World Athletics Championships 1997/100 m men

6th World Athletics Championships
discipline	100 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	102 athletes from 70 countries
venue	Athens
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 2nd (preliminary / quarter finals) August 3rd (semifinals / final)
Medalist Maurice Greene ( USA )   Donovan Bailey ( CAN )   Tim Montgomery ( USA )

The Athens Olympic Stadium in 2014

The men's 100-meter run at the 1997 World Athletics Championships was held on August 2 and 3, 1997 in the Olympic Stadium in the Greek capital, Athens .

In this competition, the sprinters from the United States won two medals, gold and bronze. World champion was Maurice Greene , who celebrated his first big win here. He won ahead of the Canadian defending champion, world record holder and Olympic champion of 1996 over 100 meters and with the 4 x 100 meter relay of his country Donovan Bailey , who won gold with the Canadian sprint relay a week later, as at the previous world championships . Bronze went to Tim Montgomery .

Records

Existing records

World record	9.84 s	Donovan Bailey	OS 1996 in Atlanta , USA	July 27, 1996
World championship record	9.86 s	Carl Lewis	1991 World Cup in Tokyo , Japan	August 25, 1991

Record equalization

With 9.86 s with a slight tail wind of 0.2 m / s, the US World Champion Maurice Greene equalized the existing World Cup record in the final on August 3rd.

In addition, there were three national records in the preliminary stages - two improvements / one equalization:

• 10.11 s - Angelos Pavlakakis ( Greece ), 4th forerun
• 11.18 s - Mohamed Amir ( Republic of Moldova ), 8th forerun (equalized)
• 10.28 s - Sergejs Inšakovs ( Latvia ), 9th forerun

Preliminary round

The preliminary round was held in thirteen runs. The first three athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - as well as the nine fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the quarter-finals.

Forward 1

August 2, 1997, 10:30 a.m.

Wind: -0.7 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	André da Silva	Brazil	10.28
2	Jean-Olivier Zirignon	Ivory Coast	10.31
3	Chris Donaldson	New Zealand	10.43
4th	Carlton Chambers	Canada	10.49
5	Paulo Neves	Portugal	10.51
6th	Pascal Dangbo	Benin	10.78
7th	Toluta'u Koula	Tonga	10.85
8th	Watson Nyambek	Malaysia	11.60

Forward 2

August 2, 1997, 10:36 am

Wind: +0.4 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Marcin Krzywański	Poland	10.37
2	Andrei Fedoriv	Russia	10.38
3	Stéphane Cali	France	10.39
4th	Torbjörn Mårtensson	Sweden	10.46
5	Neil Ryan	Ireland	10.57
6th	Tommy Kafri	Israel	10.64
7th	Patrick Mocci Raoumbé	Gabon	10.69
8th	Nelson Kabitana	Solomon Islands	11.61

Forward 3

August 2, 1997, 10:42 am

Wind: +1.0 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Maurice Greene	United States	10.31
2	Peter Karlsson	Sweden	10.31
3	Piotr Balcerzak	Poland	10.41
4th	Per Ivar Sivle	Norway	10.42
5	Dennis Mowatt	Jamaica	10.52
6th	Nigel Jones	Grenada	10.68
7th	Edgardo A. Serpas	El Salvador	10.77
8th	DeVon Bean	Bermuda	10.78

Forward 4

August 2, 1997, 10:48 a.m.

Wind: +1.5 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Angelos Pavlakakis	Greece	10.11 NO
2	Donovan Bailey	Canada	10.17
3	Stefano Tilli	Italy	10.25
4th	Marlon Devonish	Great Britain	10.26
5	Renward Wells	Bahamas	10.34
6th	Martin Lachkovics	Austria	10.34
7th	Ruslan Rusidze	Georgia	10.67
8th	Elston Albert Shaw	Belize	11.13

Forward 5

Kim Collins, surprise
world champion in 2003 , was eliminated in the preliminary round

August 2, 1997, 10:54 am

Wind: -0.6 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Michael Marsh	United States	10.16
2	Patrick Stevens	Belgium	10.30
3	Anninos Marcoullides	Cyprus	10.35
4th	Kôji Itô	Japan	10.46
5	Joseph Styles	Bahamas	10.52
6th	Aléxandros Yenovélis	Greece	10.58
7th	Lok To Wai	Hong Kong	10.67
8th	Kim Collins	St. Kitts and Nevis	21.73

Forward 6

• 

  Carlos Gats missed the next lap by one place or one hundredth of a second

• 

  Ibrahim Meité failed in the preliminary round, finishing sixth in his race

August 2, 1997, 11:00 a.m.

