Two hundred meters, which is equal to about 219 yards or just over 656 feet, is such a long distance that it’s difficult to visualize.
Picturing a few things that are or add up to 200 meters, however, can help to put that length or height into perspective.
Here are 9 things that are 200 meters long.
- Turning Torso tower in Malmo, Sweden
- Two Soccer Pitches
- Four Olympic Swimming Pools
- A 200-Meter Dash Race
- Two Big Bens
- Four Leaning Towers of Pisa
- 33 Pickup Trucks
- Eight Dreadnoughtus Dinosaurs
- Frankfurt’s Main Tower
Table of contents
1. Sweden’s Turning Torso Tower
One of the most unique buildings in the world, the Turning Torso tower in Malmo, Sweden, is about 200 meters tall. The skyscraper is the first twisted skyscraper ever built, and it’s used as residential housing.
The tower takes its name from the Twisting Torso, a sculpture that inspired Santiago Calatrava, the architect of the Turning Torso. The tower has 54 stories and was completed in 2005.
Because it’s so tall, the Turning Torso stands out against the city’s other, much shorter buildings.
For some time, the tower was the tallest building in the Nordic region, but it was overtaken by another Swedish building in 2022.
2. Two Soccer Pitches
Not all soccer pitches need to be the same length or width. A soccer pitch, or field, must be between 90 and 120 meters long and between 45 and 90 meters wide.
No matter the exact size of the pitch, though, most people can picture a soccer field.
Most soccer pitches are about 105 meters long, which means that you would need two soccer fields, lined up end to end, to equal right around 200 meters.
Remember that this measurement is only for the actual playing area, which means the area from the back of one goal to the back of the other.
You can also use other sports fields or courts to estimate 200 meters. For example, a tennis court is 78 feet long, which equals just less than 24 meters.
This means that you would need eight tennis courts to equal about 200 meters.
3. Four Olympic Swimming Pools
Swimming pools are another excellent way to visualize 200 meters. A regulation-sized Olympic swimming pool must be exactly 50 meters long.
This ensures that each swimmer in a race has a fair chance and that all records set in Olympic swimming pools can be standardized and held up against each other.
Imagining four swimming pools of this size, lined up end to end with no space in between, can help you picture a length of 200 meters.
4. A 200-Meter Dash Race
The 200-meter dash isn’t an object, but most people who have ever watched a track and field event, such as the Olympics, have probably seen this race run, so it’s a great visual representation of the distance.
Even if you haven’t watched this particular race, you’ve probably seen an outdoor running track. These outdoor tracks should be exactly 400 meters around when measured from the innermost lane.
This means that the 200-meter dash race only goes halfway around the track. The men’s record holder for the fastest 200-meter dash is Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who ran the race in just 19.19 seconds in 2009.
Florence Griffith-Joyner set the women’s record for the race in 1988, running it in 21.34 seconds, and that record has yet to be broken.
5. Two Big Bens
Big Ben is the large, ornate clocktower located in London. Because it’s so tall, beautiful, and imposing, most people recognize the clock tower as a symbol of the city.
The tower is 96 meters tall, so you would need two of these towers to equal a height of 200 meters.
Although most people around the world refer to the bell or the tower as Big Ben, the tower’s real name is the Elizabeth Tower.
Before it was named the Elizabeth Tower in 2012, it was simply called the Clock Tower.
6. Four Leaning Towers of Pisa
Another famous and easily-pictured building is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This tower, located in Pisa, Italy, is about 60 meters tall, so you would need four to equal a height of just over 200 meters.
The tower actually measures just less than 57 meters on the low side. The tower first began to lean during its construction in 1173. The lean was caused by soft ground.
Construction continued on and off for almost 200 years, and the tower was completed in 1372. Stabilization work was performed in 1993 and again in 2001.
7. 33 Pickup Trucks
The exact length of a pickup truck varies from model to model. However, most pickup trucks are just shy of 20 feet in length.
This is equal to about 6 meters, and it means you would need about 33 average-length pickup trucks to equal 200 meters.
If you can imagine a long street with 33 pickups, you can picture this length.
8. Eight Dreadnoughtus Dinosaurs
Dreadnoughtus dinosaurs were a type of sauropod or long-necked dinosaur that was thought to have been the largest dinosaur to have ever lived.
These dinosaurs could measure up to 85 feet, or about 26 meters, in length. Therefore, you would still need eight of these colossal dinosaurs to add up to 200 meters.
9. Frankfurt’s Main Tower
Another iconic building, the Main Tower in Frankfurt, Germany, stands at right around 200 meters tall.
The tower, which is named after the nearby Main River, is Germany’s fourth tallest building and is used as business and office space.
The building is actually made up of two connected towers, and the taller tower has a large antenna on it that adds another 40 meters in height.
The building also features two observation decks, from which visitors can take in Frankfurt’s beautiful views, and five basem*nt levels.
