Athletics at the 1981 Summer Universiade – Women's 400 metres

The women's 400 metres event at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadionul Naţional in Bucharest on 23 and 24 July 1981.^[1]

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Irina Baskakova Soviet Union	Nadezhda Lyalina Soviet Union	Sophie Malbranque France

Rank	Heat	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Nadezhda Lyalina	Soviet Union	52.45	Q
2	3	Irina Baskakova	Soviet Union	52.46	Q
3	3	Sophie Malbranque	France	52.76	Q^[3]
4	2	Elena Tărîță	Romania	52.80	Q
5	3	Delisa Walton	United States	52.89	q
6	2	Judit Forgács	Hungary	53.34	q
7	1	Tânia Miranda	Brazil	53.43	Q
8	1	Marie-Christine Champenois	France	53.54	Q
9	3	Ibolya Petrika	Hungary	53.62
10	1	Niculina Lazarciuc	Romania	53.65
11	2	Erika Rossi	Italy	53.68
12	2	Leanne Evans	Australia	54.41	^[4]
13	1	Andrea Decker	West Germany	54.95
14	3	Heather Wright	Australia	55.51	^[4]
15	2	Georgia Troubouki	Greece	55.88
16	1	Gloria Ayanlaja	Nigeria	58.28
17	2	Hala El-Moughrabi	Syria	59.61
18	2	Long Pham Kieu	Vietnam	1:01.06
19	3	Reine Bejjani	Lebanon	1:07.31

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time
	Irina Baskakova	Soviet Union	51.45
	Nadezhda Lyalina	Soviet Union	51.56
	Sophie Malbranque	France	52.52
4	Judit Forgács	Hungary	52.61
5	Delisa Walton	United States	52.97
6	Tânia Miranda	Brazil	53.19
7	Elena Tărîță	Romania	53.53
8	Marie-Christine Champenois	France	53.53