| Final 19:45 wind -0.5m/s | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson |  USA | 19.79s | 4 | | 2. Frank Fredericks |  NAM | 20.12s | 3 | | 3. Jeff Williams | USA | 20.18s | 6 | | 4. Robson Caetano Da Silva |  BRA | 20.21s | 5 | | 5. Claudinei Quirino Da Silva | BRA | 20.40s | 7 | | 6. Geir Moen |  NOR | 20.51s | 8 | | 7. John Regis |  GBR | 20.67s | 1 | | 8. Ivan Garcia |  CUB | 20.77s | 2 |
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Michael Johnson’s defence of his 400m title involved four races across the first five days of the championships. After his near world record win at the one-lap event on August 9, the Texan returned the next morning for his 200m heat.
Johnson showed no signs of fatigue in the first two rounds and clocked 20.01 in his semi-final, a 1995 world best. In the final, the American was intent on breaking the oldest of world records: Pietro Mennea’s 19.72 from 1979. Robson da Silva (lane 5) got the quickest start but Johnson, one lane inside, swept past on the second half of the bend and raced clear in the straight. The figures of 19.79 clicked onto the scoreboard as he finished. He swore, then jokingly lay flat on his back on the track. He had completed a double victory which had never been achieved before by a man at world or Olympic level. It was his eighth win in eight races over seven days.
“I’m exhausted. This was a tough, tough job,” said Johnson. “I was almost to the point where I didn’t think I’d be able to perform at my best.”
| Semi 1 17:05 wind +0.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.01s | 4 | | 2. Robson Caetano da Silva | BRA | 20.20s | 3 | | 3. Geir Moen | NOR | 20.32s | 5 | | 4. John Regis | GBR | 20.39s | 7 | | 5. Damien Marsh |  AUS | 20.39s | 2 | | 6. Jean-Charles Trouabal |  FRA | 20.58s | 8 | | 7. Alexandros Alexopoulos |  GRE | 20.78s | 1 | | 8. Patrick Stevens |  BEL | 20.79s | 6 |
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| Semi 2 17:12 wind -0.9m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.28s | 6 | | 2. Jeff Williams | USA | 20.32s | 3 | | 3. Claudinei Quirino Da Silva | BRA | 20.37s | 5 | | 4. Ivan Garcia | CUB | 20.45s | 4 | | 5. Solomon Wariso | GBR | 20.58s | 2 | | 6. Steve Brimacombe | AUS | 20.59s | 8 | | 7. Obadele Thompson |  BAR | 20.66s | 7 | | 8. Andrew Tynes |  BAH | 20.72s | 1 |
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| Quarter 1 17:20 wind +0.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.35s | 4 | | 2. Patrick Stevens | BEL | 20.41s | 6 | | 3. Andrew Tynes | BAH | 20.49s | 5 | | 4. Alexandros Alexopoulos | GRE | 20.57s | 7 | | 5. David Dolle |  SUI | 20.84s | 3 | | 6. Lars Hedner |  SWE | 20.87s | 8 | | 7. Charles Gitonga |  KEN | 20.90s | 1 | | 8. Mark Keddell |  NZL | 40.08s | 2 |
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| Quarter 2 17:25 wind +0.4m/s | time | L | | 1. Jeff Williams | USA | 20.36s | 5 | | 2. Ivan Garcia | CUB | 20.52s | 2 | | 3. Obadele Thompson | BAR | 20.57s | 4 | | 4. Jean-Charles Trouabal | FRA | 20.60s | 6 | | 5. Robert Kurnicki |  GER | 20.67s | 3 | | 6. Kevin Widmer | SUI | 20.74s | 8 | | 7. Sergey Osovich |  UKR | 21.00s | 1 | | -. Thomas Sbokos | GRE | DQ | 7 |
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| Quarter 3 17:30 wind +0.8m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.26s | 4 | | 2. Claudinei Quirino Da Silva | BRA | 20.35s | 6 | | 3. John Regis | GBR | 20.51s | 2 | | 4. Steve Brimacombe | AUS | 20.52s | 5 | | 5. Sergejs Insakovs |  LAT | 20.73s | 8 | | 6. Koji Ito |  JPN | 20.80s | 7 | | 7. Chris Donaldson | NZL | 20.82s | 3 | | 8. Neil DeSilva |  TRI | 21.01s | 1 |
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| Quarter 4 17:35 wind -0.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 20.33s | 4 | | 2. Geir Moen | NOR | 20.37s | 8 | | 3. Damien Marsh | AUS | 20.49s | 5 | | 4. Solomon Wariso | GBR | 20.55s | 3 | | 5. Kevin Little | USA | 20.60s | 1 | | 6. Emmanuel Tuffour |  GHA | 20.61s | 6 | | 7. Ato Boldon | TRI | 21.81s | 2 | | -. Raymond Stewart |  JAM | DNS | 7 |
