| Final 19:10 | time | L | 100m | 200m | | 1. Michael Johnson |  USA | 20.01s | 3 | 10.21s | 9.80s | | 2. Frank Fredericks |  NAM | 20.34s | 4 | 10.36s | 9.98s | | 3. Atlee Mahorn |  CAN | 20.49s | 5 | 10.45s | 10.04s | | 4. Robson Caetano Da Silva |  BRA | 20.49s | 1 | 10.47s | 10.02s | | 5. Olapade Adeniken |  NGR | 20.51s | 2 | 10.40s | 10.11s | | 6. Jean-Charles Trouabal |  FRA | 20.58s | 7 | 10.51s | 10.07s | | 7. Nikolay Antonov |  BUL | 20.59s | 6 | 10.53s | 10.06s | | 8. Aleksandr Sokolov |  URS | 20.78s | 8 | 10.49s | 10.29s |
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Unbeaten since May 1990, Johnson was expected not only to win but threaten the 12 year-old world record of 19.72. This looked increasingly likely when the Texan won his second-round heat in a championship record of 20.05, despite easing off in the last 50m. A tired Leroy Burrell – the last man to beat Johnson – was eliminated at this point. Johnson continued to impress with a 20.06 semi into a 3.1m wind. A stronger headwind proved to be the American’s only opponent in the final. It slowed his winning time to 20.01, but the manner of his victory was amazing. He quickly made up the stagger on Fredericks and left the field three metres behind at the finish – the largest margin of victory at this level since Jesse Owens’s win at the 1936 Olympic Games. “I felt I put in a 19.5 or 19.6 effort,” said Johnson, who was also the world’s leading 400m runner. “After the race when I saw the time, I knew it had to be a pretty hefty wind”.
| Semi 1 | time | L | | 1. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 20.40s | 4 | | 2. Nikolay Antonov | BUL | 20.43s | 5 | | 3. Jean-Charles Trouabal | FRA | 20.48s | 6 | | 4. Aleksandr Sokolov | URS | 20.48s | 3 | | 5. Floyd Heard | USA | 20.61s | 2 | | 6. Linford Christie |  GBR | 20.62s | 1 | | 7. Daniel Effiong | NGR | 20.85s | 7 | | 8. Joseph Gikonyo |  KEN | 21.01s | 8 |
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| Semi 2 | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.06s | 6 | | 2. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.27s | 2 | | 3. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | 20.47s | 3 | | 4. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 20.47s | 5 | | 5. John Regis | GBR | 20.52s | 4 | | 6. Michael Rosswess | GBR | 20.82s | 7 | | 7. Emmanuel Tuffour |  GHA | 20.91s | 8 | | 8. Bruno Marie-Rose | FRA | 21.04s | 1 |
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| Quarter 1 | time | L | | 1. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 20.17s | 7 | | 2. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 20.18s | 4 | | 3. Floyd Heard | USA | 20.56s | 6 | | 4. Daniel Effiong | NGR | 20.59s | 3 | | 5. Hermann Lomba | FRA | 20.69s | 5 | | 6. Jaroslaw Kaniecki |  POL | 20.82s | 8 | | 7. Thomas Renner |  AUT | 21.11s | 1 | | 8. Enrique Talavera |  ESP | 21.12s | 2 |
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| Quarter 2 | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.41s | 3 | | 2. Emmanuel Tuffour | GHA | 20.58s | 4 | | 3. Michael Rosswess | GBR | 20.61s | 6 | | 4. Bruno Marie-Rose | FRA | 20.85s | 7 | | 5. Dmitriy Bartenyev | URS | 20.90s | 2 | | 6. Kennedy Ondiek | KEN | 21.07s | 5 | | 7. Felix Stevens |  CUB | 21.09s | 1 | | -. Innocent Asonze | NGR | DQ | 8 |
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| Quarter 3 | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.05s | 5 | | 2. Nikolay Antonov | BUL | 20.20s | 6 | | 3. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | 20.30s | 4 | | 4. John Regis | GBR | 20.38s | 3 | | 5. Dean Capobianco |  AUS | 20.77s | 1 | | 6. Daniel Cojocaru |  ROM | 20.80s | 8 | | 7. Stefano Tilli |  ITA | 20.92s | 2 | | 8. Cyprian Enweani | CAN | 21.09s | 7 |
