2007 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres explained

The women's 200 metres event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics took place on 29–31 August (final) at the Nagai Stadium.

Having run the fastest time in the world this year, Allyson Felix entered as the favorite to retain her World Championship title. Her rival Veronica Campbell-Brown was her only threat from retaining her title.

In the final both Felix and Campbell-Brown shot out of the blocks like rockets, matching each other stride for stride, it was a bloody battle for the gold medal position. Coming into the straight, at the midpoint of the race, Veronica seemed to have a slight advantage over Allyson. Then Felix produced a display of speed and strength endurance that was simply astonishing, pulling away from the reigning olympic champion to win by a five-metre margin. Veronica and Susanthika Jayasinghe took second and third place respectively.

At 21 years old Felix ran under 22 seconds for the first time, winning in 21.81 seconds (the only athlete to run under 22 seconds for this race) - this being the time of the Century at the time. Felix wrote herself into history and gave the world a glimpse of what was to come and would go on to be: one of the best track and field athletes in history - the most decorated track and field athlete ever.

As of 2024, Felix's winning margin of 0.53 seconds remains the only time the women's 200 metres has been won by more than half a second at these championships.

Medalists

Gold
Silver
Bronze

Records

World Record	21.34	Florence Griffith-Joyner	Seoul, South Korea	September 29, 1988
Championship Record	21.74	Silke Gladisch	Rome, Italy	September 3, 1987

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 4 in each heat(Q) and the next 8 fastest (q) advance to the quarterfinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	4	22.50	Q
2	8	22.55	Q, SB
3	3	22.94	Q
4	7	23.06	Q
5	5	23.46	q
6	6	23.66
-	2	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	2	22.93	Q
2	6	23.07	Q
3	5	23.11	Q
4	4	23.96	Q
5	3	24.50	SB
6	8	30.87	PB
-	7	DSQ
-	9	DNS

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	2	22.84	Q
2	4	23.04	Q
3	7	23.21	Q
4	3	23.23	Q
5	5	23.39	q
6	6	24.35
-	8	DNS

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	4	22.74	Q
2	8	22.86	Q
3	7	22.94	Q
4	2	23.16	Q
5	3	23.25	q, SB
6	6	23.34	q
7	8	23.38	q
8	9	24.52	NR

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	3	22.83	Q
2	2	22.91	Q
3	4	23.00	Q
4	7	23.30	Q
5	5	23.32	q
6	8	23.40	q, SB
7	6	23.48

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	5	22.87	Q
2	2	22.90	Q
3	4	23.22	Q
4	3	23.24	Q, SB
5	7	23.24	q
6	8	23.48
7	6	23.74	SB

Quarterfinals

First 4 of each Quarterfinal qualifies (Q).

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	6	22.31	Q, SB
2	7	22.55	Q, SB
3	4	22.84	Q
4	5	23.03	Q
5	8	23.15
6	3	23.21	SB
7	9	23.24
8	2	23.50

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	5	22.61	Q
2	7	22.80	Q
3	4	22.82	Q
4	6	22.96	Q
5	3	23.28
6	2	23.52
7	8	23.62
8	9	24.31

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	5	22.55	Q
2	6	22.62	Q
3	7	22.87	Q
4	3	23.02	Q
5	8	23.17
6	9	23.26	PB
7	2	23.47
8	3	23.60

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	5	22.60	Q, SB
2	7	22.71	Q
3	8	22.79	Q
4	6	22.81	Q
5	4	22.86
6	3	22.97
7	9	23.46
8	2	23.55

Semifinals

First 4 of each Semifinal qualifies (Q).

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	7	22.21	Q
2	5	22.44	Q
3	4	22.51, SB	Q
4	9	22.78	Q
5	8	22.96
6	6	23.01
7	3	23.06
-	2	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time (sec)	Notes
1	6	22.50	Q
2	7	22.65	Q
3	5	22.66	Q
4	4	22.73	Q
5	3	22.88
6	8	22.98
7	9	23.27
8	2	23:34

Final

31 August 2007

Rank	Time	Notes
	21.81	WL
	22.34	SB
	22.63
4	22.65
5	22.70
6	22.72
7	22.97
8	23.08

References

Official results