1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres
# 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 21 and 22 February.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| - | - | - |
| Andreas Knebel East Germany | Martin Weppler West Germany | Stefano Malinverni Italy |

## Results

### Heats

First 2 from each heat (Q) qualified directly for the semifinals.

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Dinko Penev | Bulgaria | 47.58 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Andreas Knebel | East Germany | 47.86 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Didier Dubois | France | 47.93 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Martin Weppler | West Germany | 48.11 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Jacques Fellice | France | 48.17 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Koen Gijsbers | Netherlands | 48.21 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 3 | Ainsley Bennett | Great Britain | 48.23 | |
| 8 | 2 | Benjamín González | Spain | 48.37 | |
| 9 | 4 | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 48.44 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | Paul Bourdin | France | 48.49 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | Rolf Gisler | Switzerland | 48.86 | |
| 12 | 1 | Roberto Ribaud | Italy | 49.53 | |
| | 1 | Hartmut Weber | West Germany | DNF | |

### Semifinals

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

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 2 | Andreas Knebel | East Germany | 47.10 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Paul Bourdin | France | 47.43 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Didier Dubois | France | 47.68 | |
| 4 | 1 | Martin Weppler | West Germany | 48.04 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Koen Gijsbers | Netherlands | 48.23 | |
| 6 | 1 | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 48.27 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Dinko Penev | Bulgaria | 48.50 | |
| 8 | 1 | Jacques Fellice | France | 48.61 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| | Andreas Knebel | East Germany | 46.52 |
| | Martin Weppler | West Germany | 46.88 |
| | Stefano Malinverni | Italy | 46.96 |
| 4 | Paul Bourdin | France | 47.69 |
