Men's 200 metres world record progression

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. It discarded records for the former after 1976. The IAAF ratified the first record for 200 m (bend) in 1951. "y" denoted times for 220 yards (201.17 m) which were also ratified for the event.

To June 21, 2011, the IAAF has ratified 24 world records in the event.

(+) plus sign denotes en route time during longer race

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 probably the fastest to that time.

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 races.

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

The best automatic times at low altitude were 20.00 seconds by Valeriy Borzov at Munich in 1972, then 19.96 (Mennea, 1980), 19.75 (Carl Lewis, 1983) and 19.73 (Michael Marsh, 1992), before Michael Johnson ran 19.66 in 1996.

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