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

The men's 200 metre breaststroke 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 | John Hencken (USA) | 2:20.52 | Louisville, United States | 24 August 1973 |
| 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 | Mikhail Khryukin | Soviet Union | 2:24.85 | CR |
| 6 September | Heat 2 | David Wilkie | United Kingdom | 2:20.94 | CR |
| 6 September | Final | David Wilkie | United Kingdom | 2:19.28 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

31 swimmers participated in 4 heats. Th eight fastest times advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | - | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 2:20.94 | Q, CR, CWR |
| 2 | 4 | - | John Hencken | United States | 2:21.50 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | - | Igor Cherdakov | Soviet Union | 2:24.30 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | - | Mikhail Khryukin | Soviet Union | 2:24.85 | Q, CR |
| 5 | 1 | - | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 2:25.45 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | - | Nigel Cluer | Papua New Guinea | 2:25.87 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | - | Rick Colella | United States | 2:26.17 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | - | Jürgen Glas | East Germany | 2:27.77 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | - | Felipe Muñoz | Mexico | 2:28.34 | |
| 10 | 2 | - | Giorgio Lalle | Italy | 2:29.08 | |
| 11 | 3 | - | Ove Wisloff | Norway | 2:29.46 | |
| 12 | 2 | - | Pedro Balcells | Spain | 2:30.52 | |
| 13 | 4 | - | Ulrich Nitzsche | East Germany | 2:31.01 | |
| 14 | 1 | - | Peter Hrdlitschka | Canada | 2:31.34 | |
| 15 | 3 | - | Steffen Kriechbaum | Austria | 2:31.56 | |
| 16 | 4 | - | Cezary Smiglak | Poland | 2:32.50 | |
| 17 | 3 | - | Pawe Dyrek | Poland | 2:32.66 | |
| 18 | 2 | - | Mel Zajac | Canada | 2:33.15 | |
| 19 | 1 | - | Michael Creswick | Australia | 2:33.34 | |
| 20 | 1 | - | G. Islas | Mexico | 2:33.99 | |
| 21 | 4 | - | Sérgio Pinto Ribeiro | Brazil | 2:34.07 | |
| 22 | 1 | - | Alfredo Hunger | Peru | 2:34.78 | |
| 23 | 3 | - | Tuomo Kerolo | Finland | 2:35.29 | |
| 24 | 4 | - | Bernard Combet | France | 2:35.34 | |
| 25 | 2 | - | Zdravko Divjak | Yugoslavia | 2:38.50 | |
| 26 | 2 | - | Orlando Catinchi | Puerto Rico | 2:40.14 | |
| 27 | 1 | - | Carlos Nazario | Puerto Rico | 2:43.79 | |
| 28 | 3 | - | Faruk Morkal | Turkey | 2:44.12 | |
| 29 | 4 | - | H. Ashfin | Iran | 2:48.80 | |
| – | 4 | - | Angel Chakarov | Bulgaria | Did not start | Did not start |
| – | 3 | - | Anders Norling | Sweden | Did not start | Did not start |

### Final

The results of the final are below.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 2:19.28 | WR |
| | 5 | John Hencken | United States | 2:19.95 | |
| | - | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 2:23.11 | |
| 4 | - | Mikhail Khryukin | Soviet Union | 2:23.47 | |
| 5 | - | Nigel Cluer | Papua New Guinea | 2:25.87 | |
| 6 | - | Rick Colella | United States | 2:26.41 | |
| 7 | - | Jürgen Glas | East Germany | 2:26.56 | |
| 8 | - | Igor Cherdakov | Soviet Union | 2:28.18 | |