A cramp in the semi-final round quashed Fred Kerley's bid to win a medal in all three sprint events. The Olympic Gold Medalist Andre De Grasse did not start in the heats, #2 of all timeYohan Blake did not start the semi-final round. The world leader coming into this was 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton with a 19.49. Alexander Ogando set a national record to win heat 1, Knighton won heat 3 and defending champion Noah Lyles won semi 2 ahead of the next fastest qualifier Kenny Bednarek, putting those four in the center of the track for the final. The first six qualifiers ran under 20 in the semis.
In the final, Knighton had lane 3, Ogando 4, Bednarek 5 and Lyles 6. In the past Lyles had been slow to start, depending on his superior top end speed to win at the end. That strategy also resulted in him "only" getting the bronze medal in the Olympics. Here, Lyles was fast at the start, making up the stagger on also notoriously slow starting Joseph Fahnbulleh just past the halfway point in the turn. Only Bednarek was able to stay close. Coming onto the straightaway, Lyles was up a metre on Bednarek who had another metre on Knighton. Lyles turned on the top end jets and pulled away. Knighton also accelerated, closing on Bednarek, while holding off the fast close of Fahnbulleh for the bronze.
Lyles 19.31 broke Michael Johnson's American Record set winning the 1996 Olympics to become the third fastest 200 runner of all time. Additionally, bronze medalist Knighton became the youngest medalist in the 200 metres in Championship history. It was the third sweep on home soil for the American team. Prior to these Championships, no Men's team had a sweep since 2015.
Records
Before the competition records were as follows:[2]
