Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

Women's 200 metres
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Women's 200 metres; at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
	Olympic Athletics
Venue	Japan National Stadium
Dates	2 August 2021 ; (heats & semifinals); 3 August 2021 ; (final)
Competitors	41 from 31 nations
Winning time	21.53
Medalists
	← 2016 2024 →

The women's 200 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 2 and 3 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.^[1] 41 athletes from 31 nations competed.^[2] In successfully defending her title, Elaine Thompson-Herah became the first woman in history to win both the 100 and 200 metres titles at successive games. Her winning time of 21.53 secs, moved her to second on the world all-time list behind Florence Griffith Joyner, and broke Merlene Ottey's 30-year-old Jamaican record. The winning margin was 0.28 seconds. Surprisingly, Thompson-Herah had the slowest reaction time in the final.

Summary

The field included six of the top 25 women in history, three of whom set their personal bests earlier in the season. The defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah was rounding into form having defended her 100m title three days earlier. The world leader coming into the Olympics was Gabrielle Thomas, who ran the #2 time in history to win the US Trials. Two unknown commodities were Namibian teenagers Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma, who had run exceptional 400m times earlier in the season, but less than a month before the Olympics, they were blocked from running in that event due to their having excess natural testosterone. The 200 metres was their back up event because it is exempted from the rule's limited range of events.

In the second heat, Masilingi set the National Record. In the fourth heat, Mboma broke it, in the process surprising Thomas. What was particularly shocking was the terrible start of Mboma, with Thomas making up the stagger in the first few steps of the race, and the awkward but blazing speed she had in the last half of the race. Returning silver medalist Dafne Schippers failed to qualify in the first semi-final, where Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Masilingi did. In the second semi, Thompson-Herah equalled her personal best, but behind her with superior top end speed was Mboma, again beating Thomas while setting the world junior record at 21.97.

In the final, Fraser-Pryce had a rocket start as would be predictable considering her history, three lanes outside of her in a matching Jamaican uniform, Thompson-Herah was keeping pace. In stark contrast, Mboma trailed the field with Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Masilingi. Coming off the turn, Thomas was barely behind Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah. From there, Thompson-Herah pulled away as Thomas slowly chipped away at Fraser-Pryce's slight advantage. Miller-Uibo's closing speed was not present, but Mboma's was, rocketing past four of the top sprinters in the world in a different gear. Mboma passed Fraser-Pryce and Thomas ten metres out, beating Thomas for the third time to take silver. Thomas beat Fraser-Pryce for bronze.^[3]

Background

This was the 19th time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since 1948.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's 200 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 22.80 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 56 is reached.^[2]^[4]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets were eligible for qualification. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.^[2]^[5]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 200 metres.^[2]

Competition format

The event continued to use the three-round format introduced in 2012.^[6]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows.

World record	Florence Griffith Joyner (USA)	21.34 s	Seoul, South Korea	29 September 1988
Olympic record	Florence Griffith Joyner (USA)	21.34 s	Seoul, South Korea	29 September 1988
World Leading	Gabrielle Thomas (USA)	21.61 s	Eugene, Oregon, United States	26 June 2021

Area	Time (s)	Wind	Athlete	Nation
Africa (records)	22.04	+0.5	Blessing Okagbare	Nigeria
Asia (records)	22.01	+0.0	Li Xuemei	China
Europe (records)	21.63	+0.3	Dafne Schippers	Netherlands
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	21.34 WR	+1.3	Florence Griffith Joyner	United States
Oceania (records)	22.23	+0.8	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	Australia
South America (records)	22.48	+1.0	Ana Cláudia Lemos	Brazil

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Time	Notes
Namibia	Beatrice Masilingi	Round 1	22.63
	Christine Mboma	Round 1	22.11
		Semifinals	21.97	WU20R, AR
		Final	21.81	WU20R, AR
Switzerland	Mujinga Kambundji	Round 1	22.26
Switzerland	Mujinga Kambundji	Semifinals	22.26
Niger	Aminatou Seyni	Semifinals	22.54
Jamaica	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Final	21.53

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's 200 metres took place over two consecutive days.^[1]

