Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

This was the seventh appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Two of the six finalists from the 1924 Games returned: gold medalist Jackson Scholz and two-time silver medalist Charley Paddock, both of the United States. Scholz was a slight favorite, but the Americans had not won any medals in the 100 metres earlier in Amsterdam and the winner of that event, Canada's Percy Williams, was a strong contender for a double in this event.[2]

Lithuania and Romania each made their debut in the event. The United States made its seventh appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 15 heats of between 2 and 6 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of 5 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top three athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a now-standard 400 metre track.[2]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record		'
Olympic record	Archie Hahn (USA)	21.6	St. Louis, United States	31 August 1904

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Helmut Körnig tied the Olympic record in the last quarterfinal.

• Official Report
• Results