1978 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 29, 30, and 31 August 1978.

Medalists

Gold	Marita Koch East Germany
Silver	Christina Brehmer East Germany
Bronze	Irena Szewińska Poland

Results

Final

31 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Marita Koch	East Germany	48.94	WR
	Christina Brehmer	East Germany	50.38
	Irena Szewińska	Poland	50.40
4	Mariya Kulchunova	Soviet Union	51.25
5	Christiane Marquardt	East Germany	51.99
6	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	52.31
7	Pirjo Häggman	Finland	52.46
8	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.53

Semi-finals

30 August

Semi-final 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Marita Koch	East Germany	51.76	Q
2	Mariya Kulchunova	Soviet Union	51.88	Q
3	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	52.14	Q
4	Pirjo Häggman	Finland	52.24	Q
5	Elke Decker	West Germany	52.92
6	Joslyn Hoyte	Great Britain	52.95
7	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	53.93
8	Patricia Darbonville	France	54.47

Semi-final 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Christina Brehmer	East Germany	52.01	Q
2	Christiane Marquardt	East Germany	52.29	Q
3	Irena Szewińska	Poland	52.37	Q
4	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.65	Q
5	Gaby Bussmann	West Germany	52.66
6	Dagmar Fuhrmann	West Germany	53.23
7	Ilona Pál	Hungary	53.50
8	Marina Sidorova	Soviet Union	54.08

Heats

29 August

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Marita Koch	East Germany	52.95	Q
2	Irena Szewińska	Poland	53.14	Q
3	Ilona Pál	Hungary	53.42	Q
4	Patricia Darbonville	France	53.50	q
5	Rosine Wallez	Belgium	53.99
6	Anne Aren	Sweden	54.37

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Christiane Marquardt	East Germany	52.12	Q
2	Joslyn Hoyte	Great Britain	52.29	Q
3	Gaby Bussmann	West Germany	52.92	Q
4	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	53.33	q
5	Marina Sidorova	Soviet Union	53.72	q
6	Yvonne Hannus	Finland	53.98
7	Ibolya Petrika	Hungary	54.01

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Christina Brehmer	East Germany	51.71	Q
2	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.64	Q
3	Pirjo Häggman	Finland	52.68	Q
4	Elke Decker	West Germany	52.97	q
5	Catherine Delachanal	France	53.81
6	Truus van Amstel	Netherlands	54.37

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Mariya Kulchunova	Soviet Union	51.55	Q
2	Dagmar Fuhrmann	West Germany	53.45	Q
3	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	53.61	Q
4	Silvia Schinzel	Austria	53.80
5	Rozalia Halmosi	Hungary	53.93
6	Eva Ráková	Czechoslovakia	54.00

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 25 athletes from 13 countries participated in the event.

• Austria (1)
• Belgium (1)
• Czechoslovakia (2)
• East Germany (3)
• Finland (2)
• France (2)
• Hungary (3)
• Netherlands (1)
• Poland (1)
• Soviet Union (2)
• Sweden (1)
• Great Britain (3)
• West Germany (3)