Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

This was the fourth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. None of the finalists from the 1908 Games returned. There was no clear favorite. None of the four different AAU champions since 1908 competed. Willie Applegarth of Great Britain was the 1912 AAA champion and closest thing to a favorite before the Games. American Ralph Craig had set the world record for 220 yards in 1910, won the eastern U.S. trials, and started out in Stockholm by winning the 100 metres.[3]

Australasia, Bohemia, Chile, Japan, Portugal, and Russia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its fourth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

There were three rounds: quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The quarterfinals consisted of 18 heats of between 2 and 5 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 6 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, only the top athlete advanced. The final had 6 runners.[3]

The race was run on a 383-metre track.[3]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World record	Jack Donaldson (AUS)*	21.3	Glasgow, United Kingdom	26 July 1911
Olympic record	Archie Hahn (USA)**	21.6	St. Louis, United States	31 August 1904

^* unofficial 220 yards (= 201.17 m)

^** straight course

Ralph Craig's 21.7 second performance in the final was ​¹⁄₁₀ of a second off the Olympic record of 21.6 seconds, set in 1904.

• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 26 August 2006.