re: What makes the 200m harder than the 100m it seems?

Michael Johnson's 19.32 stood until Bolt beat it in 2008 with a 19.30 (later set the current mark in 2009 @ 19.19). Those two guys are the most dominant 200-meter runners I have ever seen. And Johnson had that funky upright running style but man could he fly. The split of the 19.32 at 9.66 per 100 Meters was mindblowing at the time. It took until Bolt ran a 9.58 in 2009 for anyone to achieve a 100-meter race that beat Johnson's split. Also, Johnson was a notoriously slow starter, so I cannot imagine what his best time for 100M is within that 200M run.

An interesting chart of the progression of electronically timed 200M records.