Because it's a sprint race, the 200 metres opens in an almost identical fashion to the 100m -- explosive starts out of the blocks, perhaps after a false start or two, after long moments of building anticipation and mind games between the racers. Still, the lightning start is not quite so crucial in these races.

"They're more forgiving of mistakes and slow starts than the 100m," says CBC track analyst Geoff Gowan, "but not by very much and less and less as the times go down. You don't have the luxury of making amends if you're losing ground -- and if you push too hard, you might tighten up."

Because the 200m (and 400m) are run in lanes on an oval track, the starts are staggered, meaning that the starting points are progressively farther down the track the farther the lane is from the inside. So the runner in the outside lane appears to have a huge head start on the runner in the innermost lane, but that's to make up for greater distance covered in the turns in the outer lanes.

Conventional wisdom would have it that the runners in the outside lanes, in particular, would be at a disadvantage because they would have little idea of where the rest of the field is until they come out of the final turn, almost as if they're running a time trial for the first three quarters of the race. But in races this short, that's almost irrelevant.

"Whatever their lane, that's their property," says Gowan. "It's up to them to run their perfect race -- their pace judgement has to be right for them. If they start keying in on the other athletes instead of concentrating on the own performance, they'll be in trouble. There's no advantage to seeing or not seeing the rest of the field."

If anything, there's a disadvantage to being in the inside lane, since the turns are much tighter, putting more stress on the body through increased centrifugal force. Studies have shown that the tighter turns in the inside lanes do make a difference in times, slowing racers down while they negotiate the turn -- the physics aren't all that different from driving a car around a sharp corner. For this reason, the middle and outer lanes are usually doled out to the top-seeded runners in any given race or heat. Still, 200m runners practice starting on the curve in all different lanes.

The most difficult and dangerous part of the race, especially in the 200m, is the transition between the turn and the straight, where the runners reach their top speeds (around 40 km/h), while leaning into the curve to counter the centrifugal force which is pushing them toward the outside. These transitions are where racers run the greatest risk of injury, notably torn hamstrings.

"The 200m is a very skillful race," Gowan explains. "You have to run a tight line and still be relaxed without getting disqualified. It's really valuable to take turns well. If you take them outside, you add precious feet to the distance you're running. It's a tremendous skill to run a turn fast and run a turn precisely and still have something left for the skill and endurance phase of the race, which kicks in after about 80m."

As musclebound as today's 100m specialists tend to be, 200m runners need to be stronger and more agile. The raw speed of the 100m sprinter is essential, but even distribution of speed and exertion is equally important. In the second half of the race, strength is almost as important as speed. They're no longer accelerating after they come out of the turn, but trying to hold their speed as best they can despite the mounting burn in their muscles.