Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 200 metre backstroke
# Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 6.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.

| World record | Roland Matthes (GDR) | 2:02.82 | Munich, West Germany | 2 September 1972 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Competition record | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |

The following records were established during the competition:

| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 September | Heat 1 | Robert Williams | Australia | 2:09.81 | CR |
| 6 September | Heat 3 | Mark Tonelli | Australia | 2:09.55 | CR |
| 6 September | Heat 4 | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 2:06.75 | CR |
| 6 September | Final | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 2:01.87 | WR |

## Results

### Heats

29 swimmers participated in 4 heats. The eight fastest times qualified for the final.

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | - | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 2:06.75 | Q, CR |
| 2 | 4 | - | Zoltán Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:07.49 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | - | Mark Tonelli | Australia | 2:09.55 | Q, CR |
| 4 | 1 | - | Robert Williams | Australia | 2:09.81 | Q, CR |
| 5 | 3 | - | John Naber | United States | 2:10.13 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | - | Paul Hove | United States | 2:10.22 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | - | Massimo Nistri | Italy | 2:11.03 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | - | Róbert Rudolf | Hungary | 2:11.22 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | - | Colin Cunningham | Great Britain | 2:11.74 | |
| 10 | 3 | - | Lutz Wanja | East Germany | 2:12.08 | |
| 11 | 2 | - | Leif Ericsson | Sweden | 2:12.09 | |
| 12 | 2 | - | Ian MacKenzie | Canada | 2:12.21 | |
| 13 | 1 | - | Predrag Milos | Yugoslavia | 2:12.38 | |
| 14 | 2 | - | Romulo Arantes | Brazil | 2:12.93 | |
| 15 | 4 | - | Nenad Milos | Yugoslavia | 2:13.48 | |
| 16 | 4 | - | Anders Sandberg | Sweden | 2:13.72 | |
| 17 | 2 | - | Carlos Berrocal | Puerto Rico | 2:14.31 | |
| 18 | 4 | - | J. Flores | Mexico | 2:14.43 | |
| 19 | 4 | - | Karim Ressang | Netherlands | 2:14.61 | |
| 20 | 1 | - | César Lourenco | Brazil | 2:15.97 | |
| 21 | 3 | - | Eduardo Pérez | Mexico | 2:16.46 | |
| 22 | 1 | - | Steve Pickell | Canada | 2:16.56 | |
| 23 | 4 | - | Carlos Santiago | Puerto Rico | 2:17.06 | |
| 24 | 4 | - | Piotr Dlucik | Poland | 2:17.30 | |
| 25 | 3 | - | Helmut Podolan | Austria | 2:18.30 | |
| 26 | 2 | - | Ramón Volcán | Venezuela | 2:20.09 | |
| 27 | 1 | - | Evangelos Koskinas | Greece | 2:24.19 | |
| – | 2 | - | Ali Gharbi | Tunisia | Did not start | Did not start |
| – | 3 | - | Klaus Steinbach | West Germany | Did not start | Did not start |

### Final

The results of the final are below.

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | - | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 2:01.87 | WR |
| | - | Zoltán Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:05.89 | |
| | - | John Naber | United States | 2:06.91 | |
| 4 | - | Robert Williams | Australia | 2:08.16 | |
| 5 | - | Paul Hove | United States | 2:08.17 | |
| 6 | - | Mark Tonelli | Australia | 2:09.63 | |
| 7 | - | Massimo Nistri | Italy | 2:10.11 | |
| 8 | - | Róbert Rudolf | Hungary | 2:11.42 | |
