1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 400 metres

23 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Obea Moore	United States	45.27
	Jerome Davis	United States	45.86
	Shane Niemi	Canada	45.94
4	Dai Tamesue	Japan	46.03
5	Piotr Haczek	Poland	46.29
6	Rohan McDonald	Jamaica	46.88
7	David Canal	Spain	47.21
8	Piotr Długosielski	Poland	47.43

22 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Jerome Davis	United States	46.58	Q
2	Rohan McDonald	Jamaica	46.92	Q
3	Piotr Długosielski	Poland	46.93	q
4	Sofiène Labidi	Tunisia	47.24
5	Honory McDonald	Trinidad and Tobago	47.26
6	Edoardo Vallet	Italy	47.35
7	Chris Jacobs	South Africa	48.03
8	Paul Ngotho	Kenya	48.28

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Dai Tamesue	Japan	46.50	Q
2	Obea Moore	United States	46.60	Q
3	Shane Niemi	Canada	46.92	q
4	Carlos Gachanja	Germany	47.07
5	Jimisola Laursen	Sweden	47.79
6	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	47.90
7	Michael Campbell	Jamaica	48.04
8	Casey Vincent	Australia	48.16

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Piotr Haczek	Poland	46.82	Q
2	David Canal	Spain	47.06	Q
3	Geoff Dearman	United Kingdom	47.40
4	Brad Jamieson	Australia	47.70
5	Edel Hevia	Cuba	47.72
6	Themba Ncube	Zimbabwe	48.05
7	Moses Mabaso	South Africa	48.21
8	Tommi Hartonen	Finland	48.27

21 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Piotr Długosielski	Poland	47.17	Q
2	Honory McDonald	Trinidad and Tobago	47.19	Q
3	Shane Niemi	Canada	47.20	Q
4	Jimisola Laursen	Sweden	47.72	q
5	Moses Mabaso	South Africa	47.83	q
6	Gustavo Aguirre	Argentina	48.46
7	Angelo Ignatius	Netherlands Antilles	48.96

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	David Canal	Spain	47.43	Q
2	Michael Campbell	Jamaica	47.43	Q
3	Avard Moncur	Bahamas	47.66	Q
4	Sofiène Labidi	Tunisia	47.80	q
5	Periklís Iakovákis	Greece	47.98
6	Simon Potter	New Zealand	48.19
7	Henele Taliai	Tonga	49.63

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Carlos Gachanja	Germany	47.18	Q
2	Obea Moore	United States	47.23	Q
3	Brad Jamieson	Australia	47.76	Q
4	Marco Cagnazzi	Italy	48.31
5	Aleksey Baryshnikov	Russia	48.66
6	Emmanuel Rubayiza	Rwanda	49.58

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Themba Ncube	Zimbabwe	47.34	Q
2	Edel Hevia	Cuba	47.52	Q
3	Paul Ngotho	Kenya	47.70	Q
4	Ryo Fujimori	Japan	47.91
5	David Wilson	Guam	48.81
6	Wendell da Silva	Brazil	48.91
7	David Eichenberger	Switzerland	50.49

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Piotr Haczek	Poland	47.11	Q
2	Edoardo Vallet	Italy	47.47	Q
3	Casey Vincent	Australia	47.94	Q
4	Chang Po-Chih	Chinese Taipei	48.16
5	Hyginus Anugho	Nigeria	48.60
6	André dos Santos	Brazil	49.31

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Dai Tamesue	Japan	47.28	Q
2	Rohan McDonald	Jamaica	47.67	Q
3	Tommi Hartonen	Finland	47.76	Q
4	Adrián Fernández	Spain	48.00
5	Kris Stewart	United Kingdom	48.05
6	Frano Bakaric	Croatia	48.56

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Jerome Davis	United States	47.30	Q
2	Geoff Dearman	United Kingdom	47.48	Q
3	Chris Jacobs	South Africa	47.78	Q
4	Andrey Tverdostup	Ukraine	48.08
5	Pierre Constentias	France	48.25
6	Novian Suhendra	Indonesia	48.76
7	Yeóryios Ikonomídis	Greece	49.17

According to an unofficial count, 46 athletes from 35 countries participated in the event.