1974 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres

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

Medalists

Gold	Riitta Salin Finland
Silver	Ellen Streidt East Germany
Bronze	Rita Wilden West Germany

Results

Final

4 September

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Riitta Salin	Finland	50.14	NR CR
	Ellen Streidt	East Germany	50.69	NR
	Rita Wilden	West Germany	50.88	NR
4	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	51.22	NR
5	Angelika Handt	East Germany	51.24
6	Karoline Käfer	Austria	51.77	NR
7	Verona Bernard	Great Britain	52.61
8	Jelica Pavličić	Yugoslavia	53.01

Semi-finals

3 September

Semi-final 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ellen Streidt	East Germany	51.40	CR Q
2	Rita Wilden	West Germany	51.46	Q
3	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	51.65	Q
4	Jelica Pavličić	Yugoslavia	51.87	Q
5	Krystyna Kacperczyk	Poland	52.07
6	Jannette Roscoe	Great Britain	52.85
7	Rosine Wallez	Belgium	53.02
8	Trudy Wunderink	Netherlands	53.46

Semi-final 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Riitta Salin	Finland	51.46	Q
2	Angelika Handt	East Germany	51.67	Q
3	Karoline Käfer	Austria	52.14	NR Q
4	Verona Bernard	Great Britain	52.18	Q
5	Ingrīda Barkāne	Soviet Union	52.52
6	Danuta Piecyk	Poland	52.93
7	Jozefína Čerchlanová	Czechoslovakia	53.77
8	Natalya Sokolova	Soviet Union	53.82

Heats

2 September

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Natalya Sokolova	Soviet Union	53.21	Q
2	Jozefína Čerchlanová	Czechoslovakia	53.23	Q
3	Danuta Piecyk	Poland	53.30	Q
4	Donna Hartley	Great Britain	53.49
5	Dominique Forest	France	55.35

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Riitta Salin	Finland	51.88	Q
2	Angelika Handt	East Germany	52.21	Q
3	Krystyna Kacperczyk	Poland	52.76	Q
4	Jannette Roscoe	Great Britain	53.28	q
5	Trudy Wunderink	Netherlands	53.30	q
6	Claire Walsh	Ireland	54.15

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Ellen Streidt	East Germany	51.79	Q
2	Rita Wilden	West Germany	51.91	Q
3	Karoline Käfer	Austria	52.20	Q
4	Rosine Wallez	Belgium	52.82	NR q
5	Ingrīda Barkāne	Soviet Union	53.01	q
6	Genowefa Błaszak	Poland	53.34

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Nadezhda Ilyina	Soviet Union	52.30	Q
2	Verona Bernard	Great Britain	52.46	Q
3	Jelica Pavličić	Yugoslavia	53.11	Q
4	Pirjo Häggman	Finland	53.43
5	Karola Claus	West Germany	54.26
6	Iren Orosz	Hungary	54.90

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 23 athletes from 14 countries participated in the event.

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