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. 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
Records
Prior to the competition, the men's 200 m records were as follows:| World record | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | |
| Championship record | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | |
| World leading | 19.86 | Oslo, Norway | 9 June 2011 | |
| African record | 19.68 | Atlanta, United States | 1 August 1996 | |
| Asian Record | 20.03 | Yokohama, Japan | 7 June 2003 | |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | |
| South American record | 19.81 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | |
| European record | 19.72 | Mexico City, Mexico | 12 September 1979 | |
| Oceanian record | 20.06 | Mexico City, Mexico | 16 October 1968 |
Qualification standards
Schedule
Results
Heats
Qualification: First 3 in each heat and the next 3 fastest 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 | 20.30 | Q | |
| 2 | 1 | Walter Dix | 20.42 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud | 20.44 | Q, SB | |
| 4 | 2 | Michael Mathieu | 20.46 | Q | |
| 5 | 5 | Nickel Ashmeade | 20.47 | Q | |
| 6 | 4 | Christophe Lemaitre | 20.51 | Q | |
| 7 | 1 | Kim Collins | 20.52 | Q, SB | |
| 8 | 1 | Femi Seun Ogunode | 20.54 | q | |
| 9 | 6 | Alonso Edward | 20.55 | Q | |
| 10 | 5 | Sandro Viana | 20.62 | Q | |
| 11 | 2 | Pavel Maslák | 20.63 | Q, PB | |
| 11 | 6 | Bruno de Barros | 20.63 | Q | |
| 13 | 3 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | 20.65 | Q | |
| 14 | 2 | Christian Malcolm | 20.66 | q | |
| 15 | 7 | Rondel Sorrillo | 20.68 | Q | |
| 15 | 7 | Mario Forsythe | 20.68 | Q | |
| 17 | 2 | Churandy Martina | 20.70 | q | |
| 18 | 2 | Bryan Barnett | 20.75 | ||
| 19 | 7 | Michael Herrera | 20.76 | Q | |
| 20 | 6 | Reto Schenkel | 20.77 | Q | |
| 21 | 3 | Darvis Patton | 20.80 | Q | |
| 21 | 5 | Hitoshi Saito | 20.80 | Q | |
| 23 | 1 | Marc Schneeberger | 20.81 | ||
| 24 | 5 | James Ellington | 20.82 | ||
| 25 | 6 | Jared Connaughton | 20.83 | ||
| 26 | 3 | Jonathan Åstrand | 20.87 | Q | |
| 26 | 4 | Shinji Takahira | 20.87 | Q | |
| 26 | 7 | Daniel Grueso | 20.87 | ||
| 29 | 7 | Marek Niit | 20.90 | ||
| 30 | 5 | Jeremy Dodson | 20.92 | ||
| 31 | 7 | Nilson André | 20.93 | ||
| 32 | 1 | Sebastian Ernst | 20.95 | ||
| 33 | 2 | Emmanuel Callander | 20.97 | ||
| 33 | 6 | Ben Youssef Meité | 20.97 | ||
| 35 | 3 | Paul Hession | 21.02 | ||
| 36 | 4 | Mosito Lehata | 21.03 | Q | |
| 37 | 6 | Thuso Mpuang | 21.07 | ||
| 38 | 4 | Lebogang Moeng | 21.09 | ||
| 38 | 4 | Marvin Anderson | 21.09 | ||
| 40 | 7 | Arnaldo Abrantes | 21.10 | ||
| 41 | 5 | Gabriel Mvumvure | 21.11 | ||
| 42 | 5 | Calvin Dascent | 21.15 | ||
| 43 | 3 | Brijesh Lawrence | 21.16 | ||
| 44 | 3 | Rolando Palacios | 21.22 | ||
| 45 | 4 | Alex Wilson | 21.25 | ||
| 46 | 3 | Yuichi Kobayashi | 21.27 | ||
| 47 | 1 | Sibusiso Matsenjwa | 21.29 | PB | |
| 48 | 6 | Omar Jouma Al-Salfa | 21.45 | ||
| 49 | 7 | Holder da Silva | 21.82 | SB | |
| 50 | 4 | Leeroy Henriette | 21.83 | ||
| 51 | 1 | Roudy Monrose | 22.18 | ||
| 52 | 6 | Luka Rakić | 22.73 | ||
| 53 | 3 | Khalilur Rahman | 23.53 | ||
| 4 | Brendan Christian |
Semifinals
Qualification: First 2 in each heat and the next 2 fastest 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 | 20.17 | Q, SB | |
| 2 | 2 | Usain Bolt | 20.31 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Nickel Ashmeade | 20.32 | Q | |
| 4 | 3 | Walter Dix | 20.37 | Q | |
| 5 | 2 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | 20.50 | Q | |
| 6 | 3 | Alonso Edward | 20.52 | Q | |
| 7 | 2 | Bruno de Barros | 20.54 | q | |
| 8 | 2 | Rondel Sorrillo | 20.56 | q | |
| 9 | 1 | Femi Seun Ogunode | 20.58 | ||
| 10 | 3 | Mario Forsythe | 20.63 | ||
| 11 | 1 | Kim Collins | 20.64 | ||
| 12 | 2 | Darvis Patton | 20.72 | ||
| 13 | 3 | Michael Herrera | 20.75 | ||
| 14 | 1 | Pavel Maslák | 20.87 | ||
| 15 | 3 | Christian Malcolm | 20.88 | ||
| 16 | 3 | Shinji Takahira | 20.90 | ||
| 17 | 3 | Jonathan Åstrand | 21.03 | ||
| 18 | 3 | Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud | 21.15 | ||
| 19 | 2 | Hitoshi Saito | 21.17 | ||
| 20 | 2 | Reto Schenkel | 21.18 | ||
| 1 | Michael Mathieu | ||||
| 1 | Sandro Viana | R 162.7 | |||
| 1 | Mosito Lehata | ||||
| 2 | Churandy Martina |
Final
Wind: +0.8 m/s| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 3 | Usain Bolt | 19.40 | WL | ||
| 4 | Walter Dix | 19.70 | SB | ||
| 6 | Christophe Lemaitre | 19.80 | NR | ||
| 4 | 8 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | 19.95 | SB | |
| 5 | 5 | Nickel Ashmeade | 20.29 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Bruno de Barros | 20.31 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Rondel Sorrillo | 20.34 | ||
| 7 | Alonso Edward |