# Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 100 metre breaststroke

The men's 100 metre breaststroke competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 4.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Nobutaka Taguchi (JPN) | 1:04.94 | Munich, West Germany | 30 August 1972 |
| Competition record | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 4 September | Heat 1 | Rick Colella | United States | 1:06.72 | CR |
| 4 September | Heat 3 | Nikolai Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:06.10 | CR |
| 4 September | Heat 5 | John Hencken | United States | 1:04.35 | WR |
| 4 September | Final | John Hencken | United States | 1:04.02 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

32 swimmers participated in 5 heats. The eight fastest times qualified for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | - | John Hencken | United States | 1:04.35 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 5 | - | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 1:05.80 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | - | Nikolai Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:06.10 | Q, CR |
| 4 | 1 | - | Rick Colella | United States | 1:06.72 | Q, CR |
| 5 | 4 | - | Mikhail Khryukin | Soviet Union | 1:06.78 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | - | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 1:06.98 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | - | Jürgen Glas | East Germany | 1:07.32 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | - | Nigel Cluer | Papua New Guinea | 1:07.59 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | - | Michael Günther | West Germany | 1:07.77 | |
| 10 | 2 | - | Bernard Combet | France | 1:08.26 | |
| 11 | 4 | - | Felipe Muñoz | Mexico | 1:08.37 | |
| 12 | 1 | - | Peter Hrdlitschka | Canada | 1:08.62 | |
| 13 | 5 | - | Pedro Balcells | Spain | 1:08.88 | |
| 14 | 1 | - | Ove Wisloff | Norway | 1:09.49 | |
| 15 | 2 | - | Paweł Dyrek | Poland | 1:09.60 | |
| 16 | 5 | - | Sándor Szabó | Hungary | 1:09.63 | |
| 17 | 3 | - | Alfredo Hunger | Peru | 1:09.73 | |
| 18 | 5 | - | Sérgio Pinto Ribeiro | Brazil | 1:09.80 | |
| 19 | 3 | - | Michael Creswick | Australia | 1:09.81 | |
| 20 | 4 | - | Ulrich Nitzsche | East Germany | 1:09.87 | |
| 21 | 2 | - | Gustavo Lozano | Mexico | 1:09.92 | |
| 22 | 5 | - | Mel Zajac | Canada | 1:09.97 | |
| 23 | 3 | - | Zdravko Divjak | Yugoslavia | 1:10.15 | |
| 24 | 1 | - | Cezary Smiglak | Poland | 1:10.57 | |
| 25 | 3 | - | Giorgio Lalle | Italy | 1:10.97 | |
| 26 | 1 | - | Steffen Kriechbaum | Austria | 1:11.06 | |
| 27 | 4 | - | Angel Chakarov | Bulgaria | 1:11.29 | |
| 28 | 4 | - | Tuomo Kerola | Finland | 1:12.37 | |
| 29 | 2 | - | Carlos Nazario | Puerto Rico | 1:13.33 | |
| 30 | 4 | - | Faruk Morkal | Turkey | 1:14.03 | |
| 31 | 2 | - | Orlando Catinchi | Puerto Rico | 1:14.50 | |
| 32 | 1 | - | H. Ashfin | Iran | 1:16.20 | |

### Final

The results of the final are below.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | - | John Hencken | United States | 1:04.02 | WR |
| | - | Mikhail Khryukin | Soviet Union | 1:04.61 | ER |
| | - | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 1:05.61 | |
| 4 | - | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 1:05.74 | CWR |
| 5 | - | Nikolai Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:06.55 | |
| 6 | - | Rick Colella | United States | 1:06.69 | |
| 7 | - | Jürgen Glas | East Germany | 1:07.41 | |
| 8 | - | Nigel Cluer | Papua New Guinea | 1:08.12 | |