1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 400 metres

The men's 400 metres event at the 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held on 11 and 12 March in Grenoble.^[1]^[2]

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Georg Nückles West Germany	Ulrich Reich West Germany	Wolfgang Müller East Germany

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

Held on 11 March

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Wolfgang Müller	East Germany	47.56	Q
2	2	Ulrich Reich	West Germany	47.57	Q
3	1	Alfonso Gabernet	Spain	47.81	Q, NR
4	1	Georg Nückles	West Germany	47.84	Q
5	1	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	47.84	q
6	1	Willy Vandenwyngaerden	Belgium	48.64	q
7	2	Jean-Pierre Sgard	France	49.33
8	3	Benno Stops	East Germany	49.93	Q
9	3	František Štross	Czechoslovakia	51.67	Q

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

Held on 11 March

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Ulrich Reich	West Germany	47.58	Q
2	1	Alfonso Gabernet	Spain	47.63	Q, NR
3	1	Benno Stops	East Germany	47.75
4	1	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	47.85
5	2	Wolfgang Müller	East Germany	47.99	Q
6	2	Georg Nückles	West Germany	48.06	Q
7	2	Willy Vandenwyngaerden	Belgium	48.77
8	2	František Štross	Czechoslovakia	49.55

Held on 12 March

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
	Georg Nückles	West Germany	47.24
	Ulrich Reich	West Germany	47.42
	Wolfgang Müller	East Germany	47.42
4	Alfonso Gabernet	Spain	47.66