Wind: +0.4 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	10.11
2	Luis Alberto Pérez Rionda	Cuba	10.33
3	Ian Mackie	Great Britain	10.42
4th	Carlos Gats	Argentina	10.43
5	Miguel Janssen	Aruba	10.47
6th	Ibrahim Meité	Ivory Coast	10.50
7th	Carlos Moreno	Chile	10.53

Forward 7

August 2, 1997, 11:06 am

Wind: +0.5 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Tim Montgomery	United States	10.12
2	Francis Obikwelu	Nigeria	10.22
3	Aziz Zakari	Ghana	10.26
4th	Sayon Cooper	Liberia	10.35
5	Ousmane Diarra	Mali	10.42
6th	Frutos Feo	Spain	10.54
7th	Lee Hyung-Keun	South Korea	10.73
8th	Mahbub Alam	Bangladesh	10.83

Forward 8

August 2, 1997, 11:12 am

Wind: -0.5 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Seun Ogunkoya	Nigeria	10.24
2	Charalambos papadias	Greece	10.32
3	Ryszard Pilarczyk	Poland	10.38
4th	Issa-Aimé Nthépé	Cameroon	10.50
5	Tomaz Božic	Slovenia	10.64
6th	Horace Dove-Edwin	Sierra Leone	10.65
7th	Mario Bonello	Malta	10.92
8th	Mohamed Amir	Maldives	11.18 NRe

Forward 9

August 2, 1997, 11:18 a.m.

Wind: +0.6 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	10.21
2	Alexandr Porchomovsky	Russia	10.25
3	Carlos Calado	Portugal	10.26
4th	Sergejs Inšakovs	Latvia	10.28 NO
5	Carlos Villaseñor	Mexico	10.50
6th	Gabriel Simón	Argentina	10.79
7th	Maocha Mpho	Botswana	10.86
DSQ	Venancio José	Spain	IAAF Rule 162.8 - false start

Forward 10

August 2, 1997, 11:24 a.m.

Wind: +0.7 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Eric Nkansah	Ghana	10.16
2	Percival Spencer	Jamaica	10.18
3	Darren Campbell	Great Britain	10.21
4th	Yiannakis Zisimides	Cyprus	10.30
5	Hiroyasu Tsuchie	Japan	10.40
6th	Laurence Jack	Vanuatu	10.97
7th	Detrickson Anson	Micronesia	11.47
DNF	Igor Strakh	Ukraine

Forward 11

August 2, 1997, 11:30 a.m.

Wind: -0.1 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Nobuharu Asahara	Japan	10.22
2	Obadele Thompson	Barbados	10.26
3	Jone Delai	Fiji	10.32
4th	Donovan Powell	Jamaica	10.34
5	Chintake De Soysa	Sri Lanka	10.43
6th	Anvar Kuchmuradov	Uzbekistan	10.49
7th	Norberto Nsue Ondo	Equatorial Guinea	11.65
8th	Daniel Adachi	Palau	11.90

Forward 12

August 2, 1997, 11:36 a.m.

Wind: -0.3 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Robert Esmie	Canada	10.22
2	Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria	10.23
3	Emmanuel Tuffour	Ghana	10.24
4th	Prodromos Katsantonis	Cyprus	10.36
5	Augustine Nketia	New Zealand	10.41
6th	Ivan Šlehobr	Czech Republic	10.55
7th	Peter Pulu	Papua New Guinea	10.77
8th	Trevor Davis	Anguilla	11.07

Forward 13

August 2, 1997, 11:42 am

Wind: +0.2 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Bruny Surin	Canada	10.32
2	Erik Wijmeersch	Belgium	10.43
3	Saad Al-Kuwari	Qatar	10.48
4th	Juan Pedro Toledo	Mexico	10.56
5	José Illán	Spain	10.60
6th	Amarildo Almeida	Guinea-Bissau	10.92
7th	Huang Hsin-Ping	Chinese Taipei	11.09

Quarter finals

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

Quarter-finals 1

August 2, 1997, 6:50 p.m.

Wind: +1.3 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	09.87 WL
2	Maurice Greene	United States	09.90
3	Andrei Fedoriv	Russia	10.22
4th	Charalambos papadias	Greece	10.23
5	Ian Mackie	Great Britain	10.24
6th	Marcin Krzywański	Poland	10.33
7th	Hiroyasu Tsuchie	Japan	10.38
8th	Chris Donaldson	New Zealand	10.40

Quarter-finals 2

Erik Wijmeersch's (left) sixth place in his quarter-finals was not enough for him to reach the semi-finals

August 2, 1997, 6:54 p.m.

