Athletics at the 1986 Commonwealth Games – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games was held on 26 and 27 July at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Roger Black England	Darren Clark Australia	Phil Brown England

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 4 of each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Darren Clark	Australia	46.12	Q
2	1	Roger Black	England	46.66	Q
3	3	Brian Whittle	Scotland	46.69	Q
4	3	Phil Brown	England	46.78	Q
5	2	Kriss Akabusi	England	46.84	Q
6	1	Bruce Frayne	Australia	46.99	Q
7	3	David Johnston	Australia	47.13	Q
8	2	Andre Smith	Canada	47.21	Q
9	1	Anton Skerritt	Canada	47.53	Q
10	2	Martin Johnston	Scotland	48.19	Q
11	3	Michael Guegan	Jersey	48.40	Q
12	1	Joseph Rodan	Fiji	49.41	Q
13	3	Reuben Kaiaha Wotu	Vanuatu	49.44	q
14	2	Odiya Silweya	Malawi	49.45	q
15	3	Zacharia Machangani	Botswana	49.75	q
16	1	Brian Nicoll	Scotland	49.91	q
17	1	John Chappory	Gibraltar	50.65
18	2	Avelino Baldachino	Gibraltar	51.55
	1	Georges Taniel	Vanuatu	DNS

Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 of each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Bruce Frayne	Australia	47.09	Q
2	1	Kriss Akabusi	England	47.15	Q
3	2	David Johnston	Australia	47.22	Q
4	2	Roger Black	England	47.27	Q
5	2	Brian Whittle	Scotland	47.56	Q
6	1	Darren Clark	Australia	47.61	Q
7	1	Phil Brown	England	47.72	Q
8	2	Anton Skerritt	Canada	47.74
9	1	Andre Smith	Canada	47.96	Q
10	1	Martin Johnston	Scotland	48.57
11	2	Michael Guegan	Jersey	48.80
12	2	Odiya Silweya	Malawi	49.56
13	1	Brian Nicoll	Scotland	50.07
14	2	Zacharia Machangani	Botswana	50.09
15	1	Joseph Rodan	Fiji	50.30
16	1	Reuben Kaiaha Wotu	Vanuatu	51.08

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	6	Roger Black	England	45.57
	8	Darren Clark	Australia	45.98
	2	Phil Brown	England	46.80
4	3	Kriss Akabusi	England	46.83
5	1	Brian Whittle	Scotland	47.10
6	4	David Johnston	Australia	47.24
7	5	Bruce Frayne	Australia	47.29
8	7	Andre Smith	Canada	47.97