The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first recorded event at the ancient Olympic Games. The 200 m places more emphasis on speed endurance than shorter sprint distances as athletes predominantly rely on anaerobic energy system during the 200 m sprint. Similarly to other sprint distances, the 200 m begins from the starting blocks. When the sprinters adopt the 'set' position in the blocks they are able to adopt a more efficient starting posture and isometrically preload their muscles. This enables them to stride forwards more powerfully when the race begins and start faster.
Joan Jeanetta Baptiste is a former British sprinter who competed mainly in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay. She won a silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983 in the 4 × 100 m relay and competed in the 200 metres at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Kirani Zeno James COG is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres, James also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, thus becoming the first man to earn the full set of three medals in the centennial history of the event. He is Grenada's first Olympic medalist. He holds the Grenadian national record in both the 200 metres and 400 metres.
Jodie Alicia Williams is a retired British sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres, having begun her career concentrating on 100 and 200 metres.
Mujinga Kambundji is a Swiss sprinter. She won the bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2019 World Championships. Kambundji is the 60 metres 2022 World indoor champion, becoming the joint fourth-fastest woman of all time in the event, after earning a bronze in 2018. She is a three-time European Championships medallist, with gold for the 200 m and silver for the 100 m in 2022, and bronze for the 100 m in 2016. At the European Indoor Championships, she earned gold in the 60 m in 2023 and bronze in 2017.
Leon Baptiste is a retired English sprint runner who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres events. On the 4th of November 2021 he visited Rood End Primary School for the morning. He became the 100 m European junior champion in 2004 and won his first major title six years later by taking the 200 m gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi. He competes domestically for Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club and is coached by Michael Khmel at Loughborough University alongside the likes of Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Tim Abeyu and James Dasaolu.
Dafne Schippers is a Dutch retired track and field athlete who competed in sprinting and the combined events. She holds the European record in the 200 metres with a time of 21.63 seconds, making her the sixth-fastest woman of all time at this distance. She also holds the Dutch records in the 100 metres and long jump, and shares the Dutch records in the 60 metres indoor and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo is a Bahamian track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women's 400 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Anna Kiełbasińska is a Polish sprinter who competed occasionally also in hurdling events. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres as well as silver medals in the 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m relays at the 2022 European Championships. Kiełbasińska earned bronze for the 400 m at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. She won several major medals as part of Polish 4 x 400 m relay teams and also individual medals at European Under-20 and U23 Championships.
Geraldina Rachel Asher-Smith is a British sprinter internationally active since 2011. In 2019 she was the first British woman to win a World title in a sprint event.
Frentorish "Tori" Bowie was an American track and field athlete, who primarily competed in the long jump, 100 meters, and 200 meters. She won the silver medal in the 100 m and bronze in the 200 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, bronze and gold in the 100 m at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships, respectively, and also earned gold medals as part of U.S. women's 4 × 100 m relays at both the 2016 Olympic Games and 2017 World Championships.
Jermaine Brown is a Jamaican track and field sprinter. He competes in distances from 60 metres to 400 metres. He has a 200 metres best of 20.29 seconds and a 400 m best of 46.24 seconds. He mainly competes internationally in relay competitions.
Yorgelis Rodríguez García is a Cuban track and field athlete specialising in the heptathlon. She represented her country at the 2013 World Championships finishing twelfth overall. Earlier she won several medals at the World Junior and Youth Championships, including the gold at the 2012 World Junior Championships.
Ewa Nikola Swoboda is a Polish track and field sprinter who specialises in the short sprints. She is a World Indoor Championships silver medallist, two-time European Championships silver medallist, European Indoor Championships gold and two-time silver medallist, and European Games gold and silver medallist. Swoboda is a two-time Olympian and competed at the 2016 and 2024 Summer Olympics.
Janet Amponsah is a Ghanaian sprinter. She represented her country at the 2013 World Championships without qualifying for the semifinals. She won medals in the 4 × 100 metres relay at two African Championships and at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She was selected as Ghana's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and voted the 2015 Ghanaian Female Athlete of the Year. She missed the 2015 World Championships in China due to problems with her entry visa. At the 2016 Olympics, she competed in the 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay events.
Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic champion, the fastest woman alive in the 100 m, and the third fastest ever in the 200 m.
Gina Lückenkemper is a German track and field athlete who competes in the sprints. She is a three-time Olympian and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Lückenkemper is also a World Championships bronze medalist, two-time European champion and World Relays silver and bronze medalist.
Irene Siragusa is an Italian sprinter, who participated at the 2015, 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships. She won two individual medals at the 2017 Summer Universiade. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 4 × 100 m relay.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal bests of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world record holder for the indoor 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was the Diamond League champion in 2018 and 2023 and the world number one ranked runner in the men's 100 m for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
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