The men's 200 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 31 August, and 1 September 1978.

The winning margin was 0.45 seconds. With the conclusion of the 2024 championships, this remains the greatest winning margin in the men's 200 metres at these championships, a feat which was equalled in 2012 by Churandy Martina of the Netherlands.

Participation According to an unofficial count, 26 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.

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Results Heats 31 August Heat 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.70 2 Leszek Dunecki 21.01 3 Dragan Zarić 21.13 4 David Jenkins 21.16 5 Roland Bombardella 21.17 6 Lambert Micha 21.36 Wind: +0.5 m/s

Heat 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Aleksandr Aksinin 20.97 2 Joseph Arame 21.32 3 Antti Rajamäki 21.34 4 Klaus Thiele 21.36 5 Luděk Bohman 21.39 6 Mike Bayle 21.48 7 Vilmundur Vilhjálmsson 21.80 Wind: -1.5 m/s

Heat 3 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Pascal Barré 20.78 2 Vladimir Ignatenko 20.98 3 Luis Sarría 21.18 4 Martin Pelach 21.48 5 Pavel Pavlov 21.50 Renno Roelandt Wind: -0.2 m/s

Heat 4 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Zenon Licznerski 20.82 2 Vladimir Ivanov 20.96 3 Olaf Prenzler 20.97 4 Peter Muster 21.04 5 Trevor Hoyte 21.24 6 Patrick Barré 21.27 7 Marián Králik 21.47 Wind: +0.2 m/s

Semi-finals 31 August Heat 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.40 2 Peter Muster 20.63 3 Leszek Dunecki 20.64 4 Olaf Prenzler 20.69 5 Vladimir Ignatenko 20.74 6 Joseph Arame 21.08 7 Antti Rajamäki 21.19 8 Martin Pelach 21.59 Wind: -0.2 m/s

Heat 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Pascal Barré 20.96 2 Vladimir Ivanov 20.96 3 Aleksandr Aksinin 21.08 4 Zenon Licznerski 21.10 5 Luis Sarría 21.24 6 Dragan Zarić 21.28 7 David Jenkins 21.59 Klaus Thiele DNF Wind: 0.0 m/s

Final 1 September Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Pietro Mennea 20.16 Olaf Prenzler 20.61 Peter Muster 20.64 4 Leszek Dunecki 20.68 5 Pascal Barré 20.70 6 Zenon Licznerski 20.74 7 Aleksandr Aksinin 20.87 8 Vladimir Ivanov 20.92 Wind: -0.2 m/s

References