2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's 200 metres

The season world No. 1 and previous bronze medalist Shaunae Miller-Uibo concentrated on the 400 metres and did not enter. The defending champion and world No. 13 Dafne Schippers and previous silver medalist and world No. 9 Marie-Josée Ta Lou opted not to start in the heats. Olympic champion and world No. 2 Elaine Thompson didn't start in the semi-finals. 2013 bronze medallist and world No. 3 Blessing Okagbare was disqualified in the heats due to a lane infringement. 2013 champion and world No. 7 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce focused on 100m. The only athlete in the field with a personal best below 22 seconds was Dina Asher-Smith, making her the overwhelming favorite going into the Championshps.

In the first steps of the final, Asher-Smith took a clear lead, making up the stagger on Dezerea Bryant to her outside just after half way through the turn. As the stagger resolved coming onto the straight, it revealed Bryant was in second place, slightly ahead of Brittany Brown and Mujinga Kambundji, meaning Asher-Smith had a huge lead. Down the straight, the only athlete looking like she was making any progress cutting down the gap was Brown. Asher-Smith didn't let up, crossing the finish line with a clear win by 3 metres, Brown also clearly ahead by another 3 metres over Kambundji.

Asher-Smith's 21.88 was a new British national record. Kambundji won the first sprint medal for Switzerland at a global outdoor championship. The closest was Marcel Schelbert who also took a bronze in the 400 hurdles in 1999.

In the semi-finals, winner Asher-Smith returned to the track to assist an injured rival, Antonique Strachan, a gesture which earned her a nomination for the International Fair Play Award.[2]

Before the competition records were as follows:[3]

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	21.74	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	BAH	29 Aug 2019	Zürich, Switzerland
African	22.04	Blessing Okagbare	NGA	24 Mar 2018	Abilene, United States
Asian	22.01	Li Xuemei	CHN	24 Mar 2018	Shanghai, China
NACAC	21.34	Florence Griffith Joyner	USA	29 Sep 1988	Seoul, South Korea
South American	22.48	Ana Cláudia Lemos	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:

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date
Nigerien	22.58	Aminatou Seyni	NIG	30 Sep 2019
British	21.88	Dina Asher-Smith	GBR	2 Oct 2019

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:[4]