# 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 2 and September 3. The winning margin was 0.30 seconds. Usain Bolt, the world record holder and defending champion was the favourite going into the race with a world leading time of 19.86 seconds. He had also won his three major races after return from injury convincingly.
Remembering his false start in the 100 metres, favorite Bolt had the slowest reaction time to the gun, but cruised easily into the semi-finals.
The semi-finals began with another false start, but it was Sandro Viana. Christophe Lemaitre led the qualifying winning semi 1, as Bolt casually cruised through semi 2 and Walter Dix ran a controlled semi 3.
The finals were Bolt's redemption. Still cautious, Bolt had the slowest reaction time in the field, but he easily charged into the lead, making up the stagger on Dix 2/3 of the way through the turn as returning silver medalist Alonso Edward pulled up. Bolt made one glance back at Dix and the rest of the field, then charged home in 19.40 his third best time, the number four time ever. Dix was clearly second in 19.70, with Christophe Lemaitre separating from Jaysuma Saidy Ndure in 19.80, the French National Record for the bronze medal. The rest of the field was more than 3/10ths of a second behind. Note these were Fully automatic times, it was just a fluke that all the medal times were evenly divisible by a tenth of a second.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Usain Bolt Jamaica (JAM) | Walter Dix United States (USA) | Christophe Lemaitre France (FRA) |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the men's 200 m records were as follows:
| 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 | Usain Bolt (JAM) | 19.86 | Oslo, Norway | 9 June 2011 |
| African record | Frankie Fredericks (NAM) | 19.68 | Atlanta, United States | 1 August 1996 |
| Asian Record | Shingo Suetsugu (JPN) | 20.03 | Yokohama, Japan | 7 June 2003 |
| 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 standards

| A time | B time |
| 20.60 | 20.70 |
schedule
| Date | Time | Round |
| September 2, 2011 | 11:10 | Heats |
| September 2, 2011 | 19:55 | Semifinals |
| September 3, 2011 | 21:20 | Final |

