The first World Record in the 200 m for women (athletics) was recognised by the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) in 1922.
To June 21, 2009, the IAAF (and the FSFI before it) have ratified 26 world records in the event.
[1] (+) denotes en route time set during longer race The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Wind" column indicates the wind assistance in metres per second, 2.0 m/s the current maximum allowable, a negative indicates the mark was set running into a wind; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th or 100th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.
From 1975, the IAAF accepted separate automatically electronically timed records for events up to 400 metres.
Starting January 1, 1977, the IAAF required fully automatic timing to the hundredth of a second for these events.