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| Heat 1 09:40 wind +0.9m/s | time | L | | 1. Patrick Stevens | BEL | 20.54s | 6 | | 2. Andrew Tynes | BAH | 20.56s | 3 | | 3. Alexandros Alexopoulos | GRE | 20.59s | 2 | | 4. Kevin Widmer | SUI | 20.69s | 7 | | 5. Alexander Lack | GER | 20.97s | 4 | | 6. Benjamin Sirimou |  CMR | 21.42s | 1 | | 7. Tawanda Chiwira |  ZIM | 21.51s | 8 | | -. Xiaoping Li |  CHN | DQ | 5 |
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| Heat 2 09:46 wind +0.2m/s | time | L | | 1. Michael Johnson | USA | 20.57s | 3 | | 2. Jean-Charles Trouabal | FRA | 20.66s | 5 | | 3. Charles Gitonga | KEN | 20.72s | 7 | | 4. Darren Braithwaite | GBR | 20.87s | 4 | | 5. Erik Wijmeersch | BEL | 21.01s | 1 | | 6. Torbjorn Eriksson | SWE | 21.03s | 2 | | 7. Christopher Sayeh |  LBR | 23.84s | 8 | | -. Troy Douglas |  BER | DQ | 6 |
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| Heat 3 09:52 wind -0.3m/s | time | L | | 1. Obadele Thompson | BAR | 20.63s | 4 | | 2. Emmanuel Tuffour | GHA | 20.75s | 1 | | 3. Ato Boldon | TRI | 20.76s | 5 | | 4. Sergejs Insakovs | LAT | 20.78s | 7 | | 5. Dean Capobianco | AUS | 20.88s | 3 | | 6. Marcelo Brivilati Da Silva | BRA | 21.02s | 2 | | 7. Jordi Mayoral |  ESP | 21.11s | 6 | | 8. Tony Ichiou |  NMA | 24.28s | 8 |
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| Heat 4 09:58 wind +1.1m/s | time | L | | 1. Jeff Williams | USA | 20.56s | 4 | | 2. David Dolle | SUI | 20.69s | 7 | | 3. Thomas Sbokos | GRE | 20.71s | 6 | | 4. Mark Keddell | NZL | 20.81s | 3 | | 5. Robert Mackowiak |  POL | 20.83s | 8 | | 6. Peter Ogilvie |  CAN | 21.18s | 1 | | 7. Eswort Coombs |  STV | 21.27s | 5 | | 8. Martin Frick |  LIE | 21.89s | 2 |
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| Heat 5 10:04 wind +0.8m/s | time | L | | 1. Steve Brimacombe | AUS | 20.74s | 6 | | 2. Geir Moen | NOR | 20.80s | 5 | | 3. Koji Ito | JPN | 20.80s | 7 | | 4. Riaan Dempers |  RSA | 20.97s | 4 | | 5. Aleksandr Sokolov |  RUS | 21.17s | 8 | | 6. Alain Reimann | SUI | 21.28s | 1 | | 7. Ricardo Roach |  CHI | 21.65s | 3 | | 8. Trevor Davis |  ANG | 22.03s | 2 |
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| Heat 6 10:10 wind +1.0m/s | time | L | | 1. Damien Marsh | AUS | 20.65s | 4 | | 2. John Regis | GBR | 20.78s | 5 | | 3. Lars Hedner | SWE | 20.85s | 7 | | 4. Joseph Loua |  GUI | 21.06s | 1 | | 5. Danwei Huang | CHN | 21.16s | 2 | | 6. Justice Dipeba |  BOT | 21.17s | 3 | | -. Georgios Panagiotopoulos | GRE | DQ | 8 | | -. Deji Aliu |  NGR | DNS | 6 |
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| Heat 7 10:16 wind +2.0m/s | time | L | | 1. Claudinei Quirino da Silva | BRA | 20.44s | 1 | | 2. Solomon Wariso | GBR | 20.51s | 5 | | 3. Ivan Garcia | CUB | 20.70s | 6 | | 4. Sergey Osovich | UKR | 20.70s | 8 | | 5. Javier Francisco Navarro | ESP | 20.88s | 3 | | 6. Menelik Lawson |  TOG | 21.06s | 2 | | 7. Jun Osakada | JPN | 21.25s | 4 | | 8. Brahim Abdoulaye |  CHA | 21.86s | 7 |
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| Heat 8 10:22 wind +0.5m/s | time | L | | 1. Robson Caetano Da Silva | BRA | 20.53s | 6 | | 2. Robert Kurnicki | GER | 20.61s | 4 | | 3. Raymond Stewart | JAM | 20.83s | 2 | | 4. Carlos Gats |  ARG | 21.02s | 1 | | 5. Daniel Cojocaru |  ROM | 21.09s | 7 | | 6. Kurvin Wallace |  STK | 21.29s | 8 | | 7. Antoine Boussombo |  GAB | 21.32s | 3 | | -. Olapade Adeniken | NGR | DNS | 5 |
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| Heat 9 10:28 wind +0.6m/s | time | L | | 1. Frank Fredericks | NAM | 20.73s | 3 | | 2. Chris Donaldson | NZL | 20.75s | 4 | | 3. Neil DeSilva | TRI | 20.77s | 7 | | 4. Kevin Little | USA | 20.80s | 6 | | 5. Marc Blume | GER | 20.86s | 1 | | 6. Miguel Janssen |  ARU | 21.31s | 5 | | 7. Keith Smith |  ISV | 21.63s | 2 | | -. Vladislav Dologodin | UKR | DNF | 8 |
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