| Event: | Women's 800 metre freestyle |
| Competition: | 1973 World Aquatics Championships |
| Venue: | Tašmajdan Sports Centre |
| Location: | Belgrade, Yugoslavia |
| Dates: | 9 September 1973 |
| Competitors: | 24 |
| Nations: | 17 |
| Win Value: | 8:52.973 |
| Gold: | Novella Calligaris |
| Goldnoc: | ITA |
| Silver: | Jo Harshbarger |
| Silvernoc: | USA |
| Bronze: | Gudrun Wegner |
| Bronzenoc: | GDR |
| Next: | 1975 |
The women's 800 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on 9 September.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September | Timed Final | Marina Maliutina | 9:45.644 | CR | ||
| 9 September | Timed Final | 9:09.677 | CR | |||
| 9 September | Timed Final | 8:52.973 | WR |
24 swimmers participated in 3 heats.[1] The event was a timed final. The first two heats were contested in the morning with the third and final heat contested in the evening.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | - | WR | |||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | CR | |||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | ||||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | ||||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 3 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | ||||||
| 1 | - | CR | |||||
| 1 | - | Sandra Arambatsis | |||||
| 2 | - | ||||||
| 2 | - | Tatyana Skvortsova | |||||
| 2 | - | Svetlana Pavletic | |||||
| 1 | - | Elzbieta Pilawska | |||||
| 1 | - | Eva Tomandl | |||||
| 1 | - | Loida Moreda | |||||
| 1 | - | ||||||
| 1 | - | Belinda Phillips | - | / | |||
| 1 | - | - | / |