The men's 200 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 3 and 4 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. 48 athletes from 33 nations competed, including five universality places (one universality place was used in 2016). Canada earned its first gold medal in the event since 1928 and third overall, as Andre De Grasse added gold to his 2016 silver to become the 12th man to earn multiple medals in the 200 metres. Kenneth Bednarek and Noah Lyles, both of the United States, took silver and bronze as Americans reached the podium for the first time since 2008 (where they coincidentally also won two medals: a silver, and a bronze). Jamaica's three-Games gold medal streak in the event ended, with Usain Bolt having retired.

Summary As the reigning World Champion, Noah Lyles came in as the favorite, but he was challenged in the US Trials by Kenny Bednarek and 17 year old Erriyon Knighton. Lyles left Eugene with the fastest time of the year. Andre De Grasse was the returning silver medalist. Adam Gemili, Alonso Edward, and Ramil Guliyev returned from five years earlier, but only De Grasse was able to qualify out of the semi-final round and he did so in style, breaking his own Canadian Record set in the semi-finals of the 2016 Olympics. This time too, he was eased up looking back at Bednarek in the last stages of this race. The second semi produced drama as Aaron Brown took an early lead with a fast start. Lyles passed him with his typical speed coming off the turn, then eased up to save energy at the finish allowing Brown to catch him at the line. Surprising both of them was another American high schooler, Joseph Fahnbulleh running for Liberia, coming from well off the pace to pip Lyles at the line. All three were timed in 19.99, a new Liberian Record. The favorite, Lyles in third, had to rely on time to get into the final.

In the final, De Grasse reacted fastest and his Canadian teammate Brown got a good start, both of them making up ground on the stagger of the Americans to their outside, Bednarek and 17 year old Erriyon Knighton, respectively. Through the second half of the turn, Bednarek and Lyles asserted themselves to hit the straightaway together with a slight lead. This is where Lyles usually shined but he did not show the same dominating top-end speed coming off the turn. De Grasse ended the turn slightly behind, but came back to battle Bednarek next to him and Lyles across the track. Knighton passed Brown but it was De Grasse who had the closing speed, passing and opening up a small gap on Bednarek. In the last 20 metres, Bednarek narrowed the gap to De Grasse slightly, but it was a clear win for De Grasse, who was timed in 19.62 into a −0.5 mps wind.

With his score, De Grasse finally moved into the top 10 of all-time in the 200m, a status foretold six years earlier with a wind-aided 19.58 while competing for the University of Southern California. Bednarek, in second, ran 19.68 to claim a tie with Frankie Fredericks (second behind Michael Johnson at the 1996 Olympics). Fahnbulleh came from dead last to reach 19.98, improving his Liberian national record. 17 year old Knighton finished fourth, setting an American age record. It was the first time in the Olympic history that five men dipped below 20 seconds in an Olympic 200m final.

Background This was the 28th time the event was held; it was not held at the first 1896 Olympics but has been on the program ever since.

Brunei made its men's 200 metres debut. The United States made its 27th appearance in the event, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to three qualified athletes in the men's 200 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of three has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 20.24 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 56 is reached.

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were eligible for the sprints and short hurdles, including the 200 metres. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 200 metres.

Entry number: 56. Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Nominated athletesEntry standard – 20.243 Miguel FrancisAdam GemiliZharnel Hughes2 Rasheed DwyerJulian Forte3 Kenny BednarekErriyon KnightonNoah Lyles2 Aaron BrownAndre De Grasse1 Joseph AmoahBenjamin Azamati-Kwaku2 Shaun MaswanganyiClarence Munyai2 Kyle GreauxJereem Richards1 Steven Gardiner1 Mario Burke1 Isaac Makwala1 Aldemir da Silva Júnior1 Xie Zhenye1 Bernardo Baloyes1 Yancarlos Martínez1 Álex Quiñónez1 Joseph Fahnbulleh1 Abdul Hakim Sani Brown1 Divine Oduduru1 Alonso Edward1 Alex Wilson1 Ramil Guliyev1 Sydney SiameWorld ranking2 Jorge VidesLucas Vilar2 Marcus LawlerLeon Reid2 Fausto DesaluAntonio Infantino2 Shota IizukaJun Yamashita1 Robin Vanderbemden1 Brendon Rodney1 Jan Jirka1 Steven Müller1 Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake1 Emmanuel Matadi1 Gediminas Truskauskas1 Taymir Burnet1 Ján Volko1 Anaso Jobodwana1 William Reais1 Serhiy SmelykUniversality Places1 Muhd Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid1 Emmanuel Eseme1 José Andrés Salazar1 Sibusiso Matsenjwa1 Noureddine Hadid Total 56

Withdrawn after qualification by standard or ranking: Miguel Francis, Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku, Zharnel Hughes, Christophe Lemaitre, Mouhamadou Fall, Méba-Mickaël Zeze, Jeffrey John, Paulo André de Oliveira.

Of the finalists from the 2016 Games: Three-time gold medalist Usain Bolt retired and did not return. Silver medalist Andre De Grasse qualified. Bronze medalist Christophe Lemaitre qualified but withdrawn. Fourth-place finisher Adam Gemili qualified. Fifth-place finisher Churandy Martina did qualify. Sixth-place finisher LaShawn Merritt was not selected through US trials. Seventh-place finisher Alonso Edward of Panama qualified. Eight-place finisher Ramil Guliyev qualified.

