| Final | time | L | | 1. Kevin Young |  United States | 46.78s WR | 4 | | 2. Winthrop Graham |  Jamaica | 47.66s | 3 | | 3. Kriss Akabusi |  Great Britain | 47.82s | 5 | | 4. Stéphane Diagana |  France | 48.13s | 6 | | 5. Niklas Wallenlind |  Sweden | 48.63s | 8 | | 6. Oleh Tverdokhlib |  United Team | 48.63s | 2 | | 7. Stéphane Caristan | France | 48.86s | 1 | | 8. David Patrick | United States | 49.26s | 7 |
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| | | Venue: Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc 67,007. | | 47 competitors from 35 nations. |
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| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. Kriss Akabusi | Great Britain | 48.01s | | | 2. Stéphane Diagana | France | 48.28s | | | 3. Niklas Wallenlind | Sweden | 48.35s | | | 4. David Patrick | United States | 48.47s | | | 5. McClinton Neal | United States | 48.71s | | | 6. Erick Keter |  Kenya | 49.01s | | | 7. Carsten Köhrbrück |  Germany | 49.41s | | | 8. Eronilde de Araújo |  Brazil | 49.66s | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. Winthrop Graham | Jamaica | 47.62s | | | 2. Kevin Young | United States | 47.63s | | | 3. Oleh Tverdokhlib | United Team | 49.11s | | | 4. Stéphane Caristan | France | 49.50s | | | 5. Barnabas Kinyor | Kenya | 49.52s | | | 6. Sven Nylander | Sweden | 49.64s | | | -. Samuel Matete |  Zambia | DSQ | | | -. Olaf Hense | Germany | DNS | |
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Samuel Matete (ZAM), the second fastest of all-time with 47.10 in
1991, was the man to beat, and he coasted through his heat, the slowest,
in 49.89. The fastest man was Erick Keter (KEN) who set a national
record with 48.28. In all, 24 athletes broke the once-feared 50-second
barrier. Keter was eliminated in his semi, running 49.01 in a race won
by Akabusi in 48.01, with 48.47 by Patrick, the final qualifier. More
surprisingly, Matete failed to qualify in the other heat; hindered by a
hamstring problem he knocked over a hurdle in the lane adjacent to his
in the finishing straight and, though crossing the line third in 48.86,
was disqualified. Up ahead Graham was running a Jamaican record of
47.62, ahead of Young’s best ever of 47.63.
Graham and Diagana led early on in the final, then were caught by
Young at the fourth hurdle. Young passed halfway in 22.6 and by the
ninth hurdle the tall (1.93) American’s 13 stride pattern had broken the
race apart. At that point he was 5m ahead of Graham and, despite hit-
ting the 10th hurdle was still going away, 7m up at the finish. He
achieved the first sub-47 clocking ever. Graham held off Akabusi for
second, with Diagana fourth, well ahead of Wallenlind.
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Kevin Young | United States | 48.76s | | | 2. Stéphane Caristan | France | 49.16s | | | 3. Gideon Yego | Kenya | 49.23s | | | 4. Athanassios Kalogiannis |  Greece | 49.52s | | | 5. Aleksey Bazarov |  Israel | 50.33s | | | 6. Jacques-Henri Brunet |  Central Africa | 52.59s | | | 7. Abdullah Sabt Ghulam |  UA Emirates | 56.20s | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Samuel Matete | Zambia | 49.89s | | | 2. Olaf Hense | Germany | 49.97s | | | 3. Domingo Cordero |  Puerto Rico | 50.19s | | | 4. Kazuhiko Yamazaki |  Japan | 50.30s | | | 5. Vadim Zadoynov | United Team | 51.21s | | | 6. Baobo Neuendorf |  Papua New Guinea | 53.30s | | | 7. Amadou Sy Savane |  Guinea | 54.26s | |
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| Heat 3 | time | | | 1. Erick Keter | Kenya | 48.28s | | | 2. Stéphane Diagana | France | 48.41s | | | 3. Oleg Tverdokhleb | United Team | 48.68s | | | 4. Mark Jackson |  Canada | 49.18s | | | 5. Pedro Rodrigues |  Portugal | 49.46s | | | 6. Ghulam Abbas |  Pakistan | 50.57s | | | 7. Autiko Daunakamakama |  Fiji | 53.90s | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. McClinton Neal | United States | 49.13s | | | 2. Carsten Köhrbrück | Germany | 49.37s | | | 3. Amadou Dia Ba |  Senegal | 49.47s | | | 4. Andries Vorster |  South Africa | 49.75s | | | -. Pedro Chiamulera | Brazil | DNF | | | -. Zeid Abou Hamed |  Syria | DNS | | | -. Fadhel Khayati |  Tunisia | DNS | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. Sven Nylander | Sweden | 49.49s | | | 2. David Patrick | United States | 49.56s | | | 3. Jozef Kucej |  Czechoslovakia | 50.28s | | | 4. Hubert Rakotombelontsoa |  Madagascar | 51.54s | | | 5. Paeaki Kokohu |  Tonga | 56.99s | | | -. Max Robertson | Great Britain | DNF | | | -. Mark Thompson | Jamaica | DSQ | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Kriss Akabusi | Great Britain | 48.98s | | | 2. Eronilde de Araújo | Brazil | 49.10s | | | 3. Fabrizio Mori |  Italy | 49.16s | | | 4. Simon Hollingsworth |  Australia | 49.74s | | | 5. Paweł Woźniak |  Poland | 50.30s | | | 6. Chanon Keanchan |  Thailand | 50.60s | | | 7. Richard Bentley |  Guam | 57.04s | |
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| Heat 7 | time | | | 1. Winthrop Graham | Jamaica | 48.51s | | | 2. Niklas Wallenlind | Sweden | 48.71s | | | 3. Barnabas Kinyor | Kenya | 48.90s | | | 4. Yoshihiko Saito | Japan | 49.01s | | | 5. Asen Markov |  Bulgaria | 50.21s | | | 6. Giovanny Fanny |  Seychelles | 52.63s | | | 7. Alex Foster |  Costa Rica | 52.93s | |
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