World Athletics Championships 1997/200 m women

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	25 52 from 34 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 6th (preliminary / quarter-finals) August 7th (semi-finals) August 8th (final)
Medalists Shanna Pintusevich ( UKR )   Susanthika Jayasinghe ( SRI )   Merlene Ottey ( JAM )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The women's 200-meter run at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held from August 6th to 8th, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

The double European champion from 1994 - at that time under her name Shanna Tarnopolskaja - became world champion over 100 and 200 meters Shanna Pintussewytsch from Ukraine , who had already won silver over 100 meters here five days earlier. Susanthika Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka , who had also won silver at the Asian Games in 1994, came in
surprisingly second . In the third place, the two-time world champion (came 1993 / 1995 ), two-time World Cup -Bronzemedaillengewinnerin ( 1987 /1991), three-time bronze medalist at the Olympic Games ( 1980 / 1984 /1992) and World Cup -Silbermedaillengewinnerin of 1983 Merlene Ottey of Jamaica . She had also has 100 meters at the 1984 Olympic Games and the World Championships 1987 / 1991 respectively bronze and 1993 and 1995 World Cup won -Silber. In 1991 she had also won the World Cup relay gold in the Jamaica team.

Existing records

World record	21.34 s	Florence Griffith-Joyner	OS Seoul , South Korea	September 29, 1988
World championship record	21.74 s	Silke Gladisch	World Cup 1987 in Rome , Italy	3rd September 1987

Even at these World Championships since remained 1,987 existing WM -record safely. In no race was a time below 22 seconds.

There were, however, three continental records and one national record.

• Continental records:
  • 22.44 s - Susanthika Jayasinghe ( Sri Lanka ), new Asian record, 4th lead on August 6th (wind: +1.8 m / s)
  • 22.44 s - Li Xuemei ( People's Republic of China ), Asian record equalized, 7th advance on August 6th (wind: +1.8 m / s)
  • 22.30 s - Susanthika Jayasinghe ( Sri Lanka ), new Asian record, 2nd semi-final on August 7th
• National record:
  • 22.81 s - Alenka Bikar ( Slovenia ), new Slovenian record, 4th lead on August 6th (wind: +0.2 m / s)

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was carried out in seven runs. The first four athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the quarter-finals.

Forward 1

August 6, 1997, 11:15 a.m.

Wind: ± 0.0 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Shanna Pinusevych	Ukraine	22.85
2	Zundra Feagin	United States	22.99
3	Melanie Paschke	Germany	23.10
4th	Lauren Hewitt	Australia	23.18
5	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	23.20
6th	Melissa Straker	Barbados	23.45
7th	Ameerah Bello	American Virgin Islands	24.31

Forward 2

August 6, 1997, 11:22 a.m.

Wind: ± 0.0 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	Australia	22.76
2	Merlene Frazer	Jamaica	22.91
3	Simmone Jacobs	Great Britain	23.23
4th	Shanta Ghosh	Germany	23.58
5	Aïda Diop	Senegal	23.71
6th	Danielle Perpoli	Italy	23.96
DNS	Kaltouma Nadjina	Chad

Forward 3

August 6, 1997, 11:29 am

Wind: -1.4 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Marie-José Pérec	France	22.87
2	Marina Trandenkowa	Russia	22.94
3	Ekaterini Koffa	Greece	22.97
4th	Yan Jiankui	People's Republic of China	23.11
5	Felipa Palacios	Colombia	23.15
6th	Natallja Safronnikawa	Belarus	23.66
7th	Svetlana Bodritskaya	Kazakhstan	23.96

Forward 4

August 6, 1997, 11:29 am

Wind: +1.8 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Susanthika Jayasinghe	Sri Lanka	22.44 AS
2	Ekaterina Leschchowa	Russia	22.47
3	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	22.47
4th	Sylviane Félix	France	22.71
5	Petya Pendareva	Bulgaria	23.02
6th	Gabi Rockmeier	Germany	23.22
7th	Patricia Rodríguez	Colombia	23.45
8th	Vernetta Lesforis	St. Lucia	24.27

Forward 5

August 6, 1997, 11:43 a.m.

Wind: –2.0 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Juliet Cuthbert	Jamaica	23.08
2	Pauline Davis	Bahamas	23.26
3	Cheryl Taplin	United States	23.28
4th	Katia Benth	France	23.33
5	Marina Filipovic	Yugoslavia	23.54
6th	Heather Samuel	Antigua and Barbuda	23.93
7th	Sittina Djabiri	Comoros	30.88
DNF	Natalia Voronova	Russia

Forward 6

August 6, 1997, 11:50 a.m.

Wind: -0.8 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Inger Miller	United States	22.55
2	Li Xiaomei	People's Republic of China	22.99
3	Juliet Campbell	Jamaica	23.00
4th	Lucrécia Jardim	Portugal	23.07
5	Sanna Hernesniemi	Finland	23.17
6th	Monika Gachevska	Bulgaria	23.55
7th	Dora Kyriakou	Cyprus	24.08
8th	Laure Kuetey	Benin	25.15

Forward 7

August 6, 1997, 11:57 am

Wind: +1.8 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Li Xuemei	People's Republic of China	22.44 ASe
2	Hana Benešová	Czech Republic	22.76
3	Chandra Sturrup	Bahamas	22.77
4th	Alenka Bikar	Slovenia	22.81 NO
5	LaDonna Antoine	Canada	23.86
6th	Georgette Nkoma	Cameroon	24.53
7th	Rossa Maira	Papua New Guinea	25.02
8th	Fanta Dao	Mali	25.35

Quarter finals

From the four quarter-finals, the first three athletes - highlighted in light blue - as well as the four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals.

