# 1997 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 200 metres

These are the results of the Men's 200 metres event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece. The winning margin was 0.20 seconds.

## Medalists

| Gold | Ato Boldon Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) |
| Silver | Frank Fredericks Namibia (NAM) |
| Bronze | Claudinei da Silva Brazil (BRA) |

## Results
### Heats

First 3 of each Heat (Q) and the next 5 fastest (q) qualified for the quarterfinals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 9 | Iván García | Cuba | 20.41 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 20.45 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | Troy Douglas | Bermuda | 20.46 | Q |
| 4 | 9 | Anninos Marcoullides | Cyprus | 20.47 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.48 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Douglas Walker | Great Britain | 20.49 | Q, PB |
| 6 | 4 | Julian Golding | Great Britain | 20.49 | Q |
| 8 | 9 | Sergey Osovich | Ukraine | 20.56 | q |
| 9 | 7 | Claudinei da Silva | Brazil | 20.59 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Georgios Panagiotopoulos | Greece | 20.60 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Deji Aliu | Nigeria | 20.60 | q |
| 12 | 6 | Kevin Little | United States | 20.68 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | Gary Ryan | Ireland | 20.69 | Q, NR |
| 14 | 6 | Owusu Dako | Great Britain | 20.70 | Q, SB |
| 15 | 1 | O'Brian Gibbons | Canada | 20.71 | q, SB |
| 15 | 2 | Erik Wijmeersch | Belgium | 20.71 | Q, SB |
| 17 | 1 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 20.72 | q, SB |
| 17 | 3 | Sergejs Inšakovs | Latvia | 20.72 | Q, SB |
| 17 | 9 | Sebastián Keitel | Chile | 20.72 | q |
| 20 | 5 | Giovanni Puggioni | Italy | 20.73 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 20.74 | Q |
| 22 | 3 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 20.75 | Q |
| 22 | 5 | Joseph Loua | Guinea | 20.75 | Q |
| 22 | 6 | Steve Brimacombe | Australia | 20.75 | |
| 22 | 7 | Chris Donaldson | New Zealand | 20.75 | Q |
| 26 | 5 | Jon Drummond | United States | 20.76 | Q |
| 27 | 3 | Prodromos Katsantonis | Cyprus | 20.77 | Q |
| 27 | 5 | Christoph Postinger | Austria | 20.77 | |
| 29 | 5 | Antoine Boussombo | Gabon | 20.79 | NR |
| 29 | 8 | Geir Moen | Norway | 20.79 | Q |
| 31 | 8 | Gentry Bradley | United States | 20.80 | Q |
| 31 | 5 | Thierry Lubin | France | 20.80 | |
| 33 | 3 | Koji Ito | Japan | 20.82 | |
| 34 | 7 | Ioannis Nafpliotis | Greece | 20.84 | Q |
| 35 | 8 | Carlos Gats | Argentina | 20.86 | Q |
| 36 | 2 | Sayon Cooper | Liberia | 20.88 | Q |
| 36 | 2 | Phillip Mukomana | Zimbabwe | 20.88 | SB |
| 36 | 7 | Andrey Fedoriv | Russia | 20.88 | |
| 39 | 4 | Carlo Occhiena | Italy | 20.90 | Q |
| 40 | 6 | Alessandro Attene | Italy | 20.92 | |
| 41 | 4 | Gilles Quénéhervé | France | 20.93 | |
| 42 | 8 | Thomas Sbokos | Greece | 20.94 | |
| 43 | 8 | Oumar Loum | Senegal | 20.95 | |
| 44 | 2 | Justice Dipeba | Botswana | 20.96 | SB |
| 45 | 4 | Ryszard Pilarczyk | Poland | 20.98 | |
| 46 | 7 | Jordi Mayoral | Spain | 20.99 | |
| 47 | 6 | Andrew Tynes | Bahamas | 21.00 | |
| 48 | 3 | Juan Pedro Toledo | Mexico | 21.03 | |
| 49 | 8 | Ahmed Douhou | Ivory Coast | 21.08 | |
| 50 | 3 | Lars Hedner | Sweden | 21.30 | |
| 51 | 9 | Malik-Khaled Louahla | Algeria | 21.31 | |
| 52 | 1 | Hamoud Abdallah Al-Dalhami | Oman | 21.45 | |
| 52 | 2 | Patrick Johnson | Australia | 21.45 | |
| 52 | 8 | Benjamin Sirimou | Cameroon | 21.45 | |
| 55 | 4 | Pascal Dangbo | Benin | 21.58 | |
| 56 | 8 | Djaffar Hadhari | Comoros | 21.59 | NR |
| 57 | 4 | Kendon Maynard | United States Virgin Islands | 21.64 | |
| 58 | 3 | Tao Wu-Shiun | Chinese Taipei | 21.85 | |
| 59 | 5 | Arif Ahundov | Azerbaijan | 22.08 | |
| 60 | 6 | Mohammad Bin Haji | Brunei | 22.37 | |
| 61 | 7 | Kwame Galloway | Montserrat | 22.45 | |
| 62 | 9 | Khongdy Amnouayphone | Laos | 22.86 | |
| 63 | 9 | Mohd Mahbub Alam | Bangladesh | 23.54 | |
| | 2 | Christophe Cheval | France | DNS | |
| | 7 | Ivan Šlehobr | Czech Republic | DNS | |