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| Quarter 4 | time | L | | 1. Aleksandr Sokolov | URS | 20.36s | 5 | | 2. Jean-Charles Trouabal | FRA | 20.40s | 4 | | 3. Linford Christie | GBR | 20.54s | 2 | | 4. Joseph Gikonyo | KEN | 20.63s | 6 | | 5. Yoshiyuki Okuyama |  JPN | 21.00s | 1 | | 6. Leroy Burrell | USA | 21.21s | 3 | | 7. Pascal Thurnherr |  SUI | 21.23s | 7 | | 8. Cameron Taylor |  NZL | 21.40s | 8 |
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Heats - Monday 26.08 11:35 |
| Heat 1 wind -1.2 m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.70s | 6 | | 2. Innocent Asonze | NGR | 20.88s | 4 | | 3. Jaroslaw Kaniecki | POL | 21.00s | 1 | | 4. Anninos Markoullides |  CYP | 21.07s | 7 | | 5. Attila Kovacs |  HUN | 21.55s | 3 | | 6. Christian Mandengue |  CMR | 22.31s | 2 | | 7. Ahmed Shageef |  MLD | 22.80s | 5 |
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| Heat 2 wind +1.2 m/s | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.52s | 2 | | 2. Yoshiyuki Okuyama | JPN | 20.80s | 7 | | 3. Stefano Tilli | ITA | 20.89s | 4 | | 4. Enrique Talavera | ESP | 20.98s | 6 | | 5. Peter Ogilvie | CAN | 21.09s | 3 | | 6. Trevor Davis |  ANG | 21.87s | 1 | | -. Mohamed Abderrehin |  LBA | DNS | 5 |
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| Heat 3 wind +0.3 m/s | time | L | | 1. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 20.51s | 3 | | 2. Michael Rosswess | GBR | 20.58s | 6 | | 3. Daniel Effiong | NGR | 20.68s | 5 | | 4. Kennedy Ondiek | KEN | 20.73s | 4 | | 5. Dmitriy Bartenyev | URS | 20.78s | 8 | | 6. Edmund Estaphane |  STL | 21.48s | 7 | | 7. Eric Haynes |  STK | 21.58s | 1 | | 8. Fortune Ogouchi |  BEN | 22.36s | 2 |
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| Heat 4 wind +0.9 m/s | time | L | | 1. Nikolay Antonov | BUL | 20.28s | 1 | | 2. Leroy Burrell | USA | 20.38s | 6 | | 3. Joseph Gikonyo | KEN | 20.43s | 8 | | 4. Cyprian Enweani | CAN | 20.95s | 3 | | 5. Pascal Thurnherr | SUI | 20.97s | 7 | | 6. Dudley Den Dulk |  AHO | 21.65s | 4 | | 7. Rodney Cox |  TKS | 21.91s | 2 | | -. Karim Abdul |  AFG | DNS | 5 |
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| Heat 5 wind +0.1 m/s | time | L | | 1. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | 20.63s | 5 | | 2. Hermann Lomba | FRA | 20.78s | 2 | | 3. Linford Christie | GBR | 21.19s | 7 | | 4. Khalid Juma |  BHR | 21.31s | 1 | | 5. Joseph Styles |  BAH | 21.43s | 6 | | 6. Joseph Dias |  SEN | 21.60s | 8 | | 7. Mark Sherwin |  CKI | 22.68s | 3 | | -. Golam Ambia |  BAN | DQ | 4 |
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| Heat 6 wind -0.3 m/s | time | L | | 1. Jean-Charles Trouabal | FRA | 20.75s | 8 | | 2. Atlee Mahorn | CAN | 20.83s | 5 | | 3. Dean Capobianco | AUS | 20.93s | 6 | | 4. Daniel Cojocaru | ROM | 20.94s | 3 | | 5. Menelik Lawson |  TOG | 21.09s | 4 | | 6. Sandro Floris | ITA | 21.10s | 1 | | 7. Ousmane Diarra |  MLI | 21.85s | 2 | | 8. Jerome Jeremiah |  VAN | 21.91s | 7 |
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| Heat 7 wind +0.1 m/s | time | L | | 1. Emmanuel Tuffour | GHA | 20.50s | 6 | | 2. John Regis | GBR | 20.62s | 2 | | 3. Aleksandr Sokolov | URS | 20.67s | 4 | | 4. Thomas Renner | AUT | 20.85s | 3 | | 5. Botlhoko Shebe |  LES | 21.84s | 5 | | -. Franck Zio |  BKF | DNS | 1 | | -. Troy Douglas |  BER | DQ | 7 |
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| Heat 8 wind -0.4 m/s | time | L | | 1. Floyd Heard | USA | 20.67s | 8 | | 2. Bruno Marie-Rose | FRA | 20.90s | 7 | | 3. Cameron Taylor | NZL | 21.06s | 6 | | 3. Felix Stevens | CUB | 21.06s | 4 | | 5. Miguel Angel Gomez | ESP | 21.08s | 2 | | 6. Neville Hodge |  ISV | 21.36s | 3 | | 7. Eswort Coombs |  STV | 22.29s | 1 | | 8. Manuel Alves Fonseca |  STP | 23.44s | 5 |
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