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

The men's 100 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 9.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Mark Spitz (USA) | 51.22 | Munich, West Germany | 3 September 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 |
| 9 September | Heat | Ruy de Oliveira | Brazil | 53.675 | CR |
| 9 September | Heat | Michael Wenden | Australia | 52.671 | CR |
| 9 September | Heat | Jim Montgomery | United States | 52.660 | CR |
| 9 September | Final | Jim Montgomery | United States | 51.708 | CR |

## Results
### Heats

38 swimmers participated in 6 heats, qualified swimmers are listed:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | - | Jim Montgomery | United States | 52.660 | Q, CR |
| 2 | 2 | - | Michael Wenden | Australia | 52.671 | Q, CR |
| 3 | 5 | - | Vladimir Bure | Soviet Union | 52.771 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | - | Klaus Steinbach | West Germany | 52.986 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | - | Michel Rousseau | France | 53.041 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | - | John Murphy | United States | 53.162 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | - | Roger Pyttel | East Germany | 53.539 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | - | Ruy de Oliveira | Brazil | 53.675 | Q, CR |
| 9 | 5 | - | Roberto Pangaro | Italy | 53.877 | |
| 10 | 5 | - | Bruce Robertson | Canada | 53.908 | |
| 11 | 5 | - | Peter Nocke | West Germany | 53.939 | |
| 12 | 3 | - | Fritz Warncke | Norway | 54.018 | |
| 13 | 3 | - | Peter Bruch | East Germany | 54.120 | |
| 14 | 2 | - | José Aranha | Brazil | 54.157 | |
| 15 | 4 | - | Jorge Comas | Spain | 54.237 | |
| 16 | 6 | - | Mirek Hrouda | Czechoslovakia | 54.240 | |
| 17 | 6 | - | Neil Rogers | Australia | 54.505 | |
| 18 | 6 | - | Igor Grivennikov | Soviet Union | 54.584 | |
| 19 | 3 | - | Marcello Guarducci | Italy | 54.631 | |
| 20 | 2 | - | Bernt Zarnowiecki | Sweden | 54.658 | |
| 21 | 2 | - | Goran Jansson | Sweden | 54.836 | |
| 22 | 6 | - | Stefan Georgiev | Bulgaria | 55.064 | |
| 23 | 2 | - | Rene Lustig | Yugoslavia | 55.236 | |
| 24 | 1 | - | Brian Phillips | Canada | 55.708 | |
| 25 | 3 | - | Jovan Kovacic | Yugoslavia | 55.735 | |
| 26 | 3 | - | Gianni Versari | Panama | 55.970 | |
| 27 | 4 | - | István Szentirmay | Hungary | 56.071 | |
| 28 | 4 | - | Lyudmil Stoev | Bulgaria | 56.236 | |
| 29 | 4 | - | Ali Charbi | Tunisia | 56.239 | |
| 30 | 5 | - | Pierre-Yves Copin | France | 56.278 | |
| 31 | 1 | - | Eduardo Orejuela | Ecuador | 56.500 | |
| 32 | 2 | - | Ramón Volcán | Venezuela | 57.065 | |
| 33 | 2 | - | José Ferraioli | Puerto Rico | 57.081 | |
| 34 | 1 | - | Ali Kinawi | Egypt | 57.283 | |
| 35 | 3 | - | Carlos Santiago | Puerto Rico | 57.699 | |
| 36 | 1 | - | Mehmet Dilmac | Turkey | 58.514 | |
| - | 4 | - | Z. Opritescu | Romania | DNS / DSQ | |
| - | 5 | - | Marian Slavic | Romania | DNS / DSQ | |

### Final

The results of the final are below.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Jim Montgomery | United States | 51.708 | CR |
| | 2 | Michel Rousseau | France | 52.086 | |
| | 5 | Michael Wenden | Australia | 52.222 | |
| 4 | 3 | Vladimir Bure | Soviet Union | 52.522 | |
| 5 | 7 | John Murphy | United States | 52.732 | |
| 6 | 6 | Klaus Steinbach | West Germany | 52.820 | |
| 7 | 1 | Roger Pyttel | East Germany | 53.253 | |
| 8 | 8 | Ruy de Oliveira | Brazil | 53.701 | |