## Results

| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals.
Wind: Heat 1: +0.3 m/s, Heat 2: -0.3 m/s, Heat 3: -1.1 m/s, Heat 4: -1.1 m/s, Heat 5: -0.8 m/s, Heat 6: +0.4 m/s, Heat 7: -0.7 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Usain Bolt | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.30 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Walter Dix | United States (USA) | 20.42 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud | Egypt (EGY) | 20.44 | Q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | Michael Mathieu | Bahamas (BAH) | 20.46 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Nickel Ashmeade | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.47 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | Christophe Lemaitre | France (FRA) | 20.51 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Kim Collins | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 20.52 | Q, SB |
| 8 | 1 | Femi Seun Ogunode | Qatar (QAT) | 20.54 | q |
| 9 | 6 | Alonso Edward | Panama (PAN) | 20.55 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | Sandro Viana | Brazil (BRA) | 20.62 | Q |
| 11 | 2 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 20.63 | Q, PB |
| 11 | 6 | Bruno de Barros | Brazil (BRA) | 20.63 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | Norway (NOR) | 20.65 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | Christian Malcolm | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.66 | q |
| 15 | 7 | Rondel Sorrillo | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 20.68 | Q |
| 15 | 7 | Mario Forsythe | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.68 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Churandy Martina | Netherlands (NED) | 20.70 | q |
| 18 | 2 | Bryan Barnett | Canada (CAN) | 20.75 | |
| 19 | 7 | Michael Herrera | Cuba (CUB) | 20.76 | Q |
| 20 | 6 | Reto Schenkel | Switzerland (SUI) | 20.77 | Q |
| 21 | 3 | Darvis Patton | United States (USA) | 20.80 | Q |
| 21 | 5 | Hitoshi Saito | Japan (JPN) | 20.80 | Q |
| 23 | 1 | Marc Schneeberger | Switzerland (SUI) | 20.81 | |
| 24 | 5 | James Ellington | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.82 | |
| 25 | 6 | Jared Connaughton | Canada (CAN) | 20.83 | |
| 26 | 3 | Jonathan Åstrand | Finland (FIN) | 20.87 | Q |
| 26 | 4 | Shinji Takahira | Japan (JPN) | 20.87 | Q |
| 26 | 7 | Daniel Grueso | Colombia (COL) | 20.87 | |
| 29 | 7 | Marek Niit | Estonia (EST) | 20.90 | |
| 30 | 5 | Jeremy Dodson | United States (USA) | 20.92 | |
| 31 | 7 | Nilson André | Brazil (BRA) | 20.93 | |
| 32 | 1 | Sebastian Ernst | Germany (GER) | 20.95 | |
| 33 | 2 | Emmanuel Callander | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 20.97 | |
| 33 | 6 | Ben Youssef Meité | Ivory Coast (CIV) | 20.97 | |
| 35 | 3 | Paul Hession | Ireland (IRL) | 21.02 | |
| 36 | 4 | Mosito Lehata | Lesotho (LES) | 21.03 | Q |
| 37 | 6 | Thuso Mpuang | South Africa (RSA) | 21.07 | |
| 38 | 4 | Lebogang Moeng | South Africa (RSA) | 21.09 | |
| 38 | 4 | Marvin Anderson | Jamaica (JAM) | 21.09 | |
| 40 | 7 | Arnaldo Abrantes | Portugal (POR) | 21.10 | |
| 41 | 5 | Gabriel Mvumvure | Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 21.11 | |
| 42 | 5 | Calvin Dascent | U.S. Virgin Islands (ISV) | 21.15 | |
| 43 | 3 | Brijesh Lawrence | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 21.16 | |
| 44 | 3 | Rolando Palacios | Honduras (HON) | 21.22 | |
| 45 | 4 | Alex Wilson | Switzerland (SUI) | 21.25 | |
| 46 | 3 | Yuichi Kobayashi | Japan (JPN) | 21.27 | |
| 47 | 1 | Sibusiso Matsenjwa | Swaziland (SWZ) | 21.29 | PB |
| 48 | 6 | Omar Jouma Al-Salfa | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 21.45 | |
| 49 | 7 | Holder da Silva | Guinea-Bissau (GBS) | 21.82 | SB |
| 50 | 4 | Leeroy Henriette | Seychelles (SEY) | 21.83 | |
| 51 | 1 | Roudy Monrose | Haiti (HAI) | 22.18 | |
| 52 | 6 | Luka Rakić | Montenegro (MNE) | 22.73 | |
| 53 | 3 | Khalilur Rahman | Bangladesh (BAN) | 23.53 | |
| | 4 | Brendan Christian | Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) | DNS | |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.
Wind: Heat 1: -1.0 m/s, Heat 2: -1.0 m/s, Heat 3: -0.7 m/s
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Christophe Lemaitre | France (FRA) | 20.17 | Q, SB |
| 2 | 2 | Usain Bolt | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.31 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Nickel Ashmeade | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.32 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Walter Dix | United States (USA) | 20.37 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | Norway (NOR) | 20.50 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Alonso Edward | Panama (PAN) | 20.52 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Bruno de Barros | Brazil (BRA) | 20.54 | q |
| 8 | 2 | Rondel Sorrillo | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 20.56 | q |
| 9 | 1 | Femi Seun Ogunode | Qatar (QAT) | 20.58 | |
| 10 | 3 | Mario Forsythe | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.63 | |
| 11 | 1 | Kim Collins | Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 20.64 | |
| 12 | 2 | Darvis Patton | United States (USA) | 20.72 | |
| 13 | 3 | Michael Herrera | Cuba (CUB) | 20.75 | |
| 14 | 1 | Pavel Maslák | Czech Republic (CZE) | 20.87 | |
| 15 | 3 | Christian Malcolm | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 20.88 | |
| 16 | 3 | Shinji Takahira | Japan (JPN) | 20.90 | |
| 17 | 3 | Jonathan Åstrand | Finland (FIN) | 21.03 | |
| 18 | 3 | Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud | Egypt (EGY) | 21.15 | |
| 19 | 2 | Hitoshi Saito | Japan (JPN) | 21.17 | |
| 20 | 2 | Reto Schenkel | Switzerland (SUI) | 21.18 | |
| | 1 | Michael Mathieu | Bahamas (BAH) | DNF | |
| | 1 | Sandro Viana | Brazil (BRA) | DQ | R 162.7 |
| | 1 | Mosito Lehata | Lesotho (LES) | DNS | |
| | 2 | Churandy Martina | Netherlands (NED) | DNS | |

### Final

Wind: +0.8 m/s
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | Usain Bolt | Jamaica (JAM) | 19.40 | WL |
| | 4 | Walter Dix | United States (USA) | 19.70 | SB |
| | 6 | Christophe Lemaitre | France (FRA) | 19.80 | NR |
| 4 | 8 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | Norway (NOR) | 19.95 | SB |
| 5 | 5 | Nickel Ashmeade | Jamaica (JAM) | 20.29 | |
| 6 | 2 | Bruno de Barros | Brazil (BRA) | 20.31 | |
| 7 | 1 | Rondel Sorrillo | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 20.34 | |
| | 7 | Alonso Edward | Panama (PAN) | DNF | |