# Swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The Women's 200 metre backstroke competition at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships was held on 28 and 29 July 2023.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Kaylee McKeown (AUS) | 2:03.14 | Sydney, Australia | 10 March 2023 |
| Competition record | Regan Smith (USA) | 2:03.35 | Gwangju, South Korea | 26 July 2019 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were started on 28 July at 10:52.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Regan Smith | United States | 2:07.24 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | Peng Xuwei | China | 2:08.68 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | Laura Bernat | Poland | 2:09.08 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | Katie Shanahan | Great Britain | 2:09.18 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 2:09.30 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 2:09.31 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 4 | Rhyan White | United States | 2:09.68 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 2 | Africa Zamorano | Spain | 2:09.99 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 3 | Eszter Szabó-Feltóthy | Hungary | 2:10.38 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 7 | Jenna Forrester | Australia | 2:10.46 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 5 | Margherita Panziera | Italy | 2:10.90 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | 8 | Gabriela Georgieva | Bulgaria | 2:11.22 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | 2 | Rio Shirai | Japan | 2:11.24 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 8 | Lee Eun-ji | South Korea | 2:11.78 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | 1 | Camila Rebelo | Portugal | 2:11.80 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 6 | Katalin Burián | Hungary | 2:11.94 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Hanane Hironaka | Japan | 2:12.57 | |
| 18 | 4 | 8 | Tatiana Salcutan | Moldova | 2:12.65 | |
| 19 | 5 | 7 | Ingrid Wilm | Canada | 2:12.67 | |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | Lena Grabowski | Austria | 2:12.79 | |
| 21 | 5 | 3 | Liu Yaxin | China | 2:13.42 | |
| 22 | 3 | 6 | Adela Piskorska | Poland | 2:13.74 | |
| 23 | 4 | 0 | Chua Xiandi | Suspended Member Federation | 2:13.80 | |
| 24 | 4 | 6 | Emma Terebo | France | 2:13.95 | |
| 25 | 2 | 4 | Ingeborg Løyning | Norway | 2:13.97 | |
| 26 | 5 | 0 | Athena Meneses | Mexico | 2:15.14 | |
| 27 | 4 | 9 | Xeniya Ignatova | Kazakhstan | 2:16.06 | |
| 28 | 3 | 9 | Janja Šegel | Slovenia | 2:17.20 | |
| 29 | 2 | 6 | Carolina Cermelli | Panama | 2:18.50 | NR |
| 30 | 2 | 2 | Anishta Teeluck | Mauritius | 2:18.63 | NR |
| 31 | 2 | 1 | Andrea Becali | Cuba | 2:18.65 | |
| 32 | 3 | 0 | Aleksa Gold | Estonia | 2:19.47 | |
| 33 | 2 | 8 | Elizabeth Jimenez | Dominican Republic | 2:19.84 | |
| 34 | 5 | 9 | Alexia Sotomayor | Peru | 2:20.78 | |
| 35 | 2 | 7 | Danielle Titus | Barbados | 2:21.36 | |
| 36 | 2 | 3 | Elisabeth Erlendsdóttir | Faroe Islands | 2:22.28 | |
| 37 | 2 | 0 | Ganga Senavirathne | Sri Lanka | 2:23.36 | |
| 38 | 1 | 3 | Vivian Xhemollari | Albania | 2:24.30 | |
| 39 | 2 | 9 | Samantha van Vuure | Curaçao | 2:31.60 | |
| 40 | 1 | 4 | Aynura Primova | Turkmenistan | 2:32.68 | |
| 41 | 1 | 5 | Jennifer Harding-Marlin | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 2:37.83 | |
| | 2 | 5 | Hanna Rosvall | Sweden | DNS | DNS |
| | 3 | 7 | Aviv Barzelay | Israel | DSQ | DSQ |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held on 28 July at 20:20.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Peng Xuwei | China | 2:07.40 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Regan Smith | United States | 2:07.52 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 2:07.89 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | Katie Shanahan | Great Britain | 2:08.32 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 2:08.51 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 5 | Laura Bernat | Poland | 2:08.96 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 2 | 6 | Rhyan White | United States | 2:09.13 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | Jenna Forrester | Australia | 2:09.74 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 2 | Eszter Szabó-Feltóthy | Hungary | 2:09.90 | |
| 10 | 2 | 7 | Margherita Panziera | Italy | 2:10.65 | |
| 11 | 1 | 6 | Africa Zamorano | Spain | 2:10.76 | |
| 12 | 1 | 8 | Katalin Burián | Hungary | 2:11.47 | |
| 13 | 1 | 7 | Gabriela Georgieva | Bulgaria | 2:11.99 | |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Rio Shirai | Japan | 2:12.45 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Camila Rebelo | Portugal | 2:12.47 | |
| 16 | 1 | 1 | Lee Eun-ji | South Korea | 2:13.65 | |

### Final

The final was started on 29 July at 20:57.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 3 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 2:03.85 |
| | 5 | Regan Smith | United States | 2:04.94 |
| | 4 | Peng Xuwei | China | 2:06.74 |
| 4 | 6 | Katie Shanahan | Great Britain | 2:07.45 |
| 5 | 2 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 2:07.52 |
| 6 | 1 | Rhyan White | United States | 2:08.43 |
| 7 | 7 | Laura Bernat | Poland | 2:10.68 |
| 8 | 8 | Jenna Forrester | Australia | 2:11.44 |