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FastestThings

Men's 200 Metres

Tyson Gay

American athlete. men's 200 m mark of 19.58 seconds at New York City on 30 May 2009, the personal best on the World Athletics all-time list.

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Race time

19.58s

men's 200 m, New York City, wind +1.3 m/s. One personal best per athlete.

OfficialWorld Athletics (opens source in a new tab)

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Tyson Gay's 200 metres adds a bend to a sprint. The athlete has to stay fast in the curve and still have something on the straight. Pure 100 metre speed is not the whole event.

  1. The bend

    Running the curve without breaking stride is its own skill. Drift wide and the race gets longer. Lean too much and the steps slow down.

  2. The second hundred

    The straight shows who can hold the speed they carried off the bend. A brilliant start that dies before the line does not lead this list.

  3. Wind-legal

    The governing list keeps a mark when the wind is inside the rule. The entry prints the wind and the venue because they belong to the result.

Nearby on this list: Justin Gatlin.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 19.58sRanked figure

    men's 200 m, New York City, wind +1.3 m/s. One personal best per athlete.

    Official
    World Athletics (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Country
United States
Event
men's 200 m
Mark
19.58 s
Venue
New York City

Context

Background

Tyson Gay's ranked men's 200 m time is 19.58 seconds at New York City on 30 May 2009, wind +1.3 m/s. World Athletics, Athletic Stats (refreshed 5 October 2026) and Track & Field News print that time and date.

The list is one event. A mark from another distance is a different page, with its own slug. Wind above +2.0 m/s is not legal and is not stored. Lower is faster.

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.