The following table shows the world record progression in the men's 200 metres, as ratified by the IAAF. The current record of 19.19 seconds was set by Usain Bolt at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

The IAAF maintained separate records for 200 m over a straight track and over a curved track until 1976, when records for the former were discarded. The IAAF ratified the first record for 200 m on a curved track in 1951. "y" denotes times for 220 yards (201.17 m) which were also ratified for the event.

As of 2018, the IAAF has ratified 24 outdoor world records in the event.

Indoor Indoor records are run on a shorter 200 metres track. "y" indicates marks were set over the imperial distance, and an asterisk indicates a record was repeated. Only Marie-Rose, Christie, and Fredericks' records were ratified by the IAAF.

Time Athlete Nationality Location of race Date Manual timing 22.6y Maxie Long Buffalo 19 January 1901 22.6y* Loren Murchison Brooklyn 28 April 1919 22.4y Loren Murchison New York 6 January 1925 22.2y Loren Murchison New York 6 January 1925 22.2y* Ted Ellison New York 1 March 1935 21.7y Thomas Robinson Chicago 18 January 1959 21.7y* James Green Chicago 23 December 1967 21.6* Dieter Hübner Stuttgart 2 March 1968 21.6 Bernd Jacob Stuttgart 2 March 1968 21.2y John Carlos East Lansing 14 February 1970 21.1y Carl Lawson Pocatello 2 March 1974 21.1 Günter Arnold Berlin-Est 18 January 1976 20.6y Erwin Skamrahl Sindelfingen 11 February 1983 Electronic timing 21.43 Manfred Ommer Stuttgart 26 February 1972 21.40 Manfred Ommer Munich 23 February 1974 21.16 Karl-Heinz Weisenseel Stuttgart 22 February 1975 21.11 Karl-Heinz Weisenseel Sindelfingen 25 February 1978 21.11* Pietro Mennea Milan 4 March 1978 21.05 Mauro Zuliani Genova 9 February 1980 20.99 Erwin Skamrahl Dortmund 13 February 1982 20.98 Ralf Lübke Sindelfingen 11 February 1983 20.77 Ralf Lübke Sindelfingen 12 February 1983 20.74 Pietro Mennea Genova 13 February 1983 20.67 Ralf Lübke Stuttgart 10 February 1984 20.57 Ralf Lübke Stuttgart 11 February 1984 20.52 Stefano Tilli Turin 21 February 1985 20.36 Bruno Marie-Rose Liévin 22 February 1987 20.25 Linford Christie Liévin 19 February 1995 19.92 Frank Fredericks Liévin 18 February 1996

Outdoor

Records 1951–1976

Time Wind Auto Athlete Nationality Location of race Date 20.6 Andy Stanfield Philadelphia, United States 26 May 1951 20.6 Andy Stanfield Los Angeles, United States 28 June 1952 20.6 ±0.0 Thane Baker Bakersfield, United States 23 June 1956 20.6 20.75 Bobby Morrow Melbourne, Australia 27 November 1956 20.6 Manfred Germar Wuppertal, Germany 1 October 1958 20.6 −1.6 Ray Norton Berkeley, United States 19 March 1960 20.6 Ray Norton Philadelphia, United States 30 April 1960 20.5 Peter Radford Wolverhampton, United Kingdom 28 May 1960 20.5 ±0.0 20.75 Stone Johnson Stanford, United States 2 July 1960 20.5 ±0.0 Ray Norton Stanford, United States 2 July 1960 20.5 20.65 Livio Berruti Rome, Italy 3 September 1960 20.5 ±0.0 20.62 Livio Berruti Rome, Italy 3 September 1960 20.5 −1.1 20.67 Paul Drayton Walnut, United States 23 June 1962 20.3 −0.1 Henry Carr Tempe, United States 23 March 1963 20.2 +0.5 Henry Carr Tempe, United States 4 April 1964 20.0 ±0.0 Tommie Smith Sacramento, United States 11 June 1966original source has the correct year--1966, not 1968 19.8 +0.9 19.83 Tommie Smith Mexico City, Mexico 16 October 1968 19.8 +0.9 19.86 Don Quarrie Cali, Colombia 3 August 1971 19.8 +1.3 Don Quarrie Eugene, United States 7 June 1975

The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Wind" column indicates the wind assistance in metres per second, 2.0 m/s the current maximum allowable, a negative indicates the mark was set running into a wind; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th or 100th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.

John Carlos ran 19.7A seconds (19.92A auto) (1.9 ms wind), at altitude, at the 1968 US Olympic Trials in Echo Summit. The run was not ratified as a world record because Carlos was wearing shoes with 'brush' spikes which did not have sanction as official footwear.

Henry Carr's winning time at the 1964 Olympics (17 October) was a hand timed 20.3 seconds. The electronic time was 20.36 seconds, which was the fastest auto time to that date. Tommie Smith ran 20.26 for 220 yards at Provo in 1967. By deducting .12 seconds for the 200-metre equivalent, he is estimated to have run 20.14 for that distance.

Records post-1977

Beginning in 1975, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres. Starting on January 1, 1977, the IAAF required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.

Tommie Smith's 1968 Olympic gold medal victory was the fastest recorded fully electronic 200-metre sprint up to that time.

Time Wind Auto Athlete Nationality Location of race Date 19.83 A +0.9 Tommie Smith Mexico City, Mexico 16 October 1968 19.72 A +1.8 Pietro Mennea Mexico City, Mexico 12 September 1979 19.66 +1.7 Michael Johnson Atlanta, United States 23 June 1996 19.32 +0.4 19.313 Michael Johnson Atlanta, United States 1 August 1996 19.30 −0.9 19.296 Usain Bolt Beijing, China 20 August 2008 19.19 −0.3 19.190 Usain Bolt Berlin, Germany 20 August 2009

The record progressions for automatic times at low altitude (after Carr's 20.36 in 1964) were 20.30 seconds by Valeriy Borzov at Helsinki in 1971, then Larry Black 20.28, 1972 at Munich, 20.00 (Borzov, 1972 also at Munich), 19.96 (Mennea, 1980), 19.75 (Carl Lewis, 1983), 19.75 (Joe DeLoach, 1988) and 19.73 (Michael Marsh, 1992), before Michael Johnson ran 19.66 in 1996.

See also Women's 200 metres world record progression Men's 100 metres world record progression

Notes

References