A look back at the women’s 200m at the IAAF World Championships

Olympic 400m champion Marita Koch decided she wasn’t quite fit enough to contest her best event at Helsinki in 1983, so entered the sprints and, after a silver at 100m, won the longer event, although it was a close race against Merlene Ottey.

Koch won in 22.13 from the Jamaican’s 22.19. Britain’s Kathy Cook finished strongly and kept out of the medals Florence Griffith and Grace Jackson, two athletes who five years later would run history’s two fastest times in Seoul. More than 30 years later it remains Britain’s only women’s sprint medal.

In Rome in 1987, Silke Gladisch completed the sprint double with ease. She covered the bend in 11.09 and held a few metres lead to the finish. Her time of 21.74 missed Koch and Heike Drechsler’s world record by just three hundredths. Griffith, who wore a full skinsuit and hood in her semi final, finished second in 21.96. Ottey placed third.

In Tokyo in 1991, the 200m was a repeat of the 100m. Katrin Krabbe blasted the first 100m in 11.07 to lead Ottey (11.17) by a metre and, though Gwen Torrence passed Ottey and closed, the East German won in 22.09 to the American’s 22.16.

Ottey thus won her third successive 200m bronze, a streak which ended in Stuttgart in 1993 when, in her eighth individual sprint final, she finally won the gold. She led off the bend in 11.15 and, though Olympic champion Torrence closed right up as Ottey tightened in the last 30 metres, she held on to win in 21.98 to 22.00. Irina Privalova finished third.

In Gothenburg in 1995, Torrence was the favourite, especially after winning the 100m. She dominated the race and, despite a strong 2.2m/sec headwind, she ran 21.77 to beat Ottey and Privalova, who shared a 22.12 clocking. However, shortly after the finish it was revealed that Torrence had taken five steps on the line and so was disqualified meaning Ottey had won her second successive 200m gold and her fifth medal.

Incredibly it was a sixth one in Athens in 1997, 14 years after her fist and she led into the straight in 11.14. She was still clear at 150m, but faded and was surprisingly passed by 100m specialist Zhanna Pintusevich, who won in 22.32.
Ottey was also passed by Susanthika Jayasinghe, who won Sri Lanka’s first global medal since 1948.

Ottey won a record 14th World Championships medal and her 22.26 semi final was quicker than the winning time in the final. Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec withdrew injured from her semi final.

Ottey didn’t add to her medals in Seville in 1999 as she withdrew after failing a drugs test for nandrolone. Marion Jones, who won the 100m, suffered a back spasm and failed to finish her semi final but USA still won gold as Inger Miller dominated the race. A metre clear at 100m in 11.10, she stretched the margin to almost five to win in 21.77 and it was the biggest global 200m victory since Fanny Blankers-Koen’s Olympic gold in London in 1948.

Debbie Ferguson, who was fifth in Seville in 22.28, ultimately won gold in Edmonton in 2001 with 22.52, but only many years later when Marion Jones lost her gold retrospectively for drugs. Jones sped the bend in 10.9 and, although she slowed, crossed the line first in 22.39, a metre up on the Bahamian. Ferguson was closed on by Kelli White, who later lost her then bronze medal because of a retrospective drugs ban; moving up to medal positions many years later were Latasha Jenkins and Cydonie Mothersill, who remain the slowest world medallists with their 22.85 and 22.88, which 14 of the semi finalists bettered in Seville.

Historical results were messy again in Paris in 2003. White won impressively in 22.05, but failed a drugs test. thus gold and silver went to Anastasiya Kapachinskaya in 22.38 and Torri Edwards in 22.47. They kept their medals but both the eventual first two failed drug tests the following years and served two-year bans. Additionally, the revised fourth-placer Block was retrospectively disqualified.

In Helsinki in 2005, normality resumed and Allyson Felix won with a strong finish in 22.16, at 19 becoming the youngest ever world sprint champion. Rachelle Smith was a surprise second, catching France’s Christine Arron on the line as Olympic champion Veronica Campbell faded after leading at halfway.

Felix was even better in Osaka in 2007 as she ran the fastest time of the century and quickest since Miller’s 21.77 as she won in 21.81. She was second at 100m in 11.15 to Campbell’s 11.10 but her second 100m of 10.66 gave her a five-metre winning margin over Campbell.

The pair were back again in 2009 and the now married Campbell-Brown held the advantage narrowly at halfway in 11.14 to 11.16. However, Felix pulled away for her third successive gold in 22.02. Campbell-Brown narrowly held off 2001 champion Ferguson McKenzie for silver. A surprise finalist in seventh was Emily Freeman, who ran 22.98 in the final having reached it with a big PB of 22.64 in her semi final.

Seemingly in need of a challenge after three easy wins, Felix tackled the 400m in Daegu in 2011 but just lost out on gold and wasn’t at her best for the 200m.

Campbell-Brown sped through 100m in 11.03 and held a clear margin to the finish to win in 22.22 from Carmelita Jeter. Felix finished fastest, but her 22.42 was good enough only for bronze.

Felix, now Olympic 200m champion, focused just on that event in Moscow in 2013 and was the quickest in the semi final with 22.30. However, she pulled up injured in the final as gold went to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who completed the sprint double impressively in 22.17.

The best British performance came from Jodie Williams, who as per all other leading Britons bar Cook in 1983 and Katharine Merry in 1993, ran faster in the previous round than they did in their last race, whether it was final, semi final or quarter final.

200m

Year | Winner | Time | GB position and mark
1983 Marita Koch (GDR) 22.13 3 Kathy Cook 22.37
1987 Silke Gladisch (GDR) 21.74 No competitor
1991 Katrin Krabbe (GER) 22.09 8sf Simmone Jacobs23.72 (23.37qf)
1993 Merlene Ottey (JAM) 21.98 6qf Katharine Merry 23.46
1995 Merlene Ottey (JAM) 22.12 8sf Paula Thomas 23.03 (22.95 ht)
1997 Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR) 22.32 8qf Katharine Merry 23.98 (23.20 ht)
1999 Inger Miller (USA) 21.77 6qf Joice Maduaka 23.33 (23.27 ht)
2001 Debbie Ferguson (BAH) 22.52 No competitor
2003 Anastasiya Kapachinskaya (RUS) 22.38 5qf Abiodun Oyepitan 23.42 (23.30 ht)
2005 Allyson Felix (USA) 22.16 No competitor
2007 Allyson Felix (USA) 21.81 7qf Joice Maduaka 23.62 (23.22 ht)
2009 Allyson Felix (USA) 22.02 7 Emily Freeman 22.98 (22.64sf)
2011 Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) 22.22 7sf Anyika Onuora 23.08 (22.93 ht)
2013 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) 22.17 7sf Jodie Williams 23.21 (23.00 ht)

Points table (8 for 1st etc)
1. USA 141
2. JAM 118.5
3. RUS 45
4. GER 38.5
5. BAH 23
6. NGR 19
7. FRA 18
8. UKR 15
9. SRI 13
10. URS 10
11. GBR 8

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