2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 200 metres

Defending champion Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands competed while some of her main competitors did not. Elaine Thompson, this event's silver medallist at the 2015 World Championships and gold medallist at the 2016 Olympics, did not compete. Also missing was Tori Bowie, the world leader and 100 metres gold medallist at these World Championships. Schippers' strongest challengers of the remaining athletes were considered to be Marie-Josée Ta Lou from the Ivory Coast, who won the silver medal in the 100 metres at these championships; Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas, who won the gold medal in the 400 metres at the 2016 Olympic Games; and the U.S. athletes.

In the final, shorter sprinters like Ta Lou and Dina Asher-Smith from Great Britain were out of the blocks faster. By her fourth stride, Schippers was into her running motion and gaining with fewer strides than her shorter competitors. By the end of the turn, Schippers had a metre lead on Ta Lou and more than a two-metre lead on Asher-Smith. Down the stretch, Ta Lou gained ground on the lead, while behind them the tall Miller-Uibo was moving past Asher-Smith. Still, Schippers' lead held up for the win in 22.05 seconds. Ta Lou took the silver medal in a 22.08 second national record, and Miller-Uibo closed even faster for the bronze medal.

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date	Location
World	21.34	Florence Griffith-Joyner	USA	29 Sep 1988	Seoul, South Korea
Championship	21.63	Dafne Schippers	NED	28 Aug 2015	Beijing, China
World leading	21.77	Tori Bowie	USA	27 May 2017	Eugene, United States
African	22.07	Mary Onyali-Omagbemi	NGR	14 Aug 1996	Zürich, Switzerland
Asian	22.01	Li Xuemei	CHN	22 Oct 1997	Shanghai, China
NACAC	21.34	Florence Griffith-Joyner	USA	29 Sep 1988	Seoul, South Korea
South American	22.48	Ana Claudia Silva	BRA	6 Aug 2011	São Paulo, Brazil
European	21.63	Dafne Schippers	NED	28 Aug 2015	Beijing, China
Oceanian	22.23	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	AUS	13 Jul 1997	Stuttgart, Germany

The following records were set at the competition:[3]

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date
Ivorian	22.08	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	CIV	11 Aug 2017

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 23.10.[4]

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), was as follows:[5]