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

Event:	Men's 200 metre backstroke
Competition:	1973 World Aquatics Championships
Dates:	September 6, 1973
Competitors:	29
Nations:	19
Win Value:	2:01.87
Gold:	Roland Matthes
Goldnoc:	GDR
Silver:	Zoltán Verrasztó
Silvernoc:	HUN
Bronze:	John Naber
Bronzenoc:	USA
Next:	1975

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.

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
6 September	Heat 1			2:09.81	CR
6 September	Heat 3			2:09.55	CR
6 September	Heat 4			2:06.75	CR
6 September	Final			2:01.87	WR

Results

Heats

29 swimmers participated in 4 heats. The eight fastest times qualified for the final.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	-			2:06.75	Q, CR
2	4	-			2:07.49	Q
3	3	-			2:09.55	Q, CR
4	1	-			2:09.81	Q, CR
5	3	-			2:10.13	Q
6	2	-			2:10.22	Q
7	3	-			2:11.03	Q
8	1	-			2:11.22	Q
9	1	-			2:11.74
10	3	-			2:12.08
11	2	-			2:12.09
12	2	-			2:12.21
13	1	-			2:12.38
14	2	-			2:12.93
15	4	-			2:13.48
16	4	-			2:13.72
17	2	-			2:14.31
18	4	-	J. Flores		2:14.43
19	4	-			2:14.61
20	1	-			2:15.97
21	3	-			2:16.46
22	1	-			2:16.56
23	4	-			2:17.06
24	4	-			2:17.30
25	3	-			2:18.30
26	2	-			2:20.09
27	1	-			2:24.19
	2	-			Did not start
	3	-			Did not start

Final

The results of the final are below.

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	-			2:01.87	WR
	-			2:05.89
	-			2:06.91
	-			2:08.16
	-			2:08.17
	-			2:09.63
	-			2:10.11
	-			2:11.42

Notes and References

1. Web site: Todor. Krastev. Men 200m Backstroke Swimming World Championship 1973 Belgrade (YUG). todor66.com. 29 May 2013.
2. News: Cooper Heads 400m Finalist. The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. John Fairfax Holdings. 7 September 1973. 19.
3. Web site: Official results. FINA.org. 19 July 2019.