Wind: +0.4 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Bruny Surin	Canada	10.06
2	Angelos Pavlakakis	Greece	10.22
3	Luis Alberto Pérez Rionda	Cuba	10.25
4th	Piotr Balcerzak	Poland	10.32
5	Prodromos Katsantonis	Cyprus	10.33
6th	Erik Wijmeersch	Belgium	10.34
7th	Stéphane Cali	France	10.47
DNS	Percival Spencer	Jamaica

Quarter-finals 3

André da Silva got out of step in the quarter-finals and was eliminated

August 2, 1997, 6:58 pm

Wind: +1.2 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Tim Montgomery	United States	09.99
2	Donovan Bailey	Canada	10.10
3	Darren Campbell	Great Britain	10.13
4th	Sayon Cooper	Liberia	10.21
5	Ryszard Pilarczyk	Poland	10.26
6th	Saad Al-Kuwari	Qatar	10.40
7th	Peter Karlsson	Sweden	10.40
8th	André da Silva	Brazil	12.56

Quarter-finals 4

Marlon Devonish - Seventh in his quarter-finals and eliminated

August 2, 1997, 7:02 pm

Wind: -0.3 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Michael Marsh	United States	10.05
2	Emmanuel Tuffour	Ghana	10.23
3	Jean-Olivier Zirignon	Ivory Coast	10.25
4th	Alexandr Porchomovsky	Russia	10.27
5	Seun Ogunkoya	Nigeria	10.33
6th	Donovan Powell	Jamaica	10.35
7th	Marlon Devonish	Great Britain	10.37
8th	Anninos Marcoullides	Cyprus	10.39

Quarter-finals 5

Robert Esmie missed the semifinals by one place - on the final day he became world champion with his sprint relay

August 2, 1997, 7:06 p.m.

Wind: -0.7 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Eric Nkansah	Ghana	10.15
2	Francis Obikwelu	Nigeria	10.17
3	Robert Esmie	Canada	10.25
4th	Patrick Stevens	Belgium	10.31
5	Sergejs Inšakovs	Latvia	10.34
6th	Stefano Tilli	Italy	10.36
7th	Jone Delai	Fiji	10.47
8th	Renward Wells	Bahamas	10.57

Quarter-finals 6

August 2, 1997, 7:10 p.m.

Wind: +0.5 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	09.99
2	Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria	10.11
3	Nobuharu Asahara	Japan	10.17
4th	Obadele Thompson	Barbados	10.21
5	Aziz Zakari	Ghana	10.29
6th	Yiannakis Zisimides	Cyprus	10.37
7th	Martin Lachkovics	Austria	10.39
8th	Carlos Calado	Portugal	10.41

Semifinals

• 

  Obadele Thompson finished sixth in his semi-final run and was eliminated

• 

  Darren Campbell did not reach the finals as eighth of his semi-finals

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

Semi-final run 1

August 3, 1997, 6:50 p.m.

Wind: -0.8 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	10.00
2	Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria	10.15
3	Michael Marsh	United States	10.21
4th	Bruny Surin	Canada	10.22
5	Angelos Pavlakakis	Greece	10.29
6th	Obadele Thompson	Barbados	10.30
7th	Emmanuel Tuffour	Ghana	10.33
8th	Darren Campbell	Great Britain	10.37

• 

  Francis Obikwelu, here still for Ghana and later for Portugal, reached the semi-finals and failed there in sixth place in his race

• 

  Nobuharu Asahara's eighth place in his semi-finals was not enough to make it into the final

Semi-final run 2

August 3, 1997, 7:00 p.m.

Wind: +0.5 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Maurice Greene	United States	09.90
2	Donovan Bailey	Canada	09.91
3	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	09.93
4th	Tim Montgomery	United States	10.08
5	Eric Nkansah	Ghana	10.18
6th	Francis Obikwelu	Nigeria	10.20
7th	Sayon Cooper	Liberia	10.30
8th	Nobuharu Asahara	Japan	10.33

World champion Maurice Greene
dominated the short sprint course for several years

final

August 3, 1997, 9:50 p.m.

Wind: +0.2 m / s

space	Surname	nation	Time (s)
1	Maurice Greene	United States	09.86 CRe / WL
2	Donovan Bailey	Canada	09.91
3	Tim Montgomery	United States	09.94
4th	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	09.95
5	Ato Boldon	Trinidad and Tobago	10.02
6th	Davidson Ezinwa	Nigeria	10.10
7th	Bruny Surin	Canada	10.12
8th	Michael Marsh	United States	10.29

• 

  For defending champion Donovan Bailey it was enough to win silver this time

• 

  Over 100 meters , Frank Fredericks just missed a World Championship medal here , he was only a hundredth of a second missing - but he collected his third silver over 200 meters after gold in 1993

• 

  Ato Boldon narrowly missed the world record in the quarter-finals because it hadn't run fully, before the final he had slight problems with cramps, but won the 200-meter title five days later

• 

  Bruny Surin (photo on the right) reached seventh place - on the final day there was still gold in the sprint relay

Video

• 1997 World Champs 100m , video posted December 12, 2012 on youtube.com, accessed June 13, 2020

Web links

• 6th IAAF World Championships In Athletics , accessed June 4, 2020
• Men 100m 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, Men 100 m, Athens 1997, p. 90 (PDF 10.3 MB), English, accessed on June 13, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 100 m men on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on June 13, 2020
2. ↑ IAAF competition rules, page 86f (PDF; 4364 kB), accessed on June 12, 2020