Athletics at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games – Women's 400 metres

Women's 400 metres at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games
Venue	Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh
Dates	22 and 23 July 1970
Medalists
Marilyn Neufville    Jamaica   Sandra Brown    Australia   Judith Ayaa    Uganda
← 1966 Kingston Christchurch 1974 →

Athletics at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
20 mile walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men	women
Combined events
Pentathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

The women's 400 metres event at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games was held on 22 and 23 July at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland.^[1] It was the first time that the metric distance was contested at the Games, replacing the 440 yards event.

The winning margin was 2.64 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the women's 400 metres was won by more than two seconds at these games.

Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Marilyn Neufville  Jamaica	Sandra Brown  Australia	Judith Ayaa  Uganda

The first 4 in each semifinal heat (Q) qualified directly for the final.

Semifinal heats result

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Marilyn Neufville	Jamaica	53.0	Q
2	1	Jannette Champion	England	54.9	Q
3	1	Avril Beattie	Scotland	55.1	Q
4	1	Maeve Kyle	Northern Ireland	55.3	Q
5	1	Cecilia Smith	Canada	55.5
6	1	Heather McKay	Canada	59.1
1	2	Judith Ayaa	Uganda	52.8	Q
2	2	Sandra Brown	Australia	53.8	Q
3	2	Avril Bowring	England	54.1	Q
4	2	Barbara Lyall	Scotland	54.1	Q
5	2	Maureen Taylor	England	54.3
6	2	Joyce Sadowick	Canada	55.2
7	2	Beverly Franklyn	Jamaica	57.2
	2	Alice Annum	Ghana	DNS

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Marilyn Neufville	Jamaica	51.02	WR
	Sandra Brown	Australia	53.66
	Judith Ayaa	Uganda	53.77
4	Jannette Champion	England	54.2
5	Barbara Lyall	Scotland	54.7
6	Avril Bowring	England	54.7
7	Avril Beattie	Scotland	54.8
8	Maeve Kyle	Northern Ireland	55.7

• Heats results (p9)
• Australian results