1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 22 and 23 February.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Thomas Schönlebe East Germany	José Alonso Spain	Mathias Schersing East Germany

Results

Heats

The winner of each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Arjen Visserman	Netherlands	47.43	Q
2	1	Thomas Schönlebe	East Germany	47.59	Q
3	4	Ismail Mačev	Yugoslavia	47.62	q
4	1	Steve Heard	Great Britain	47.64	q
5	2	Mathias Schersing	East Germany	47.92	Q
6	3	José Alonso	Spain	47.95	Q
7	4	Klaus Just	West Germany	48.02	q
8	2	Brian Whittle	Great Britain	48.04
9	1	Momchil Kharizanov	Bulgaria	48.06
10	3	Thomas Futterknecht	Austria	48.07
11	2	Ángel Heras	Spain	48.22
12	3	Vladimir Krylov	Soviet Union	48.35
13	5	Andreas Rapek	Austria	48.75	Q
14	5	Jürgen Koffler	West Germany	48.83
15	5	Timo Kiviniemi	Finland	49.21
16	2	Jindrich Roun	Czechoslovakia	49.58
	4	Dimitar Rangelov	Bulgaria	DNS

Semifinals

First 2 from each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Thomas Schönlebe	East Germany	47.62	Q
2	1	Mathias Schersing	East Germany	47.75	Q
2	2	José Alonso	Spain	47.75	Q
4	2	Ismail Mačev	Yugoslavia	47.78
5	1	Arjen Visserman	Netherlands	47.79
6	1	Steve Heard	Great Britain	47.81
7	1	Andreas Rapek	Austria	49.29
	2	Klaus Just	West Germany	DNS

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	3	Thomas Schönlebe	East Germany	46.97
	4	José Alonso	Spain	47.12
	2	Mathias Schersing	East Germany	47.59
4	1	Arjen Visserman	Netherlands	47.69