7th IAAF World Athletics Championship - Source: Getty — Michael Johnson of USA greeting the crowd after setting the world record in men's 400m at the 1999 World Championships [Image Source: Getty]

Michael Johnson reflects on running the 400m under 44 seconds 22 times and holding the record even after 2 decades of his retirement

Modified Sep 10, 2024 04:02 GMT

Michael Johnson of the USA is one of the prominent names in the world of track and field. He redefined sprinting in the 200m and the 400m events, and his records stood for at least a decade.

Recently, a social media account on X honored Johnson for going under 44 seconds in the men's 400m event a mind-boggling 22 times, a record unbroken to date.

Michael Johnson explained the reason for this historic achievement in just one word. He posted on his X account:

"Consistency"

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Apart from Johnson, only Kirani James from Grenada has achieved a double-digit score in terms of running the 400m event under 44 seconds. The triple Olympic medalist has run under 44 seconds on 10 occasions.

Except for him and Michael Johnson, nobody has managed to run under 44 seconds more than nine times, not even Wayde van Niekerk, the reigning world record holder for the men's 400m event. He ran under 44 seconds only six times to date, including the world record timing of 43.03 seconds, which the South African sprinter ran at the finals of the 400m event at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Even Quincy Hall, who recently won the Olympic gold medal, has run under 400m only three times, including the semifinals and the finals of the 400m event at the Paris Olympics. He clocked a personal best of 43.40 seconds, the current world leading time as he won the 400m event at the Paris Olympics.

How Michael Johnson transformed the quarter mile

Michael Johnson after breaking the world record in 400m at the 7th IAAF World Athletics Championship - [Image Source: Getty]

Michael Johnson has transformed the quarter mile or the 400m race like nobody else. His impact on this event can understood from the fact that his world record in the event stood for almost 17 years, i.e. from September 1999 to August 2016.

Johnson ran under 43 seconds for the first time in 1992, when he ran the quarter mile in 43.98 seconds at an athletic meet in London, a couple of weeks before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Johnson was almost 25 when he first broke that record, and until 2000, he ran under 44 seconds on 22 occasions!

The American sprinter was one of the top favorites for the Olympic gold medal in the 200m event at the Barcelona Olympics. However, weeks before the race, Johnson suffered a bout of food poisoning, which left him emaciated. He still ran the 200m event but was eliminated in the semifinals. However, his dedication was such that he contributed to the world record performance of the men's 4x400m relay team representing the USA at the Barcelona Olympics.

Since then, Johnson never looked back, aiming for the skies every time he ran a race. At the Atlanta Olympics, Johnson achieved a 'golden double' by winning the gold medals in the 200m and the 400m race. While he didn't break the world record in the 400m, his timing of 43.49 seconds was a new Olympic record.

Michael Johnson's career best till 1999 was 43.39 seconds, which he clocked at the World Championships held in Goteborg, Sweden in 1995. However, at the World Championships in 1999, Johnson finally achieved the impossible, breaking the 11-year-old record set by teammate Butch Reynolds to clock 43.18 seconds.

Johnson ran for the last time at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, where he won the 400m as well as the 4x400m relay event. Unfortunately, teammate Antonio Pettigrew admitted to doping in 2008, following which the American relay team's gold medals were revoked by the IOC.