1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 1978 European Athletics Championships was held in Prague, then Czechoslovakia, at Stadion Evžena Rošického on 31 August, and 1 September 1978.

The winning margin was 0.45 seconds. With the conclusion of the 2024 championships, this remains the greatest winning margin in the men's 200 metres at these championships, a feat which was equalled in 2012 by Churandy Martina of the Netherlands.

Medalists

Gold	Pietro Mennea Italy
Silver	Olaf Prenzler East Germany
Bronze	Peter Muster Switzerland

Results

Final

1 September Wind: -0.2 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Pietro Mennea	Italy	20.16	CR
	Olaf Prenzler	East Germany	20.61
	Peter Muster	Switzerland	20.64
4	Leszek Dunecki	Poland	20.68
5	Pascal Barré	France	20.70
6	Zenon Licznerski	Poland	20.74
7	Aleksandr Aksinin	Soviet Union	20.87
8	Vladimir Ivanov	Bulgaria	20.92

Semi-finals

31 August

Semi-final 1

Wind: -0.2 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Pietro Mennea	Italy	20.40	Q
2	Peter Muster	Switzerland	20.63	Q
3	Leszek Dunecki	Poland	20.64	Q
4	Olaf Prenzler	East Germany	20.69	Q
5	Vladimir Ignatenko	Soviet Union	20.74
6	Joseph Arame	France	21.08
7	Antti Rajamäki	Finland	21.19
8	Martin Pelach	Czechoslovakia	21.59

Semi-final 2

Wind: 0 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Pascal Barré	France	20.96	Q
2	Vladimir Ivanov	Bulgaria	20.96	Q
3	Aleksandr Aksinin	Soviet Union	21.08	Q
4	Zenon Licznerski	Poland	21.10	Q
5	Luis Sarría	Spain	21.24
6	Dragan Zarić	Yugoslavia	21.28
7	David Jenkins	Great Britain	21.59
	Klaus Thiele	East Germany	DNF

Heats

31 August

Heat 1

Wind: 0.5 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Pietro Mennea	Italy	20.70	Q
2	Leszek Dunecki	Poland	21.01	Q
3	Dragan Zarić	Yugoslavia	21.13	Q
4	David Jenkins	Great Britain	21.16	Q
5	Roland Bombardella	Luxembourg	21.17
6	Lambert Micha	Belgium	21.36

Heat 2

Wind: -1.5 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Aleksandr Aksinin	Soviet Union	20.97	Q
2	Joseph Arame	France	21.32	Q
3	Antti Rajamäki	Finland	21.34	Q
4	Klaus Thiele	East Germany	21.36	Q
5	Luděk Bohman	Czechoslovakia	21.39
6	Mike Bayle	Luxembourg	21.48
7	Vilmundur Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	21.80

Heat 3

Wind: -0.2 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Pascal Barré	France	20.78	Q
2	Vladimir Ignatenko	Soviet Union	20.98	Q
3	Luis Sarría	Spain	21.18	Q
4	Martin Pelach	Czechoslovakia	21.48	Q
5	Pavel Pavlov	Bulgaria	21.50
	Renno Roelandt	Belgium	DNF

Heat 4

Wind: 0.2 m/s

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Zenon Licznerski	Poland	20.82	Q
2	Vladimir Ivanov	Bulgaria	20.96	Q
3	Olaf Prenzler	East Germany	20.97	Q
4	Peter Muster	Switzerland	21.04	Q
5	Trevor Hoyte	Great Britain	21.24
6	Patrick Barré	France	21.27
7	Marián Králik	Czechoslovakia	21.47

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 26 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.

• Belgium (2)
• Bulgaria (2)
• Czechoslovakia (3)
• East Germany (2)
• Finland (1)
• France (3)
• Iceland (1)
• Italy (1)
• Luxembourg (2)
• Poland (2)
• Soviet Union (2)
• Spain (1)
• Switzerland (1)
• Great Britain (2)
• Yugoslavia (1)