The four sprinters who qualified for the final over time all came from the fourth and last run. The participant, who was seventh in penultimate place, stayed below the 23-second mark with 22.95 s, which none of the athletes achieved in fourth place in each of the other three races.

Quarter-finals 1

• 

  Lauren Hewitt (far right) did not reach the next round in seventh of her quarter-finals

• 

  Katharine Merry (Photo: 2013) finished eighth in her quarter-finals and was eliminated

August 6, 1997, 6:15 p.m.

Wind: -2.4 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	22.65
2	Ekaterina Leschchowa	Russia	22.91
3	Ekaterini Koffa	Greece	23.05
4th	Li Xuemei	People's Republic of China	23.06
5	Lucrécia Jardim	Portugal	23.16
6th	Hana Benešová	Czech Republic	23.34
7th	Lauren Hewitt	Australia	23.53
8th	Katharine Merry	Great Britain	23.98

Quarter-finals 2

Her sixth place in the second quarter-finals wasn't enough for Chandra Sturrup to advance

August 6, 1997, 6:21 p.m.

Wind: +0.3 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Susanthika Jayasinghe	Sri Lanka	22.47
2	Marina Trandenkowa	Russia	22.63
3	Juliet Cuthbert	Jamaica	22.83
4th	Yan Jiankui	People's Republic of China	22.97
5	Cheryl Taplin	United States	23.07
6th	Chandra Sturrup	Bahamas	23.07
7th	Katia Benth	France	23.20
8th	Simmone Jacobs	Great Britain	23.49

Quarter-finals 3

Alenka Bikar failed to finish seventh in her race in the quarter-finals after running a Slovenian record with 22.81 s

August 6, 1997, 6:27 pm

Wind: -3.1 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Marie-José Pérec	France	22.69
2	Inger Miller	United States	22.85
3	Merlene Frazer	Jamaica	22.92
4th	Pauline Davis	Bahamas	23.13
5	Melanie Paschke	Germany	23.22
6th	Felipa Palacios	Colombia	23.34
7th	Alenka Bikar	Slovenia	23.43
8th	Sanna Hernesniemi	Finland	23.52

Quarter-finals 4

Shanta Ghosh reached the quarterfinals and was eliminated as eighth of their race

August 6, 1997, 6:33 p.m.

Wind: ± 0.0 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	Australia	22.45
2	Sylviane Félix	France	22.56
3	Shanna Pinusevych	Ukraine	22.56
4th	Juliet Campbell	Jamaica	22.75
5	Zundra Feagin	United States	22.81
6th	Petya Pendareva	Bulgaria	22.90
7th	Li Xiaomei	People's Republic of China	22.95
8th	Shanta Ghosh	Germany	23.62

Semifinals

From the two semi-finals, the first four athletes - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Semi-final run 1

Marie-José Pérec, 1996 Olympic champion and multiple winner of major events over 400 meters in recent years , did not make it to the semi-finals

August 7, 1997, 7:00 p.m.

Wind: –2.3 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Inger Miller	United States	22.59
2	Shanna Pinusevych	Ukraine	22.65
3	Marina Trandenkowa	Russia	22.69
4th	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	Australia	22.70
5	Merlene Frazer	Jamaica	22.81
6th	Juliet Campbell	Jamaica	22.92
7th	Li Xiaomei	People's Republic of China	23.03
DNS	Marie-José Pérec	France

Semi-final run 2

Seventh place in the second semi-final was too little for Juliet Cuthbert to make it into the final

August 7, 1997, 7:10 p.m.

Wind: +0.2 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	22.26
2	Susanthika Jayasinghe	Sri Lanka	22.30 AS
3	Sylviane Félix	France	22.57
4th	Ekaterina Leschchowa	Russia	22.59
5	Ekaterini Koffa	Greece	22.70
6th	Zundra Feagin	United States	22.92
7th	Juliet Cuthbert	Jamaica	23.03
DNS	Petya Pendareva	Bulgaria

final

Zhanna Pintussewytsch as Zhanna Tarnopolskaja 1994 double European champion over 100 / 200 meters and five days here before second over 100 meters, was the new world champion

August 8, 1997, 7:05 p.m.

Wind: -0.7 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Shanna Pinusevych	Ukraine	22.32
2	Susanthika Jayasinghe	Sri Lanka	22.39
3	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	22.40
4th	Ekaterina Leschchowa	Russia	22.50
5	Inger Miller	United States	22.52
6th	Marina Trandenkowa	Russia	22.65
7th	Melinda Gainsford-Taylor	Australia	22.73
8th	Sylviane Félix	France	22.81

• 

  Vice world champion Susanthika Jayasinghe

• 

  Merlene Ottey, multiple medal winner over 100 meters , 200 meters and with the sprint relay of her team, added bronze to her collection of medals

• 

  Seventh place for Melinda Gainsford-Taylor

Video

• Women's 200m Final - 1997 IAAF World Championships on youtube.com, accessed June 26, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 4, 2020
• Women 200m Athletics VI World Championship 1997 Athens (GRE) on todor66.com, accessed May 18, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Women 200 m, Athens 1997, p. 256f (PDF; 10.3 MB), English, accessed on June 26, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 200 m women on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on June 26, 2020