1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Women's 400 metres

1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships
Track events
50 m	men	women
400 m	men
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
3000 m	men
50 m hurdles	men	women
5000 m walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
Shot put	men	women

The women's 400 metres event at the 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 21 and 22 February.^[1][2]

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Jarmila Kratochvílová  Czechoslovakia	Natalya Bochina  Soviet Union	Verona Elder  Great Britain

First 2 from each heat (Q) and the net 2 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Natalya Bochina	Soviet Union	52.95	Q
2	1	Erica Rossi	Italy	53.04	Q
3	3	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	53.25	Q
4	3	Verona Elder	Great Britain	53.69	Q
5	2	Karoline Käfer	Austria	53.75	Q
6	1	Rita Daimer	West Germany	53.87	q
7	2	Sophie Malbranque	France	54.10	Q
8	3	Sylvie Revaux	France	54.55	q
9	1	Marie-Christine Champenois	France	54.59
10	2	Liliya Tuznikova	Soviet Union	55.05
	3	Montserrat Pujol	Spain	DNS

First 3 from each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	52.04	Q
2	2	Karoline Käfer	Austria	52.56	Q
3	1	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.80	Q
4	2	Erica Rossi	Italy	52.81
5	1	Natalya Bochina	Soviet Union	53.20	Q
6	2	Sylvie Revaux	France	54.01
7	1	Sophie Malbranque	France	54.59
8	1	Rita Daimer	West Germany	54.61

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	50.07	CR
	Natalya Bochina	Soviet Union	52.32	AJR
	Verona Elder	Great Britain	52.37
4	Karoline Käfer	Austria	52.50