The men's 200 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in four rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, between 5 and 8 August 2024. This was the 29th time that the men's 200 metres was contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 48 athletes were able to qualify for the event by entry standard or ranking.
Summary The event was stable, with the first six at the previous Olympics all returning. After winning three successive World Championships in a row, the 2020 bronze medalist, Noah Lyles was the favorite. The defending champion, Andre De Grasse, was the silver medalist in 2016 and at the 2019 World Championships. The returning silver medalist, Kenny Bednarek also finished second to Lyles in 2022 but was left off the podium in 2023, finishing fifth. Fourth place in 2021 was the youngster Erriyon Knighton, now 20 years old but experienced, having finished third in 2022 and second in 2023. Lyles' forte that has helped him win not only 200 metre races but more recently the 100 metres in 2023 and these Olympics is his closing top end speed. Fifth place in 2021 was Joseph Fahnbulleh with a notoriously poor start, but with consistent fast closing speed, picking off competitors down the home stretch year after year. And in 2023, bronze medalist Letsile Tebogo was actually gaining on Lyles toward the finish. Another wild card here is the sole appearance of these games by 400 metre world record holder and 2016 Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk.
The first semi-final saw Bednarek running a relaxed 20.00 but Alexander Ogando displaced De Grasse. The second saw Tebogo beat Lyles with a 19.96. Knighton and Fahnbulleh qualified out of semi 3 with van Niekerk tying for last place. Time qualifiers were both from Zimbabwe; Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba.
In the final, Tebogo achieved the fastest start, with Lyles giving 0.1 seconds. Bednarek quickly moved out through the turn to take the lead by 0.05 seconds over Tebogo, who was starting to move. Bednarek and Tebogo entered the straightaway, side by side, with Lyles a small distance behind. From there Tebogo accelerated for a relaxed win. Lyles struggled to achieve a fast closing speed, as his form fell apart towards the end. He held his position ahead of Knighton to finish third. Second, third, and fourth places were identical to the previous Olympics, but with Tebogo taking first place.
Tebogo became the 5th fastest performer in history, setting a new African record. Bednarek and Lyles also recorded sprints that ranked among the top ten fastest 200m times in Olympic history.
After the race, Lyles collapsed on the track and was taken off in a wheelchair. It was later confirmed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 two days prior, which affected his performance. He later stated he would not run in the 4x100m or 4x400m relay races.
Background The men's 200 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900. The reigning Olympic champion was Andre De Grasse from Canada. +Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (nation)Time (s)LocationDateWorld record19.19"All time Top lists – Senior – 200 Metres men ", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Berlin, Germany20 August 2009Olympic record19.30Beijing, China20 August 2008World leading19.53"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – 200 Metres men", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Eugene, United States29 June 2024 +Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsArea recordAthlete (nation)Time (s)Africa 19.50Asia 19.88Europe 19.72North, Central Americaand Caribbean 19.19 Oceania 20.06South America 19.81
Competition format The 2024 edition of the event introduced a significant change to the competition format in the addition of a repechage round. For the first round to semifinals advancement, instead of the "fastest losers" method used previously (and still used for the repechage to semifinals and the semifinals to final advancements), all of the runners who did not qualify on place received a second chance to run in the repechage round. This increased the number of rounds from three to four, and guaranteed that all runners could run at least twice.
In the first round, the top 3 in each of the 6 heats advanced to the semifinals, with all remaining runners relegated to the repechage. The repechage had 4 heats, with the top 1 runner in each heat plus the next 2 fastest overall advancing to the semifinals. For the semifinals, the top 2 in each of the 3 heats advanced along with the next 2 fastest overall.
Qualification
For the men's 200 metres event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained ", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024. 48 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 20.16 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.
