Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 100 metre backstroke explained

Event:	Women's 100 metre backstroke
Competition:	1973 World Aquatics Championships
Dates:	September 5, 1973
Competitors:	24
Nations:	17
Win Value:	1:05.427
Gold:	Ulrike Richter
Goldnoc:	GDR
Silver:	Melissa Belote
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Wendy Cook
Bronzenoc:	CAN
Next:	1975

The women's 100 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 5.

Records

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Time	Record
5 September	Heat 1	1:06.09	CR
5 September	Heat 4	1:06.08	CR
5 September	Final	1:05.42	CR

24 swimmers participated in 4 heats, qualified swimmers are listed:^[1]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	-	1:06.086
2	1	-	1:06.099
3	3	-	1:06.231	Q
4	2	-	1:06.275	Q
5	4	-	1:06.996	Q
6	4	-	1:07.250	Q
7	1	-	1:07.519	Q
8	3	-	1:07.981	Q
9	2	-	1:07.986
10	2	-	1:08.010
11	1	-	1:08.468
12	3	-	1:08.640
13	4	-	1:08.745
14	1	-	1:08.945
15	1	-	1:09.541
16	4	-	1:10.165
17	3	-	1:10.902
18	3	-	1:11.758
19	2	-	1:12.431
20	1	-	1:12.432
21	2	-	1:12.585
22	2	-	1:13.109
23	4	-	1:17.270
24	2	-	1:17.723

The results of the final are below.