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FastestThings

Women's 200 Metres

Elaine Thompson-Herah

Jamaican athlete. women's 200 m mark of 21.53 seconds at Tokyo on 3 August 2021, the personal best on the World Athletics all-time list.

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Race time

21.53s

women's 200 m, Tokyo, wind +0.8 m/s. One personal best per athlete.

OfficialWorld Athletics (opens source in a new tab)

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Elaine Thompson-Herah'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: Julien Alfred and Gabrielle Thomas.

Provenance

Every measurement

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

  1. 21.53sRanked figure

    women's 200 m, Tokyo, wind +0.8 m/s. One personal best per athlete.

    Official
    World Athletics (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Country
Jamaica
Event
women's 200 m
Mark
21.53 s
Venue
Tokyo

Context

Background

Elaine Thompson-Herah's ranked women's 200 m time is 21.53 seconds at Tokyo on 3 August 2021, wind +0.8 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.