Men's 200 metres European record progression explained

The following table shows the European record progression in the men's 200 metres, as ratified by the EAA^{[1] [2]}

Hand timing

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
21.2*	Willie Applegarth		London, England	4 July 1914
20.9	McDonald Bailey		Paris, France	10 September 1950
20.9	McDonald Bailey		Belgrade, Yugoslavia	26 August 1951
20.9	McDonald Bailey		London, England	24 May 1952
20.9	McDonald Bailey		Berlin, Germany	21 September 1952
20.9	Heinz Futterer		Bern, Switzerland	29 August 1954
20.8	Heinz Futterer		Osaka, Japan	16 October 1954
20.8	Heinz Futterer		Yokohama, Japan	31 October 1954
20.8	Manfred Germar		Hanover, West Germany	15 September 1957
20.8	Manfred Germar		Oslo, Norway	5 September 1958
20.8	Peter Radford		Paris, France	14 September 1958
20.8	Manfred Germar		Augsburg, West Germany	21 September 1958
20.6	Manfred Germar		Wuppertal, West Germany	1 October 1958
20.5*	Peter Radford		Wolverhampton, England	28 May 1960
20.5	Livio Berruti		Rome, Italy	3 September 1960
20.5	Livio Berruti		Rome, Italy	3 September 1960
20.4	Sergio Ottolina		Saarbrücken, West Germany	21 June 1964
20.4	Jan Werner		Warsaw, Poland	3 June 1967
20.4	Roger Bambuck		Paris, France	30 July 1967
20.4	Roger Bambuck		Mexico City, Mexico	16 October 1968
20.4	Jochen Eigenherr	Germany	Mexico City, Mexico	16 October 1968
20.3	Philippe Clerc		Zürich, Switzerland	4 July 1969
20.2	Valeriy Borzov		Moscow, Soviet Union	18 July 1971
20.2	Pietro Mennea		Milan, Italy	17 June 1972
20.0	Valeriy Borzov		Munich, West Germany	4 September 1972

(*) Performance timed over 220 yards

Automatic timing

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
20.00	Valeriy Borzov		Munich, West Germany	4 September 1972
19.96	Pietro Mennea		Mexico City, Mexico	10 September 1979
19.72	Pietro Mennea		Mexico City, Mexico	12 September 1979

Notes and References

1. http://athletix.org/?p=1840 Athletix
2. http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=64 European Athletics