200 metres, Men

Strangely, this event was held almost a full week after the other scratch competitions, at a time when most of the handicap events were being contested. On a cool, sunny day the start was very even, with Norman Pritchard taking an early lead. But Walter Tewksbury took the lead past the halfway point and won rather easily.

Tewksbury was hardly unknown as a sprinter, having won the sprint double at both the 1898 and 1899 IC4A championships while a student at Penn. He graduated from that school with a dental degree and eventually practiced dentistry in his hometown of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. He lived into his late 90’s.

The second-place finisher, Norman Pritchard, was from India but lived in Britain in 1900 and was a member of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), but later settled in the United States and became a silent film star. His national affiliation at the 1900 Olympics has long been a matter of controversy.