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 2 August 2021	9:00 19:00	Round 1 Semifinals
Tuesday, 3 August 2021	19:00	Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: first three finishers of each heat (Q) plus the next three fastest times (q) qualify to the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.170	22.30	Q
2	3	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	Bahamas	0.137	22.40	Q
3	8	Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha	Nigeria	0.156	22.47	Q, PB
4	4	Gloria Hooper	Italy	0.191	23.16	q, SB
5	2	Ana Azevedo	Brazil	0.192	23.20	SB
6	5	Olga Safronova	Kazakhstan	0.162	23.64
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.140	22.22	Q
2	3	Beatrice Masilingi	Namibia	0.185	22.63	Q, NR
3	2	Dafne Schippers	Netherlands	0.151	23.13	Q
4	8	Lisa-Marie Kwayie	Germany	0.169	23.14	q
5	7	Rafaéla Spanoudaki-Hatziriga	Greece	0.131	23.16	q
6	4	Lucia Moris	South Sudan	0.149	25.24
7	5	Najma Parveen	Pakistan	0.173	28.12	SB
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.129	22.26	Q, =NR
2	5	Anavia Battle	United States	0.129	22.54	Q
3	4	Gémima Joseph	France	0.153	22.94	Q
4	7	Jaël Bestué	Spain	0.171	23.19	PB
5	6	Inna Eftimova	Bulgaria	0.141	23.42
				Wind: -0.2 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	Christine Mboma	Namibia	0.275	22.11	Q, WU20R, NR
2	2	Gabrielle Thomas	United States	0.172	22.20	Q
3	5	Aminatou Seyni	Niger	0.144	22.72	Q, SB
4	8	Rhoda Njobvu	Zambia	0.145	23.33
5	6	Jessica-Bianca Wessolly	Germany	0.176	23.41
6	4	Vitória Cristina Rosa	Brazil	0.187	23.59
7	7	Dutee Chand	India	0.140	23.85	SB
				Wind: +0.7 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Anthonique Strachan	Bahamas	0.155	22.76	Q, =SB
2	6	Lorène Bazolo	Portugal	0.130	23.21	Q
3	7	Dalia Kaddari	Italy	0.144	23.26 (23.251)	Q
4	2	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	0.167	23.26 (23.255)
5	3	Ivet Lalova-Collio	Bulgaria	0.158	23.39	SB
6	5	Shanti Pereira	Singapore	0.164	23.96	SB
				Wind: -0.3 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Crystal Emmanuel	Canada	0.157	22.74	Q, SB
2	8	Beth Dobbin	Great Britain	0.136	22.78	Q, =SB
3	5	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.165	22.86	Q
4	4	Imke Vervaet	Belgium	0.138	23.05	q, PB
5	7	Phil Healy	Ireland	0.140	23.21	SB
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	2	Jenna Prandini	United States	0.163	22.56	Q
2	6	Gina Bass	The Gambia	0.158	22.74	Q
3	7	Riley Day	Australia	0.155	22.94	Q
4	5	Maja Mihalinec Zidar	Slovenia	0.145	23.62	SB
5	4	Kristina Knott	Philippines	0.133	23.80
	8	Jamile Samuel	Netherlands			DNS
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Semifinals

Qualification rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.143	22.13	Q
2	4	Beatrice Masilingi	Namibia	0.181	22.40	Q, PB
3	5	Anthonique Strachan	Bahamas	0.153	22.56 (22.551)	SB
4	9	Riley Day	Australia	0.147	22.56 (22.557)	PB
5	7	Jenna Prandini	United States	0.142	22.57
6	2	Dafne Schippers	Netherlands	0.151	23.03
7	8	Lorène Bazolo	Portugal	0.138	23.20
8	3	Lisa Marie Kwayie	Germany	0.169	23.42
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	9	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.165	21.66	Q, =PB
2	4	Christine Mboma	Namibia	0.212	21.97	Q, WU20R, AR
3	6	Gabrielle Thomas	United States	0.156	22.01	q
4	5	Gina Bass	The Gambia	0.144	22.67
5	8	Beth Dobbin	Great Britain	0.145	22.85
6	7	Crystal Emmanuel	Canada	0.166	23.05
7	2	Gemima Joseph	France	0.168	23.19
8	1	Gloria Hooper	Italy	0.197	23.28
9	3	Rafaéla Spanoudaki-Hatziriga	Greece	0.117	23.38
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.178	22.11	Q, SB
2	5	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	Bahamas	0.154	22.14	Q
3	7	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.139	22.26	q, =NR
4	9	Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha	Nigeria	0.172	22.47	=PB
5	8	Aminatou Seyni	Niger	0.156	22.54	NR
6	4	Anavia Battle	United States	0.167	23.02
7	2	Imke Vervaet	Belgium	0.139	23.31
8	3	Dalia Kaddari	Italy	0.134	23.41
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	7	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.173	21.53	NR
	5	Christine Mboma	Namibia	0.169	21.81	WU20R, AR
	3	Gabrielle Thomas	United States	0.159	21.87
4	4	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.141	21.94
5	6	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.150	22.27
6	8	Beatrice Masilingi	Namibia	0.166	22.28	PB
7	2	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.147	22.30
8	9	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	Bahamas	0.145	24.00
				Wind: +0.8 m/s

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
^ Gleeson, Michael (3 August 2021). "Jamaican sprinter defends DSD athletes after Mboma takes silver". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
^ "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
^ "Athletics Explanatory Guide". Tokyo 2020. August 2019.

[Dates-1] "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.

[Qualifying-2] "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.

[3] Gleeson, Michael (3 August 2021). "Jamaican sprinter defends DSD athletes after Mboma takes silver". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

[BBC-4] "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.

[QualSuspension-5] "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.

[Format-6] "Athletics Explanatory Guide". Tokyo 2020. August 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]