| POS | Rank | Heat | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | RESULTS | WIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 3 | John Capel |
USA |
20.13 Q | -0.2 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Darren Campbell |
GBR |
20.13 Q PB | +0.3 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | KonstadÃnos Kedéris |
GRE |
20.14 Q NR | +0.3 |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | Obadele Thompson |
BAR |
20.16 Q | 0.0 |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | Christian Malcolm |
GBR |
20.19 Q PB | -0.2 |
| 6 | 1 | 4 | Floyd Heard |
USA |
20.24 Q | +0.4 |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Claudinei da Silva |
BRA |
20.24 Q | -0.2 |
| 8 | 2 | 4 | Christopher Williams |
JAM |
20.25 Q | +0.4 |
| 9 | 3 | 1 | Ato Boldon |
TTO |
20.28 Q | +0.3 |
| 10 | 3 | 4 | Francis Obikwelu |
NGR |
20.33 Q | +0.4 |
| 11 | 4 | 1 | Shingo Suetsugu |
JPN |
20.37 Q | +0.3 |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | Coby Miller |
USA |
20.37 Q | 0.0 |
| 13 | 5 | 1 | Marcin Urbas |
POL |
20.43 SB | +0.3 |
| 14 | 3 | 2 | Kim COLLINS |
SKN |
20.47 Q | 0.0 |
| 14 | 4 | 3 | Tommi Hartonen |
FIN |
20.47 Q NR | -0.2 |
| 16 | 4 | 4 | Stéphane Buckland |
MRI |
20.53 Q | +0.4 |
| 17 | 5 | 3 | Joseph Batangdon |
CMR |
20.55 | -0.2 |
| 18 | 4 | 2 | Koji Ito |
JPN |
20.56 Q SB | 0.0 |
| 19 | 5 | 2 | Dwight Thomas |
JAM |
20.58 PB | 0.0 |
| 20 | 5 | 4 | Oumar Loum |
SEN |
20.60 | +0.4 |
| 21 | 6 | 1 | Geir Moen |
NOR |
20.65 | +0.3 |
| 22 | 6 | 3 | Alessandro Cavallaro |
ITA |
20.69 | -0.2 |
| 23 | 7 | 1 | Antoine Boussombo |
GAB |
20.71 | +0.3 |
| 23 | 6 | 4 | Anninos Marcoullides |
CYP |
20.71 SB | +0.4 |
| 25 | 6 | 2 | Petko Yankov |
BUL |
20.75 | 0.0 |
| 26 | 7 | 2 | Venancio José |
ESP |
20.79 | 0.0 |
| 27 | 7 | 4 | Marlon Devonish |
GBR |
20.82 | +0.4 |
| 28 | 7 | 3 | Patrick Johnson |
AUS |
20.87 | -0.2 |
| 29 | 8 | 2 | Uchenna Emedolu |
NGR |
20.93 | 0.0 |
| 30 | 8 | 1 | Heber Viera |
URU |
20.97 | +0.3 |
| 31 | 8 | 3 | Renward Wells |
BAH |
21.26 | -0.2 |
| 4 | Matthew Shirvington |
AUS |
DNS | +0.4 |