# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The women's 200 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 29 with the heats and the semifinals and July 30 with the final.
The final was won by sixteen-year-old American Missy Franklin in a time of 2:05.10. Frankin's time was the third-fastest ever in the event, only behind Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry (2:04.81) and Russian Anastasia Zuyeva (2:04.94).

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship record were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record Championship record | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:04.81 | Rome | August 1, 2009 |

## Results
### Heats

39 swimmers participated in 6 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 3 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:07.71 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 7 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:08.35 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:08.40 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:08.50 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 5 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:08.50 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 6 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 2:08.92 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:09.03 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | Shiho Sakai | Japan | 2:09.25 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 1 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 2:09.65 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 4 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:10.02 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:10.38 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 4 | Zhao Jing | China | 2:10.40 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | 1 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 2:10.41 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Melissa Ingram | New Zealand | 2:10.59 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | 2 | Stephanie Proud | Great Britain | 2:10.65 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 7 | Genevieve Cantin | Canada | 2:11.09 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 3 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:11.23 | |
| 18 | 6 | 6 | Zhu Jiani | China | 2:11.84 | |
| 19 | 3 | 1 | Fernanda González | Mexico | 2:12.29 | NR |
| 20 | 6 | 7 | Jenny Mensing | Germany | 2:12.38 | |
| 21 | 3 | 7 | Anja Čarman | Slovenia | 2:12.73 | |
| 22 | 4 | 8 | Kimberly Buys | Belgium | 2:13.01 | |
| 23 | 3 | 4 | Melanie Nocher | Ireland | 2:13.39 | |
| 24 | 6 | 8 | Simona Baumrtova | Czech Republic | 2:13.48 | |
| 25 | 2 | 3 | Anna Volchkov | Israel | 2:13.99 | NR |
| 26 | 5 | 1 | Alicja Tchorz | Poland | 2:14.27 | |
| 27 | 3 | 5 | Ekaterina Avramova | Bulgaria | 2:14.85 | |
| 28 | 3 | 6 | Ham Chan-Mi | South Korea | 2:14.88 | |
| 29 | 3 | 8 | Lau Yin Yan | Hong Kong | 2:15.09 | |
| 30 | 2 | 5 | Eyglo Gustafsdottir | Iceland | 2:15.16 | |
| 31 | 2 | 4 | Leone Vorster | South Africa | 2:16.45 | |
| 3 2 | 5 | 8 | Sophia Batachelor | New Zealand | 2:17.06 | |
| 33 | 3 | 3 | Therese Svendsen | Sweden | 2:18.12 | |
| 34 | 2 | 6 | Yulduz Kuchkarova | Uzbekistan | 2:18.62 | |
| 35 | 2 | 7 | Ines Remarsaro | Uruguay | 2:21.07 | |
| 36 | 2 | 2 | Tatiana Perstineva | Moldova | 2:21.25 | |
| 37 | 1 | 4 | Karen Vilorio | Honduras | 2:24.43 | |
| 38 | 1 | 5 | Estellah Fils Rabetsara | Madagascar | 2:33.83 | |
| 39 | 1 | 3 | Aure Fanchette | Seychelles | 2:52.04 | |
| – | 3 | 2 | Evelyn Verrasztó | Hungary | | DNS |
| – | 5 | 2 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | | DNS |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held at 19:12.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:07.76 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:08.22 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:08.79 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 2:08.80 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Zhao Jing | China | 2:08.86 | |
| 6 | 6 | Shiho Sakai | Japan | 2:08.93 | |
| 7 | 1 | Melissa Ingram | New Zealand | 2:10.77 | |
| 8 | 8 | Genevieve Cantin | Canada | 2:12.12 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:05.90 | Q, AM |
| 2 | 5 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:07.82 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.41 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 2:08.42 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:08.53 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:09.33 | |
| 7 | 8 | Stephanie Proud | Great Britain | 2:10.57 | |
| 8 | 1 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 2:10.74 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:33.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:05.10 | AM |
| | 5 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:06.06 | OC |
| | 7 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 2:07.78 | NR |
| 4 | 6 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:07.82 | NR |
| 5 | 3 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:08.16 | |
| 6 | 1 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:08.69 | |
| 7 | 8 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:08.76 | |
| 8 | 2 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:09.07 | |