# Swimming at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships took place May 25 and 26. The heats and semifinals took place on May 25, the final on May 26.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world, European and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:51.92 | Rome | July 31, 2009 |
| European record | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 1:54.75 | Rome | July 31, 2009 |
| Championship record | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 1:55.44 | Budapest | August 5, 2006 |

## Results
### Heats

43 swimmers participated in 6 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:58.79 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | Yannick Lebherz | Germany | 1:58.85 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 1:59.07 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Matteo Milli | Italy | 1:59.30 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | Gábor Balog | Hungary | 1:59.63 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 7 | Pedro Diogo Oliveira | Portugal | 1:59.72 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | Olexandr Isakov | Ukraine | 1:59.79 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 4 | Benjamin Stasiulis | France | 1:59.91 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 5 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 1:59.98 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 6 | Federico Turrini | Italy | 2:00.20 | |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or | Israel | 2:00.25 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 6 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 2:00.81 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 5 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 2:00.93 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 8 | Itai Chammah | Israel | 2:01.05 | |
| 15 | 4 | 3 | Christian Diener | Germany | 2:01.15 | |
| 16 | 6 | 3 | Eric Ress | France | 2:01.21 | Q |
| 17 | 1 | 3 | Ivan Trofimov | Russia | 2:01.82 | Q |
| 18 | 3 | 6 | Dmitry Gorbunov | Russia | 2:01.93 | Q |
| 19 | 2 | 4 | Martin Zhelev | Bulgaria | 2:01.95 | Q, NR |
| 20 | 3 | 5 | Luca Marin | Italy | 2:02.23 | |
| 21 | 5 | 1 | Sebastian Stoss | Austria | 2:02.30 | |
| 22 | 4 | 7 | Dávid Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:02.33 | |
| 23 | 3 | 2 | Balázs Zámbó | Hungary | 2:02.36 | |
| 24 | 5 | 2 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 2:02.49 | |
| 25 | 1 | 5 | Tomáš Fučík | Czech Republic | 2:02.51 | |
| 26 | 2 | 6 | Andres Olvik | Estonia | 2:02.67 | NR |
| 27 | 6 | 1 | Mikhail Zvyagin | Russia | 2:02.81 | |
| 28 | 5 | 7 | Mattias Carlsson | Sweden | 2:02.82 | |
| 29 | 6 | 8 | Lukas Räuftlin | Switzerland | 2:02.84 | |
| 30 | 3 | 4 | Danas Rapšys | Lithuania | 2:03.22 | |
| 31 | 3 | 8 | Květoslav Svoboda | Czech Republic | 2:03.38 | |
| 32 | 4 | 8 | Andriy Nikishenko | Ukraine | 2:03.64 | |
| 33 | 3 | 3 | David Gamburg | Israel | 2:03.71 | |
| 34 | 3 | 7 | Konstantīns Blohins | Latvia | 2:03.99 | |
| 35 | 4 | 1 | Mateusz Wysoczynski | Poland | 2:04.02 | |
| 36 | 2 | 7 | Marco Aldabe Bomstad | Norway | 2:04.29 | |
| 37 | 2 | 1 | Oliver Šimkovič | Slovakia | 2:04.58 | |
| 38 | 2 | 8 | Matas Andriekus | Lithuania | 2:04.85 | |
| 39 | 3 | 1 | Jean François Schneiders | Luxembourg | 2:05.20 | |
| 40 | 2 | 5 | Dominik Dür | Austria | 2:06.78 | |
| 41 | 2 | 2 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 2:07.12 | |
| 42 | 2 | 3 | Karl Burdis | Ireland | 2:31.44 | |
| | 1 | 4 | Jonathan Massacand | Switzerland | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The eight fasters swimmers advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Yannick Lebherz | Germany | 1:58.23 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 1:58.33 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Benjamin Stasiulis | France | 1:59.09 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or | Israel | 1:59.58 | |
| 5 | 3 | Pedro Diogo Oliveira | Portugal | 1:59.94 | |
| 6 | 5 | Matteo Milli | Italy | 2:01.57 | |
| 7 | 1 | Ivan Trofimov | Russia | 2:02.51 | |
| 8 | 8 | Martin Zhelev | Bulgaria | 2:03.18 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 1:56.11 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:56.68 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Gábor Balog | Hungary | 1:58.43 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 1:58.86 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 1:59.41 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Olexandr Isakov | Ukraine | 1:59.98 | |
| 7 | 1 | Eric Ress | France | 2:00.04 | |
| 8 | 8 | Dmitry Gorbunov | Russia | 2:01.77 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:01.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:55.28 | CR, NR |
| | 4 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 1:55.88 | NR |
| | 6 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 1:57.35 | NR |
| 4 | 7 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 1:57.99 | |
| 5 | 3 | Yannick Lebherz | Germany | 1:58.39 | |
| 5 | 8 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 1:58.39 | |
| 7 | 1 | Benjamin Stasiulis | France | 1:58.55 | |
| 8 | 2 | Gábor Balog | Hungary | 1:58.74 | |