Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres event at the 1978 Commonwealth Games was held on 6 and 7 August at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Women's 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Donna Hartley England	Verona Elder England	Bethanie Nail Australia

Results

Heats

Held on 6 August

Qualification: First 5 in each heat (Q) and the next 1 fastest (q) qualify for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	June Griffith	Guyana	52.71	Q
2	2	Donna Hartley	England	52.86	Q
3	3	Joslyn Hoyte	England	53.00	Q
4	3	Helen Blake	Jamaica	53.14	Q
5	2	Bethanie Nail	Australia	53.27	Q
6	2	Ruth Waithera	Kenya	53.36	Q
7	2	Debbie Byfield-White	Jamaica	53.77	Q
8	2	Margaret Stride	Canada	53.81	Q
9	1	Verona Elder	England	53.84	Q
10	2	Adrienne Smyth	Northern Ireland	53.96	q
11	1	Maxine Corcoran	Australia	54.05	Q
12	2	Grace Bakari	Ghana	54.17
13	1	Karen Williams	Scotland	54.28	Q
14	3	Penny Hunt	New Zealand	54.53	Q
15	3	Ann Harley	Scotland	54.54	Q
16	1	Ruth Williams-Simpson	Jamaica	54.77	Q
17	1	Linda McCurry	Northern Ireland	54.83	Q
18	1	Freida Nicholls	Barbados	54.93
19	3	Rachelle Campbell	Canada	54.98
20	3	Georgina Aidoo	Ghana	55.16
21	3	Jennifer Boca	Grenada	56.27
22	1	Charity Muhuhe	Kenya	56.75
23	1	Violet Molobeka	Zambia	57.04
24	2	Haddy N'Jie	Gambia	1:06.43

Semifinals

Held on 6 August

Qualification: First 4 in each semifinal (Q) qualify directly for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	June Griffith	Guyana	51.40	Q
2	2	Donna Hartley	England	52.26	Q
3	1	Verona Elder	England	52.49	Q
4	1	Bethanie Nail	Australia	52.51	Q
5	2	Helen Blake	Jamaica	52.63	Q
6	1	Joslyn Hoyte	England	52.79	Q
6	2	Maxine Corcoran	Australia	52.79	Q
8	2	Karen Williams	Scotland	52.98	Q
9	1	Ruth Waithera	Kenya	53.30
10	2	Margaret Stride	Canada	53.68
11	2	Debbie Byfield-White	Jamaica	54.09
12	2	Penny Hunt	New Zealand	54.26
13	1	Adrienne Smyth	Northern Ireland	54.40
14	2	Linda McCurry	Northern Ireland	54.98
15	1	Ann Harley	Scotland	55.32
16	1	Ruth Williams-Simpson	Jamaica	57.03

Final

Held on 7 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Donna Hartley	England	51.69
	Verona Elder	England	52.94
	Bethanie Nail	Australia	53.06
4	Joslyn Hoyte	England	53.22
5	June Griffith	Guyana	53.25
6	Karen Williams	Scotland	53.66
7	Helen Blake	Jamaica	54.15
8	Maxine Corcoran	Australia	54.46

References

• Heats & Semifinals results (The Canberra Times)
• Final results (The Canberra Times)
• Australian results