# Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 400 metre individual medley

The heats and finals for the women's 400 m individual medley race at the 2009 World Championships took place in the morning and evening of 2 August at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. The order of swimming in the medley is: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and competition records were as follows:
| World record | Stephanie Rice (AUS) | 4:29.45 | Beijing, China | 10 August 2008 |
| Championship record | Katie Hoff (USA) | 4:32.89 | Melbourne, Australia | 1 April 2007 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 2 August | Final | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 4:30.31 | CR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes |
| 1 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 4:34.62 | 6 | 4 | |
| 2 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 4:34.80 | 6 | 5 | |
| 3 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 4:35.15 | 5 | 5 | |
| 4 | Tanya Hunks | Canada | 4:35.84 | 5 | 8 | NR |
| 4 | Julia Smit | United States | 4:35.84 | 6 | 3 | |
| 6 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 4:36.27 | 4 | 4 | |
| 7 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 4:36.42 | 5 | 4 | |
| 8 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 4:37.47 | 6 | 6 | |
| 9 | Samantha Hamill | Australia | 4:37.84 | 6 | 1 | |
| 10 | Julie Hjorth-Hansen | Denmark | 4:38.20 | 5 | 1 | NR |
| 11 | Alessia Filippi | Italy | 4:39.58 | 4 | 5 | |
| 12 | Yana Martynova | Russia | 4:39.83 | 5 | 3 | |
| 13 | Keri-anne Payne | Great Britain | 4:40.92 | 5 | 6 | |
| 14 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | 4:41.00 | 4 | 6 | |
| 15 | Annika Mehlhorn | Germany | 4:41.20 | 5 | 0 | |
| 16 | Alexa Komarnycky | Canada | 4:41.55 | 5 | 2 | |
| 17 | Barbora Závadová | Czech Republic | 4:41.90 | 3 | 2 | |
| 18 | Stina Gardell | Sweden | 4:42.71 | 4 | 9 | NR |
| 19 | Anastasia Ivanenko | Russia | 4:42.96 | 6 | 8 | |
| 20 | Gráinne Murphy | Ireland | 4:43.20 | 3 | 4 | |
| 21 | Francesca Segat | Italy | 4:43.77 | 4 | 8 | |
| 22 | Joanna Maranhão | Brazil | 4:43.87 | 4 | 2 | |
| 23 | Karolina Szczepaniak | Poland | 4:45.13 | 3 | 5 | |
| 24 | Jessica Pengelly | South Africa | 4:46.31 | 4 | 1 | |
| 25 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 4:46.57 | 6 | 9 | |
| 26 | Lara Grangeon | France | 4:46.93 | 5 | 7 | |
| 27 | Maiko Fujino | Japan | 4:47.11 | 4 | 7 | |
| 28 | Zheng Rongrong | China | 4:48.87 | 5 | 9 | |
| 29 | Jordis Steinegger | Austria | 4:49.74 | 6 | 0 | |
| 30 | Marina Ribi | Switzerland | 4:50.53 | 3 | 0 | NR |
| 31 | Katheryn Meaklim | South Africa | 4:51.09 | 4 | 3 | |
| 32 | Nuala Murphy | Ireland | 4:52.12 | 3 | 1 | |
| 33 | Paula Zukowska | Poland | 4:53.52 | 3 | 7 | |
| 34 | Nina Dittrich | Austria | 4:55.10 | 1 | 3 | |
| 35 | Nika Karlina Petric | Slovenia | 4:58.90 | 3 | 6 | |
| 36 | Maroua Mathlouthi | Tunisia | 5:00.95 | 3 | 9 | |
| 37 | Koh Hui Yu | Singapore | 5:02.13 | 2 | 7 | |
| 38 | Chen Ting | Hong Kong | 5:02.97 | 2 | 3 | |
| 39 | Erika Stewart | Colombia | 5:04.24 | 1 | 5 | |
| 40 | Maria Coy | Guatemala | 5:06.74 | 2 | 5 | |
| 41 | Ting Sheng-Yo | Chinese Taipei | 5:07.73 | 2 | 8 | |
| 42 | Koh Ting Ting | Singapore | 5:09.52 | 2 | 6 | |
| 43 | Nibal Yamout | Lebanon | 5:13.71 | 2 | 2 | |
| 44 | Pooja Raghava Alva | India | 5:28.37 | 2 | 0 | |
| 45 | Stephanie Rasoamanana | Madagascar | 5:56.61 | 2 | 9 | |
| – | Sakina Ghulam | Pakistan | DNS | 1 | 4 | |
| – | Sara Nordenstam | Norway | DNS | 6 | 7 | |
| – | Samantha Arevalo | Ecuador | DQ | 2 | 1 | |
| – | Tetyana Khala | Ukraine | DQ | 2 | 4 | |
| – | Louise Mai Jansen | Denmark | DQ | 3 | 3 | |
| – | Anna-Liisa Põld | Estonia | DQ | 3 | 8 | |
| – | Liu Jing | China | DQ | 4 | 0 | |
| – | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | DQ | 6 | 2 | |

### Finals

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Lane | Notes |
| | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 4:30.31 | 3 | CR, ER |
| | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 4:32.12 | 1 | |
| | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 4:32.29 | 4 | |
| 4 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 4:32.72 | 7 | |
| 5 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 4:34.90 | 5 | |
| 6 | Julia Smit | United States | 4:35.33 | 2 | |
| 7 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 4:37.85 | 8 | |
| 8 | Tanya Hunks | Canada | 4:38.15 | 6 | |