Competition format The event continued to use the three rounds format introduced in 2012. There were 7 heats, with the top 3 runners in each heat and the next 3 overall advancing to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals, with the top 2 in each semifinal and next 2 overall advancing to the final.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows:

+Global records before the 2020 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (Nation)Time (s)LocationDateWorld record19.19Berlin, Germany20 August 2009Olympic record19.30Beijing, China20 August 2008World leading19.74 "Season Top Lists – Senior 2021 – 200 Metres men", World Athletics, 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2024.Eugene, Oregon, United States27 June 2021

+Area records before the 2020 Summer Olympics Area Time (s) Wind Athlete Nation Africa 19.68 +0.4 Frank Fredericks Asia 19.88 +0.9 Xie Zhenye Europe 19.72 +1.8 Pietro Mennea North, Central America and Caribbean 19.19 −0.3 Usain Bolt Oceania 20.06 +0.9 Peter Norman South America 19.81 −0.3 Alonso Edward

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time Notes Dominican Republic Yancarlos Martínez Round 1 20.17 Eswatini Sibusiso Matsenjwa Round 1 20.34 Semifinals 20.22 Liberia Joseph Fahnbulleh Semifinals 19.99 Final19.98 Canada Andre De Grasse Semifinals 19.73 Final19.62

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's 200 metres took place over two consecutive days.

Date Time Round Tuesday, 3 August 2021 9:0019:00 QuarterfinalsSemifinals Wednesday, 4 August 2021 18:30 Final

Results Round 1 Qualification Rules: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to Semifinals.

Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Rasheed Dwyer 0.163 20.31 2 8 Divine Oduduru 0.129 20.36 3 4 Anaso Jobodwana 0.119 20.78 4 2 Jorge Vides 0.161 20.94 5 3 Fodé Sissoko 0.167 21.00 6 5 Shōta Iizuka 0.148 21.02 7 6 José Andrés Salazar 0.145 21.66 Wind: -0.3 m/s

Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Jereem Richards 0.187 20.52 2 6 Shaun Maswanganyi 0.142 20.58 3 2 Taymir Burnet 0.137 20.60 , 4 3 Emmanuel Eseme 0.160 20.65 5 7 Ján Volko 0.160 21.21 6 5 Abdul Hakim Sani Brown 0.149 21.41 — 9 Jan Jirka 0.150 — 8 Bernardo Baloyes Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Femi Ogunode 0.154 20.37 2 6 Ramil Guliyev 0.158 20.54 3 2 Andre De Grasse 0.122 20.56 4 3 Kyle Greaux 0.149 20.77 5 4 Jun Yamashita 0.118 20.78 6 8 Aldemir da Silva Júnior 0.160 20.84 Wind: -0.6 m/s

Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Erriyon Knighton 0.173 20.55 2 8 Alonso Edward 0.185 20.60 3 5 Robin Vanderbemden 0.142 20.70 , 4 6 Sydney Siame 0.171 21.01 5 2 Gediminas Truskauskas 0.140 21.02 6 3 Steven Müller 0.156 21.08 7 7 Adam Gemili 0.180 1:58.58 Wind: +0.6 m/s

Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Aaron Brown 0.157 20.38 2 2 Joseph Fahnbulleh 0.147 20.46 3 6 William Reais 0.147 20.51 4 7 Serhiy Smelyk 0.144 20.53 5 5 Antonio Infantino 0.132 20.90 6 3 Lucas Vilar 0.171 21.31 7 8 Muhd Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid 0.174 21.83 Wind: -0.7 m/s

Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Kenneth Bednarek 0.184 20.01 2 8 Yancarlos Martínez 0.164 20.17 , 3 4 Fausto Desalu 0.131 20.29 , 4 2 Xie Zhenye 0.159 20.34 , 5 3 Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake 0.163 20.56 6 7 Marcus Lawler 0.145 20.73 6 Emmanuel Matadi Wind: -0.4 m/s

Heat 7 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 8 Noah Lyles 0.171 20.18 2 9 Sibusiso Matsenjwa 0.172 20.34 , 3 3 Joseph Amoah 0.171 20.35 , 4 4 Clarence Munyai 0.135 20.49 , = 5 5 Leon Reid 0.135 20.53 , 6 7 Brendon Rodney 0.150 20.60 7 6 Julian Forte 0.152 20.65 8 2 Noureddine Hadid 0.157 21.12 Wind: +0.4 m/s

Semifinals Qualification rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.

Semi-final 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Erriyon Knighton 0.172 20.02 2 6 Rasheed Dwyer 0.141 20.13 , 3 7 Divine Oduduru 0.140 20.16 4 9 Joseph Paul Amoah 0.168 20.27 5 5 Femi Ogunode 0.160 20.34 6 8 Fausto Desalu 0.149 20.43 7 2 Xie Zhenye 0.154 20.45 8 3 Anaso Jobodwana 0.151 20.88 Wind: -0.2 m/s

Semi-final 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Aaron Brown 0.151 19.99 (19.982) , 1 6 Joseph Fahnbulleh 0.140 19.99 (19.982) , 3 5 Noah Lyles 0.179 19.99 (19.983) 4 4 Yancarlos Martínez 0.141 20.24 5 8 William Reais 0.149 20.44 6 2 Clarence Munyai 0.142 20.49 = 7 3 Robin Vanderbemden 0.132 21.00 9 Alonso Edward 0.147 Wind: -0.4 m/s

Semi-final 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 9 Andre De Grasse 0.139 19.73 , 2 6 Kenneth Bednarek 0.176 19.83 3 5 Jereem Richards 0.161 20.10 , 4 8 Shaun Maswanganyi 0.151 20.18 5 7 Sibusiso Matsenjwa 0.158 20.22 6 4 Ramil Guliyev 0.156 20.31 7 3 Leon Reid 0.139 20.54 8 2 Taymir Burnet 0.126 20.90 Wind: +0.2 m/s

Final