What is a decent (average) time for the 400 for a 14 YO boy?

I remember our 8th grade race, I won in 62, my buddy who was the favorite was way ahead and completely died at 300m, finishing in 66, he was cooked. Neither of us had any training prior to that race.

My best 400 in High School was 54 and change (I ran the 800 mostly), where as my buddy figured out pacing, ran 49 as a senior, and 47 in college. A lot can happen after 8th grade.

There's a lot of garbage here, and a lot of people thinking the "1 lap around the field in PE class" was a 400m. Most 8th grade guys league championship 4x4s will be won over 4 minutes--I coached in a fairly strong middle school district for years (associated high school section regularly had guys at

i ran a 52.1 in 8th grade, and senior year i ran 46.3 I was a top guy in the nation, but a 66 is ok time for a practice. I focused on the 800, but was about as succesful in the 16 as well. (1:49, and 4:02.9) I broke my foot from training too hard, so if he is dedicated and taented, he could probably drop a sub 50 in the next year.

Average time for an 8th grader varies for different people and regions. As a white 8th grader I could run a 54/53/52 second 400m.

No, it's not a good time, but it's only the first one. My first 400 at 13 was 1:03. Ended up going 55 that year. 400 takes a great deal of practice, so the fact that he wants to do it is good. He will get much faster if he keeps working.

It's a solid time. So much can happen over a few years. People mature at different rates. There are always the kids who dominate middle school with a six o'clock shadow. They put up some big numbers during those years but usually plateau by the time they hit varsity age unless they were national caliber to start withs. The person who won our 8th grade conference meet in 55 seconds ran 52 in 12th. He already looked like a varsity athlete in 8th.

Proper pacing, training, and mental makeup will impact your son's 400m time. Some sprinters can't break 60 in an open 400 in 9th grade even though their open 200 suggests they can. They either power through the whole race or don't want to commit to the pain it takes to run a solid last 150m. The quality of training at the middle school level is all over the place.

A 66 in practice is still commendable. Who knows, maybe your son's teammates dogged the 400 while he dogged the workout prior. Maybe he could have run even faster for other reasons. So many variables here. The known quantity is your son enjoyed it and you can support that. Don't listen to the naysayers. Best of luck with the rest of the season.

HOU56 wrote:

Most 9th grade boys, can run (400) meters in 53 seconds easy!!

Yes, and if they post on LetsRun they earn above minimum wage and have girlfriends who will go on to be supermodels.

I'm running my 1st year in track at 9th grade. The first 400 I ever ran was a 70. When the season came about half a year later, my time went down to a 58 low, which in my district in Texas gets you 4th or 5th place. A 66 in 8th grade is decent, but a sub 60 second run will get you into the Top 3 spots. Keep training hard!

A sample 400m workout is 2 x 450s (I run at 66 second pace, 7 minutes rest), 2 x 200s (at 30 seconds rest in between, running at 30-33 on the 1st one and 28-30 on the 2nd one). Hope this helps!

Context is everything.

I didn't break 70 until the end of 7th grade but wasn't doing any real training. I remember breaking 60 in 9th grade, but remember nothing about 400 time in 8th. I assume somewhere between 60 and 70 for 8th.

In HS I got down to 55 in a split while training for distance (but not training that hard because I was unmotivated).

In college I was a 50.x split and training very hard. Also had a mile very near 4:00 during this time.

A lot of people are saying 66 isn't worth much on this thread. Maybe it isn't. But also maybe the pieces haven't come together yet. Who knows, if I had trained as a 400 guy, maybe it would have been a 47 (spoiler alert: probably not).

I ran 54-55 at 14 (and 4:19 in the 1500) and now have trouble breaking 2 minutes in the 800 several years later. Times that early on aren't much of an indicator honestly

Last night my son ran a 57 flat 400M and a 26 flat 200M and long jumped 17'8" in the Long Jump. He is 14 and in the 8th Grade, 6 foot 135 lbs.. looking for some feedback on running potential from some of the experts on the sight. We live in ND and he only has 5 meets a year. Should I pursue more for him, if so where?

I'm a 13 year old 7th grade boy and for our time trials at the beginning of the track season I ran a low 57 I am the fasts runner on our entire track team for every event but I am not the highest jumper, I train with the mid-distance(800m) runners so I can keep up my stamina and that greatly helped with my ability to run for longer distances as fast as I possibly can, I placed 3rd place in state with my 4×800 team for the Kentucky state. I work hard everyday but you also have to make sure u have rest days so your body can rebuild your muscle

Im an in coming sophomore for track and cross country. In 7th grade I ran a 62 second 400 and I never ran it again in middle school. Once I hit high school though, I got some good training and now run it in 52.5 However, your son by no means at all is slow and especially if this is just in practice he can shave off a lot of time simply from racing. I had one of my teammates run a 68 for his first 400 in freshmen year and turn around to run 54.5 a few weeks later. Have faith and happy running!!!

Im an in coming sophomore for track and cross country. In 7th grade I ran a 62 second 400 and I never ran it again in middle school. Once I hit high school though, I got some good training and now run it in 52.5 However, your son by no means at all is slow and especially if this is just in practice he can shave off a lot of time simply from racing. I had one of my teammates run a 68 for his first 400 in freshmen year and turn around to run 54.5 a few weeks later. Have faith and happy running!!!

I just had a meet yesterday and in our 4x4 I was the second runner. Our first runner was his first 400 and didn’t do us any favors. I got the baton ran a 58 400 and brought us from 7th to 2nd then the person after me went and ran a 1:30 after 2 years of training and with a PR of 1:06 we were all really suprised by that. It might just be the day also. (If your wondering we took 3rd as our anchor ran a 1:01)

For what it's worth

14: 64

15: 57

16: 54/1:59

17: 52/1:56

18: 50/1:52

Considering that this thread is eight years old and the 14 year old is now 22, I wonder how fast he ended up running or if he even stayed with track?

There's no way you're running 60 seconds and competing in state competitions. College scouts look for 8th graders running 53's. The average 400 time is 59 seconds. In an average middle school state competition, there will be kids running 52's. Get your facts straight. I'm a freshman in high school and i run a high 51. A 53 second 400 is completely reasonable to expect. Good luck getting into a good college without running under 54. Go on Athletic.net for proof if you need it.

Do not trust these comments, people don’t truly run these times.