World Athletics has approved a big change in the 400m race: from now on, instead of a single race with eight runners, the final will take place in two legs with four runners each. After the two races, the best three times of both races will be chosen as winners for the podium.
This has been implemented to end the disadvantage or running in lanes 1 and 2, which caused unfairness to the runners in those lanes. Lanes 1 and 2 are the innermost lanes, with narrower turns. Those lanes will be completely eliminated in 400m finals, so all eight athletes would have a more even experience.
The first time where this change will be implemented will be the World Championships in Torun, Poland, from March 20-22 of next year, but other national federations are also adopting the rule to align with the new international regulation, such as the Spanish Athletics Federation. For 4x400m relay, there will be no changes, and lanes 1 and 2 will still be used.
This change has been approved at the World Athletics Council in Monaco, where the Athletics federation also approved to... not approve a controversial change in long jump, that had been criticised by current and former athletes.