# 2022 World Athletics Championships – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene from 18 to 21 July 2022. The winning margin was 0.46 seconds.

## Summary

A cramp in the semi-final round quashed Fred Kerley's bid to win a medal in all three sprint events. The Olympic Gold Medalist Andre De Grasse did not start in the heats, #2 of all time Yohan Blake did not start the semi-final round. The world leader coming into this was 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton with a 19.49. Alexander Ogando set a national record to win heat 1, Knighton won heat 3 and defending champion Noah Lyles won semi 2 ahead of the next fastest qualifier Kenny Bednarek, putting those four in the center of the track for the final. The first six qualifiers ran under 20 in the semis.
In the final, Knighton had lane 3, Ogando 4, Bednarek 5 and Lyles 6. In the past Lyles had been slow to start, depending on his superior top end speed to win at the end. That strategy also resulted in him "only" getting the bronze medal in the Olympics. Here, Lyles was fast at the start, making up the stagger on also notoriously slow starting Joseph Fahnbulleh just past the halfway point in the turn. Only Bednarek was able to stay close. Coming onto the straightaway, Lyles was up a metre on Bednarek who had another metre on Knighton. Lyles turned on the top end jets and pulled away. Knighton also accelerated, closing on Bednarek, while holding off the fast close of Fahnbulleh for the bronze.
Lyles 19.31 broke Michael Johnson's American Record set winning the 1996 Olympics to become the third fastest 200 runner of all time. Additionally, bronze medalist Knighton became the youngest medalist in the 200 metres in Championship history. It was the third sweep on home soil for the American team. Prior to these Championships, no Men's team had a sweep since 2015.

## 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 | Erriyon Knighton (USA) | 19.49 | Baton Rouge, United States | 30 April 2022 |
| African Record | Frank Fredericks (NAM) | 19.68 | Atlanta, United States | 1 August 1996 |
| 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 20.24.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 18 July | 17:05 | Heats |
| 19 July | 18:50 | Semi-finals |
| 21 July | 19:50 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualify for the semi-finals.
Wind: Heat 1: +1.0 m/s, Heat 2: 0.0 m/s, Heat 3: +2.1 m/s, Heat 4: +0.5 m/s, Heat 5: +0.4 m/s, Heat 6: +1.0 m/s, Heat 7: -0.3 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 19.98 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.01 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 3 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 20.01 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Luxolo Adams | South Africa (RSA) | 20.10 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.11 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 20.12 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Yancarlos Martínez | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.13 | q |
| 8 | 5 | Fred Kerley | United States (USA) | 20.17 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | Filippo Tortu | Italy (ITA) | 20.18 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Koki Ueyama | Japan (JPN) | 20.26 | Q, PB |
| 11 | 5 | Sinesipho Dambile | South Africa (RSA) | 20.29 | Q, PB |
| 12 | 7 | Rasheed Dwyer | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.29 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Jerome Blake | Canada (CAN) | 20.30 | Q |
| 14 | 7 | Xie Zhenye | China (CHN) | 20.30 | Q |
| 15 | 1 | Joe Ferguson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.33 | q |
| 16 | 5 | Udodi Onwuzurike | Nigeria (NGR) | 20.34 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Jereem Richards | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 20.35 | Q |
| 18 | 4 | Kenny Bednarek | United States (USA) | 20.35 | Q |
| 19 | 5 | Yohan Blake | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.35 | q |
| 20 | 1 | Joseph Amoah | Ghana (GHA) | 20.40 | SB |
| 21 | 6 | Guy Maganga Gorra | Gabon (GAB) | 20.44 | Q, NR |
| 22 | 4 | Tarsis Orogot | Uganda (UGA) | 20.44 | Q |
| 23 | 6 | Calab Law | Australia (AUS) | 20.50 | Q, PB |
| 24 | 7 | Owen Ansah | Germany (GER) | 20.52 | |
| 25 | 7 | Eric Harrison Jr. | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 20.54 | |
| 26 | 3 | Akeem Bloomfield | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.56 | |
| 27 | 2 | Aaron Brown | Canada (CAN) | 20.60 | Q |
| 28 | 6 | Adam Gemili | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.60 | |
| 29 | 3 | Sibusiso Matsenjwa | Eswatini (SWZ) | 20.60 | |
| 30 | 4 | Fausto Desalu | Italy (ITA) | 20.63 | |
| 31 | 7 | Lucas Vilar | Brazil (BRA) | 20.65 | SB |
| 32 | 5 | William Reais | Switzerland (SUI) | 20.71 | SB |
| 33 | 2 | Shota Iizuka | Japan (JPN) | 20.72 | Q |
| 34 | 3 | Tinotenda Matiyenga | Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 20.72 | |
| 35 | 7 | Jan Jirka | Czech Republic (CZE) | 20.73 | |
| 36 | 5 | Aidan Murphy | Australia (AUS) | 20.75 | |
| 37 | 2 | Shaun Maswanganyi | South Africa (RSA) | 20.79 | |
| 38 | 2 | Simon Hansen | Denmark (DEN) | 20.80 | |
| 39 | 2 | Shainer Rengifo Montoya | Cuba (CUB) | 20.80 | |
| 40 | 4 | Mouhamadou Fall | France (FRA) | 20.83 | |
| 41 | 1 | Lucas Rodrigues da Silva | Brazil (BRA) | 20.90 | |
| 42 | 4 | Hachim Maaroufou | Comoros (COM) | 20.91 | |
| 43 | 2 | Joseph Green | Guam (GUM) | 22.04 | |
| 44 | 6 | Alonso Edward | Panama (PAN) | 22.08 | |
| | 4 | Marcos Santos | Angola (ANG) | | DQ |
| | 1 | Terrence Talio | Papua New Guinea (PNG) | | DQ |
| | 6 | Andre de Grasse | Canada (CAN) | | DNS |
| | 5 | Emmanuel Eseme | Cameroon (CMR) | | DNS |
| | 6 | Yuki Koike | Japan (JPN) | | DNS |

### Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.
Wind: Heat 1: -0.1 m/s, Heat 2: +1.1 m/s, Heat 3: +0.3 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 19.62 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 19.77 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Kenny Bednarek | United States (USA) | 19.84 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | Jereem Richards | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 19.86 | q |
| 5 | 1 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 19.91 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 1 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 19.92 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Luxolo Adams | South Africa (RSA) | 20.09 | q |
| 8 | 3 | Aaron Brown | Canada (CAN) | 20.10 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Filippo Tortu | Italy (ITA) | 20.10 | PB |
| 10 | 3 | Yancarlos Martínez | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 20.21 | SB |
| 11 | 1 | Jerome Blake | Canada (CAN) | 20.29 | |
| 12 | 1 | Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.30 | |
| 13 | 2 | Tarsis Orogot | Uganda (UGA) | 20.35 | |
| 14 | 2 | Udodi Onwuzurike | Nigeria (NGR) | 20.39 | |
| 15 | 3 | Xie Zhenye | China (CHN) | 20.41 | |
| 16 | 1 | Sinesipho Dambile | South Africa (RSA) | 20.47 | |
| 17 | 3 | Koki Ueyama | Japan (JPN) | 20.48 | |
| 18 | 2 | Joe Ferguson | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.52 | |
| 19 | 2 | Guy Maganga Gorra | Gabon (GAB) | 20.65 | |
| 20 | 1 | Fred Kerley | United States (USA) | 20.68 | |
| 21 | 3 | Calab Law | Australia (AUS) | 20.72 | |
| 22 | 1 | Shota Iizuka | Japan (JPN) | 20.77 | |
| 23 | 3 | Rasheed Dwyer | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.87 | |
| | 1 | Yohan Blake | Jamaica (JAM) | | DNS |

### Final

The final was started at 19:50 on 21 July. The results were as follows:
Wind: +0.4 m/s
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Noah Lyles | United States (USA) | 19.31 | WL NR |
| | 5 | Kenny Bednarek | United States (USA) | 19.77 | SB |
| | 3 | Erriyon Knighton | United States (USA) | 19.80 | |
| 4 | 7 | Joseph Fahnbulleh | Liberia (LBR) | 19.84 | |
| 5 | 4 | Alexander Ogando | Dominican Republic (DOM) | 19.93 | |
| 6 | 2 | Jereem Richards | Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 20.08 | |
| 7 | 8 | Aaron Brown | Canada (CAN) | 20.18 | |
| 8 | 1 | Luxolo Adams | South Africa (RSA) | 20.47 | |