.93 Q 2 Ossi Karttunen 46.36 Q 3 Michael Fredriksson 46.39 Q 4 Bernd Herrmann 46.40 Q 5 Alfons Brijdenbach 46.43 6 Milorad Čikić 47.04 7 Andreas Scheibe 47.24 8 Toine van den Goolberg 47.40

Heats 2 September

Heat 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 45.92 Q 2 Alfons Brijdenbach 46.00 Q 3 Francis Demarthon 46.11 Q 4 Andreas Scheibe 46.38 Q 5 Per-Olof Sjöberg 46.63 q 6 Roger Jenkins 46.78 q 7 Roman Siedlecki 47.35

Heat 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Bernd Herrmann 46.30 Q 2 Markku Kukkoaho 46.38 Q 3 Jürgen Utikal 46.44 Q 4 Toine van den Goolberg 46.46 Q 5 Milorad Čikić 46.68 q 6 Michael Fredriksson 47.01 q 7 Stephen Marlow 48.71

Heat 3 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Ossi Karttunen 46.50 Q 2 David Jenkins 46.60 Q 3 Erik Carlgren 46.97 Q 4 Karl Honz 46.98 Q 5 Josip Alebić 47.41 6 Pasqualino Abeti 47.80

Participation According to an unofficial count, 20 athletes from 11 countries participated in the event.

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References