The women's 200 metres event at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held at the Budapest Sportcsarnok in Budapest on 4th March 1989.
Merlene Ottey's winning margin was 0.61 seconds which given the discontinuation of this event at these championships after 2004 will remain the only time the women's 200 metres was won by more than 0.6 seconds at these championships.
| width=200 bgcolor=gold | Gold | width=200 bgcolor=silver | Silver | width=200 bgcolor=CC9966 | Bronze |
| Merlene Ottey | Grace Jackson | Natalya Kovtun |
The first 2 of each heat (Q) and next 6 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.[1]
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 23.27 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3 | 23.50 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3 | 23.73 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3 | 23.81 | q | |||
| 5 | 2 | 23.84 | Q | |||
| 6 | 1 | 23.86 | Q | |||
| 7 | 1 | 23.97 | Q | |||
| 8 | 1 | 24.03 | q | |||
| 9 | 1 | 24.04 | q | |||
| 9 | 2 | 24.04 | q | |||
| 11 | 2 | 24.18 | q | |||
| 11 | 3 | 24.18 | q | |||
| 13 | 3 | 25.05 | AR | |||
| 14 | 3 | 25.35 | ||||
| 15 | 2 | 27.32 | NR | |||
| 1 |
First 3 of each semifinal (Q) qualified directly for the final.[2]
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 22.72 | Q | |||
| 2 | 2 | 23.05 | Q | |||
| 3 | 2 | 23.26 | Q | |||
| 4 | 2 | 23.36 | Q | |||
| 5 | 1 | 23.38 | Q | |||
| 6 | 1 | 23.71 | Q, AR | |||
| 7 | 1 | 23.75 | ||||
| 8 | 2 | 23.94 | ||||
| 9 | 1 | 23.98 | ||||
| 10 | 1 | 24.24 | ||||
| 11 | 2 | 24.37 | ||||
| 2 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 22.34 | AR | ||||
| 6 | 22.95 | PB | ||||
| 1 | 23.28 | |||||
| 4 | 5 | 23.30 | ||||
| 5 | 3 | 23.83 | ||||
| 6 | 2 | 23.99 |