Results
Heats The heats were held on 5 August, starting at 19:55 (UTC+2) in the evening."Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics ", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14Joseph Fahnbulleh20.2029Eseosa Desalu20.2633Wayde van Niekerk20.4247Ryan Zeze20.4958Felix Svensson20.54 (.534)62Cheickna Traore20.54 (.536)75Calab Law20.7586Albert Komański20.77 Wind: +0.1 m/s
Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes13Tarsis Orogot20.3229Wanya McCoy20.3536Renan Gallina20.4147Andrew Hudson20.5352Udodi Onwuzurike20.5568César Almirón20.8774Tomáš Němejc21.03 —5José González Wind: -0.1 m/s
Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes13Letsile Tebogo20.1024Makanakaishe Charamba20.2738Filippo Tortu20.2942Brendon Rodney20.3055Timothé Mumenthaler20.6367Koki Ueyama20.8476Benjamin Richardson51.86injury Wind: -0.1 m/s
Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes13Kenneth Bednarek19.9625Alexander Ogando20.0432Joshua Hartmann20.3047Diego Pettorossi20.6354Shota Iizuka20.6766Ondřej Macík21.04 —8Zharnel Hughes Wind: +0.2 m/s
Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14Erriyon Knighton19.9923Tapiwanashe Makarawu20.0737Shaun Maswanganyi20.2042Aaron Brown20.3659Ian Kerr20.5366Pablo Mateo20.5878Erik Erlandsson20.6585Eduard Kubelík21.14 Wind: +0.2 m/s
Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes16Noah Lyles20.1927Andre De Grasse20.3034Towa Uzawa20.3345Bryan Levell20.4752Blessing Afrifah20.7868Chun-Han Yang20.8373William Reais20.92 Wind: +0.1 m/s
Repechage round The repechage round was held on 6 August, starting at 12:30 (UTC+2) in the afternoon.
Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes16Udodi Onwuzurike20.5128Diego Pettorossi20.5335Timothé Mumenthaler20.6747Shota Iizuka20.7254Ondřej Macík21.14 —3Cheickna Traore Wind: +1.0 m/s
Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes14Brendon Rodney20.4225Bryan Levell20.4738Pablo Mateo20.5746Koki Ueyama20.92 —3César Almirón7Calab Law Wind: +0.6 m/s
Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes17Ryan Zeze20.4024Aaron Brown20.4236Chun-Han Yang20.7343Blessing Afrifah20.8852Albert Komański20.9068Eduard Kubelík21.20 —5William Reais Wind: 0.0 m/s
Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes16Erik Erlandsson20.49, 27Andrew Hudson20.5538Ian Kerr20.6045Felix Svensson20.6553Tomáš Němejc20.84 —4Benjamin Richardson Wind: +0.3 m/s
Semi-finals The semi-finals were held on 7 August, starting at 20:02 (UTC+2) in the evening.
Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes17Kenneth Bednarek20.0028Alexander Ogando20.0935Andre De Grasse20.4144Shaun Maswanganyi20.4259Wanya McCoy20.61 66Tarsis Gracious Orogot20.6473Ryan Zeze20.8182Bryan Levell20.93 Wind: -0.1 m/s
Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18Letsile Tebogo19.9626Noah Lyles20.0834Makanakaishe Charamba20.3147Eseosa Fostine Desalu20.3755Joshua Hartmann20.47 69Towa Uzawa20.5473Aaron Brown20.5782Erik Erlandsson20.93 Wind: -0.2 m/s
Semifinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes18Erriyon Knighton20.0926Joseph Fahnbulleh20.1237Tapiwanashe Makarawu20.1645Filippo Tortu20.5453Brendon Rodney20.59 69Renan Gallina20.6072Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike20.72 (.717)74Wayde van Niekerk20.72 (.717) Wind: -0.6 m/s
Final The final was held on 8 August, starting at 20:30 (UTC+2) in the evening.
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes7Letsile Tebogo19.46, 8Kenneth Bednarek19.625Noah Lyles19.7046Erriyon Knighton19.99 54Alexander Ogando20.0262Tapiwanashe Makarawu20.1079Joseph Fahnbulleh20.1583Makanakaishe Charamba20.53 Wind: +0.4 m/s
References