### Quarterfinals

First 3 of each Heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 20.13 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Claudinei da Silva | Brazil | 20.27 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 2 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.28 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Kevin Little | United States | 20.38 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Iván García | Cuba | 20.48 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Sergey Osovich | Ukraine | 20.54 | Q, SB |
| 7 | 3 | Douglas Walker | Great Britain | 20.56 | q |
| 8 | 3 | Georgios Panagiotopoulos | Greece | 20.57 | q |
| 9 | 2 | Jon Drummond | United States | 20.59 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 20.62 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | Deji Aliu | Nigeria | 20.65 | q |
| 12 | 2 | Julian Golding | Great Britain | 20.69 | q |
| 13 | 2 | Erik Wijmeersch | Belgium | 20.73 | |
| 14 | 1 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 20.77 | Q |
| 14 | 3 | Prodromos Katsantonis | Cyprus | 20.77 | |
| 16 | 1 | Troy Douglas | Bermuda | 20.78 | Q |
| 16 | 2 | O'Brian Gibbons | Canada | 20.78 | |
| 18 | 2 | Anninos Marcoullides | Cyprus | 20.83 | |
| 18 | 3 | Gary Ryan | Ireland | 20.83 | |
| 20 | 4 | Carlos Gats | Argentina | 20.87 | Q |
| 21 | 4 | Joseph Loua | Guinea | 20.91 | |
| 22 | 4 | Ioannis Nafpliotis | Greece | 20.94 | |
| 23 | 4 | Sebastián Keitel | Chile | 20.96 | |
| 24 | 1 | Chris Donaldson | New Zealand | 21.04 | Q |
| 25 | 1 | Gentry Bradley | United States | 21.08 | |
| 26 | 2 | Carlo Occhiena | Italy | 21.14 | |
| 27 | 1 | Sergejs Inšakovs | Latvia | 21.22 | |
| 28 | 1 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 21.25 | |
| 29 | 1 | Sayon Cooper | Liberia | 21.39 | |
| 30 | 1 | Owusu Dako | Great Britain | 21.52 | |
| 31 | 4 | Giovanni Puggioni | Italy | 22.77 | |
| | 4 | Geir Moen | Norway | DNS | |

### Semifinals

First 4 of each Semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.09 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 20.18 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Jon Drummond | United States | 20.29 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Claudinei da Silva | Brazil | 20.35 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Iván García | Cuba | 20.39 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 20.42 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Georgios Panagiotopoulos | Greece | 20.43 | Q, PB |
| 7 | 2 | Troy Douglas | Bermuda | 20.43 | SB |
| 9 | 1 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 20.46 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Sergey Osovich | Ukraine | 20.51 | |
| 11 | 1 | Kevin Little | United States | 20.57 | |
| 12 | 1 | Julian Golding | Great Britain | 20.61 | |
| 12 | 2 | Douglas Walker | Great Britain | 20.61 | |
| 14 | 2 | Deji Aliu | Nigeria | 20.78 | |
| 15 | 2 | Chris Donaldson | New Zealand | 20.92 | |
| 16 | 1 | Carlos Gats | Argentina | 21.44 | |

### Final

Wind: 2.3 m/s
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 3 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.03 |
| | 4 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 20.23 |
| | 5 | Claudinei da Silva | Brazil | 20.26 |
| 4 | 6 | Iván García | Cuba | 20.31 |
| 5 | 7 | Georgios Panagiotopoulos | Greece | 20.32 |
| 6 | 2 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 20.37 |
| 7 | 1 | Jon Drummond | United States | 20.44 |
| 8 | 8 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 20.44 |