# 2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest from 23 to 25 August 2023. The winning margin was 0.23 seconds.

## Summary

As the carts were bringing the semi-finalists to the track from the warm-up area, one cart T-boned the other. Andrew Hudson received minor injuries with broken glass getting into his eye. The first semi was moved to last in the order to give Hudson and the other athletes a chance to recover. A relaxed defending champion Noah Lyles came through as the #1 qualifier. Hudson finished fourth in the semi-final, but was granted the extra lane in the final.
In the final, the start was fairly even, with the exception of Joseph Fahnbulleh's notoriously slow start, accentuated by Hudson's fast start in lane 1 next to him. As they were beginning to exit the turn, the three Americans, Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, and Kenny Bednarek, along with Letsile Tebogo all on the outside of the tracking Zharnel Hughes, were still even. With Lyles' notorious closing speed, that was bad news for the other competitors. From there, true to form, Lyles opened a gap that continued to widen to the finish. The next two runners to gain separation were the youngsters, 19 year old Knighton, then 20 year old Tebogo. Lyles had 3 metres over Knighton at the finish. Knighton was barely a metre clear of Tebogo. Lyles' 19.52 winning time equalled the #14 time in history, tied with two previous efforts from Lyles (but he's also run faster on four other occasions). Knighton's 19.75 means he owns all of the top 12 times ever run by a U20 athlete. This World Championship title was a three-peat for Lyles and completed the second leg of his pre-meet announced plan to take three gold medals.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | Usain Bolt (JAM) | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 |
| Championship record | Usain Bolt (JAM) | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 |
| World Leading | Noah Lyles (USA) | 19.47 | London, Great Britain | 23 July 2023 |
| African Record | Letsile Tebogo (BOT) | 19.50 | London, Great Britain | 23 July 2023 |
| Asian Record | Xie Zhenye (CHN) | 19.88 | London, Great Britain | 21 July 2019 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Usain Bolt (JAM) | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 |
| South American Record | Alonso Edward (PAN) | 19.81 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 |
| European Record | Pietro Mennea (ITA) | 19.72 | Mexico City, Mexico | 12 September 1979 |
| Oceanian record | Peter Norman (AUS) | 20.06 | Mexico City, Mexico | 16 October 1968 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 20.16 seconds.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), is as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 23 August | 12:15 | Heats |
| 24 August | 20:20 | Semi-finals |
| 25 August | 21:50 | Final |

## Results
### Round 1 (heats)

Round 1 took place on 23 August. The first 3 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 3 fastest ( q ) qualified for the semi-final. The overall results were as follows:
Wind: Heat 1: 0.0 m/s, Heat 2: −0.1 m/s, Heat 3: −1.4 m/s, Heat 4: −0.2 m/s, Heat 5: −0.2 m/s, Heat 6: −0.5 m/s, Heat 7: −0.1 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Zharnel Hughes | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 19.99 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Kenneth Bednarek | United States (USA) | 20.01 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 20.05 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Aaron Brown | Canada (CAN) | 20.08 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.14 [.132] | Q |
| 6 | 4 | Brendon Rodney | Canada (CAN) | 20.14 [.133] | Q, SB |
| 7 | 1 | Luxolo Adams | South Africa (RSA) | 20.15 | Q, SB |
| 8 | 6 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 20.17 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Letsile Tebogo | Botswana (BOT) | 20.22 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | Andrew Hudson | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.25 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Shota Iizuka | Japan (JPN) | 20.27 | q, SB |
| 12 | 6 | Andre De Grasse | Canada (CAN) | 20.28 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Taymir Burnet | Netherlands (NED) | 20.31 | q, PB |
| 14 | 6 | Sinesipho Dambile | South Africa (RSA) | 20.34 [0.333] | Q |
| 15 | 5 | Towa Uzawa | Japan (JPN) | 20.34 [0.336] | Q |
| 16 | 5 | Courtney Lindsey | United States (USA) | 20.39 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Ondřej Macík | Czech Republic (CZE) | 20.40 [0.393] | Q |
| 18 | 5 | Rasheed Dwyer | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.40 [0.394] | Q |
| 19 | 3 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 20.42 | Q |
| 20 | 5 | Tarsis Gracious Orogot | Uganda (UGA) | 20.44 [0.431] | q |
| 21 | 4 | Renan Correa | Brazil (BRA) | 20.44 [0.440] | Q |
| 22 | 6 | Filippo Tortu | Italy (ITA) | 20.46 | |
| 23 | 1 | Eseosa Desalu | Italy (ITA) | 20.49 | SB |
| 24 | 3 | William Reais | Switzerland (SUI) | 20.50 | Q |
| 25 | 3 | Joshua Hartmann | Germany (GER) | 20.51 | |
| 26 | 7 | Alaba Akintola | Nigeria (NGR) | 20.54 | Q |
| 27 | 6 | Joseph Amoah | Ghana (GHA) | 20.56 [0.551] | |
| 28 | 4 | Shaun Maswanganyi | South Africa (RSA) | 20.56 [0.557] | Q |
| 29 | 7 | Alonso Edward | Panama (PAN) | 20.63 | |
| 30 | 2 | Tapiwanashe Makarawu | Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 20.64 | |
| 31 | 4 | Koki Ueyama | Japan (JPN) | 20.66 | |
| 32 | 2 | Ján Volko | Slovakia (SVK) | 20.69 | |
| 33 | 3 | Blessing Akwasi Afrifah | Israel (ISR) | 20.73 | |
| 34 | 2 | Jorge Vides | Brazil (BRA) | 20.80 | |
| 35 | 5 | Yang Chun-han | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 20.82 | |
| 36 | 7 | Lucas Rodrigues da Silva [de] | Brazil (BRA) | 20.86 | |
| 37 | 6 | Sibusiso Matsenjwa | Eswatini (SWZ) | 20.88 | |
| 38 | 5 | Ramil Guliyev | Turkey (TUR) | 20.89 | |
| 39 | 1 | Gediminas Truskauskas | Lithuania (LTU) | 20.90 [0.893] | |
| 40 | 4 | Nadale Buntin | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 20.90 [0.894] | |
| 40 | 4 | Zoltán Wahl | Hungary (HUN) | 20.90 [0.894] | |
| 42 | 3 | Aidan Murphy | Australia (AUS) | 20.90 [0.895] | |
| 43 | 7 | Taha Hussein Yaseen | Iraq (IRQ) | 21.01 | |
| 44 | 6 | Guy Maganga Gorra | Gabon (GAB) | 21.04 | |
| 45 | 3 | Marcos Santos | Angola (ANG) | 21.05 | NR |
| 46 | 2 | Ko Seung-hwan [de] | South Korea (KOR) | 21.09 | |
| 47 | 7 | Albert Komański | Poland (POL) | 21.16 | |
| 48 | 2 | Leroy Kamau | Papua New Guinea (PNG) | 21.18 | |
| 49 | 5 | Mindia Endeladze [de] | Georgia (GEO) | 21.20 | |
| 50 | 3 | Hachim Maaroufou | Comoros (COM) | 21.29 | |
| 51 | 4 | Mohamed Obaid Alsadi | Oman (OMN) | 21.39 | |
| 52 | 1 | Franko Burraj | Albania (ALB) | 21.52 | |
| 53 | 6 | Yeykell Eliuth Romero | Nicaragua (NCA) | 21.71 | |
| 54 | 2 | Jessy Franco | Gibraltar (GIB) | 22.04 | |
| | 4 | James Dadzie | Ghana (GHA) | DNF | |
| | 7 | Ryan Zeze | France (FRA) | DQ | TR 16.8 |
| | 5 | Emmanuel Eseme | Cameroon (CMR) | DNS | |

### Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 24 August, with the 24 athletes involved being split into 3 heats of 8 athletes each. The first 2 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 2 fastest ( q ) will qualify for the final. The overall results were as follows:
Wind: Heat 1: -0.1 m/s, Heat 2: 0.0 m/s, Heat 3: -0.4 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 19.76 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Kenneth Bednarek | United States (USA) | 19.96 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Letsile Tebogo | Botswana (BOT) | 19.97 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 19.98 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Zharnel Hughes | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.02 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.02 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Andre De Grasse | Canada (CAN) | 20.10 | q |
| 8 | 3 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 20.21 | q |
| 9 | 2 | Courtney Lindsey | United States (USA) | 20.22 | |
| 10 | 1 | Tarsis Gracious Orogot | Uganda (UGA) | 20.26 | |
| 11 | 1 | Brendon Rodney | Canada (CAN) | 20.27 | |
| 12 | 2 | Sinesipho Dambile | South Africa (RSA) | 20.28 | PB |
| 13 | 3 | Towa Uzawa | Japan (JPN) | 20.33 | |
| 14 | 1 | Andrew Hudson | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.38 | qR |
| 15 | 2 | Renan Correa | Brazil (BRA) | 20.43 | |
| 16 | 1 | Luxolo Adams | South Africa (RSA) | 20.44 | |
| 17 | 3 | Rasheed Dwyer | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.49 | |
| 18 | 1 | Shota Iizuka | Japan (JPN) | 20.54 | |
| 19 | 2 | Taymir Burnet | Netherlands (NED) | 20.65 | |
| 20 | 3 | Shaun Maswanganyi | South Africa (RSA) | 20.65 | |
| 21 | 3 | William Reais | Switzerland (SUI) | 20.67 | |
| 22 | 1 | Ondřej Macík | Czech Republic (CZE) | 20.71 | |
| 23 | 2 | Alaba Akintola | Nigeria (NGR) | 20.75 | |
| | 2 | Aaron Brown | Canada (CAN) | DQ | TR17.3.1 |

### Final

The final started at 21:54 on 25 August. The results were as follows:
Wind: –0.2 m/s
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 6 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 19.52 |
| | 8 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 19.75 |
| | 9 | Letsile Tebogo | Botswana (BOT) | 19.81 |
| 4 | 4 | Zharnel Hughes | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.02 |
| 5 | 7 | Kenneth Bednarek | United States (USA) | 20.07 |
| 6 | 3 | Andre De Grasse | Canada (CAN) | 20.14 |
| 7 | 5 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.23 |
| 8 | 1 | Andrew Hudson | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.40 |
| 9 | 2 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 20.57 |