The men's 200 metres was a track and field athletics

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 event held as part of the Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics

At the 1904 Summer Olympics, twenty-five athletics events were contested, all for men only.Multi-event competitions, the decathlon and triathlon, were introduced for the first time. The short steeplechase was lengthened slightly, from 2500 to 2590 metres, while the long steeplechase was...

 programme. It was the second time the 200 metres was contested. All races of this competition was held on a straight course. 5 athletes from 2 nations participated. The competition was held on August 31, 1904.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1904 Summer Olympics.

World Record	21.4(*)	Jim Maybury	Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	June 5, 1897
Olympic Record	22.2(**)	Walter Tewksbury	Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...  (FRA France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... )	July 22, 1900

(*) unofficial 220 yards (= 201.17 m)

(**) This track was 500 metres in circumference.

Archie Hahn

Archie Hahn

Charles Archibald "Archie" Hahn was a German-American athlete, and one of the best sprinters in the early 20th century....

at first equalized the standing Olympic record in the first heat. In the final he set a new Olympic record with 21.6 seconds.

Heats

The top two finishers in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat 1

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		22.2 =OR	QF
2			QF

Heat 2

Place	Athlete	Time	Qual.
1		22.8	QF
2			QF
3

Final

Cartmell, Hogenson and Moulton were all penalized one yard for false starts.

Place	Athlete	Time
1		21.6 OR
2		21.9
3
4

Sources