| Event: | Women's 200 metres |
| Games: | 1948 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympic Stadium |
| Dates: | August 5 (heats and semifinals) August 6 (final) |
| Competitors: | 33 |
| Nations: | 17 |
| Win Value: | 24.4 |
| Longnames: | yes |
| Gold: | Fanny Blankers-Koen |
| Goldnoc: | NED |
| Silver: | Audrey Williamson |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | Audrey Patterson |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Next: | 1952 |
The women's 200 metres sprint event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place on August 5 and August 6. The final was won by Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen. It was the first time this event was included in the Summer Olympics.[1]
Prior to the competition, the existing World record was as follows.
| World Record | 23.6 | Warsaw, Poland | 4 August 1935 |
Since it was the first time this event took place, the following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 5 August 1948 | 15:30 17:00 | Round 1 Semifinals | ||||
| style=background:lemonchiffon | Friday, 6 August 1948 | style=background:lemonchiffon | 16:30 | style=background:lemonchiffon | Final |
Round 1 took place on 5 August. The first two runners from each heat advanced to the semifinals.
Heat 1
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.7 | ||||
| 2 | 26.0 | ||||
| 3 | 26.0 | ||||
| 4 | 26.6 | EST | |||
| 5 | 26.6 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.6 | ||||
| 2 | 25.7 | ||||
| 3 | 26.1 | ||||
| 4 | 27.7 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.9 | ||||
| 2 | 27.0 | ||||
| 3 | 27.6 | ||||
| 4 | 28.5 | ||||
| 5 | 28.5 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24.4 | ||||
| 2 | 25.1 | ||||
| 3 | 25.8 | ||||
| 4 | 25.8 | ||||
| 5 | 25.8 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.5 | ||||
| 2 | 25.8 | ||||
| 3 | 26.3 | ||||
| 4 | 26.3 | ||||
| 5 | 26.3 | ||||
| 6 | 26.3 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.9 | ||||
| 2 | 25.9 | ||||
| 3 | 26.2 | ||||
| 4 | 26.2 |
Heat 7
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25.4 | ||||
| 2 | 26.0 | ||||
| 3 | 26.4 | ||||
| 4 | 26.4 |
The semifinals took place on 5 August. The top three runners from each heat advanced to the final.
Heat 1
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24.3 | ||||
| 2 | 25.0 | ||||
| 3 | 25.3 | ||||
| 4 | 25.3 | ||||
| 5 | 25.3 | ||||
| 6 | 25.3 | ||||
| 7 | 25.3 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24.9 | ||||
| 2 | 24.9 | ||||
| 3 | 25.1 | ||||
| 4 | 25.1 | ||||
| 5 | 25.1 | ||||
| 6 | 25.1 | ||||
| 7 | 25.1 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time (hand) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24.4 | OR | ||||
| 25.1 | |||||
| 25.2 | |||||
| 4 | 25.3 | Est | |||
| 5 | 25.6 | Est | |||
| 6 | 25.7 | Est |
Key: Est = Time is an estimate, OR = Olympic record
Despite Strickland's 4th placing in the final, a photo finish of the race (that was not consulted then but discovered in 1975) showed that she had beaten Patterson into 3rd place, a discrepancy that has been recognised by many reputable Olympic historians.[2]