# Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The heats for the women's 200 m backstroke race at the 2009 World Championships took place in the morning and evening of 31 July, with the final in the evening session of 1 August at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and competition records were as follows:
| World record | Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) | 2:05.24 | Beijing, China | 16 August 2008 |
| Championship record | Margaret Hoelzer (USA) | 2:07.16 | Melbourne, Australia | 31 March 2007 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 31 July | Heat 6 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:06.72 | CR |
| 31 July | Semifinal 2 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:05.86 | CR |
| 1 August | Final | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:04.81 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes |
| 1 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:06.72 | 6 | 4 | CR |
| 2 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 2:07.69 | 7 | 5 | |
| 3 | Elizabeth Beisel | USA | 2:07.98 | 7 | 4 | |
| 4 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:08.07 | 6 | 3 | |
| 5 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:08.11 | 5 | 5 | |
| 6 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.96 | 5 | 4 | |
| 7 | Elizabeth Pelton | USA | 2:09.12 | 7 | 6 | |
| 8 | Alicja Tchórz | Poland | 2:09.74 | 7 | 7 | NR |
| 9 | Lauren Lavigna | Canada | 2:10.03 | 7 | 8 | NR |
| 10 | Tomoyo Fukuda | Japan | 2:10.15 | 5 | 6 | |
| 11 | Pernille Jessing Larsen | Denmark | 2:10.27 | 5 | 2 | NR |
| 12 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:10.31 | 5 | 3 | |
| 13 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:10.41 | 6 | 0 | |
| 14 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 2:10.90 | 6 | 6 | |
| 15 | Simona Baumrtova | Czech Republic | 2:11.08 | 5 | 7 | |
| 16 | Sophie Edington | Australia | 2:11.53 | 6 | 7 | |
| 17 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 2:11.75 | 6 | 9 | |
| 18 | Bai Anqi | China | 2:12.26 | 6 | 2 | |
| 19 | Kseniya Grygorenko | Ukraine | 2:12.40 | 5 | 9 | |
| 20 | Fernanda González | Mexico | 2:12.68 | 5 | 8 | NR |
| 21 | Barbara Jardin | Canada | 2:13.02 | 7 | 1 | |
| 22 | Melanie Nocher | Ireland | 2:13.04 | 4 | 3 | |
| 23 | Klaudia Nazieblo | Poland | 2:13.42 | 5 | 1 | |
| 24 | Valentina Lucconi | Italy | 2:14.21 | 6 | 8 | |
| 25 | Dina Hegazy | Egypt | 2:14.76 | 6 | 1 | |
| 26 | Cloe Credeville | France | 2:15.36 | 7 | 2 | |
| 27 | Lourdes Villasenor | Mexico | 2:15.52 | 4 | 2 | |
| 28 | Anna Volchkov | Israel | 2:15.61 | 3 | 4 | |
| 29 | Zhao Jing | China | 2:15.67 | 6 | 5 | |
| 30 | Lau Yin Yan Claudia | Hong Kong | 2:15.68 | 4 | 9 | |
| 31 | Lenka Jarosova | Czech Republic | 2:15.79 | 4 | 4 | |
| 32 | Jessica Pengelly | South Africa | 2:16.06 | 5 | 0 | |
| 33 | Kang Yeong Seo | South Korea | 2:16.59 | 4 | 5 | |
| 34 | Martina van Berkel | Switzerland | 2:17.05 | 7 | 9 | |
| 35 | Kiera Aitken | Bermuda | 2:17.49 | 4 | 0 | |
| 36 | Ekaterina Avramova | Bulgaria | 2:17.61 | 4 | 1 | |
| 37 | Anna-Liisa Põld | Estonia | 2:17.82 | 4 | 7 | |
| 38 | Nicole Marmol | Ecuador | 2:18.03 | 3 | 6 | |
| 39 | Nina Rangelova | Bulgaria | 2:18.47 | 1 | 0 | |
| 40 | Anastasiya Prilepa | Kazakhstan | 2:18.51 | 3 | 8 | |
| 41 | Yekaterina Rudenko | Kazakhstan | 2:19.04 | 3 | 3 | |
| 41 | Dana Gales | Luxembourg | 2:19.04 | 3 | 0 | |
| 43 | Chen Ting | Chinese Taipei | 2:19.08 | 4 | 8 | |
| 44 | Elimar Barrios | Venezuela | 2:19.40 | 2 | 5 | |
| 45 | Erika Stewart | Colombia | 2:19.48 | 3 | 9 | |
| 46 | Kätlin Sepp | Estonia | 2:19.65 | 3 | 1 | |
| 47 | Sarah Rolko | Luxembourg | 2:19.71 | 4 | 6 | |
| 48 | Ramirez Monica | Andorra | 2:20.39 | 2 | 7 | |
| 49 | Diana Chang | Ecuador | 2:20.41 | 2 | 2 | |
| 50 | Juanita Barreto Barreto | Colombia | 2:20.70 | 3 | 2 | |
| 51 | Aleksandra Kovaleva | Belarus | 2:21.67 | 3 | 5 | |
| 52 | Maria Virginia Baez Franco | Paraguay | 2:22.45 | 2 | 3 | |
| 53 | Lim Shana Jia Yi | Singapore | 2:22.65 | 3 | 7 | |
| 54 | Kirsten Lapham | Zimbabwe | 2:23.60 | 2 | 6 | |
| 55 | Rebecca Sharpe | Bermuda | 2:28.90 | 2 | 4 | |
| 56 | Karen Vilorio | Honduras | 2:29.28 | 1 | 5 | |
| 57 | Mariana Zaballa | Bolivia | 2:29.80 | 2 | 9 | |
| 58 | Fong Man Wai | Macau | 2:32.06 | 2 | 8 | |
| 59 | Sophia Noel | Grenada | 2:33.66 | 1 | 6 | |
| 60 | Ayesha Noel | Grenada | 2:35.49 | 1 | 3 | |
| 61 | Nicol Cremona | Malta | 2:35.69 | 2 | 1 | |
| 62 | Che Lok In | Macau | 2:36.66 | 2 | 0 | |
| 63 | Birita Debes | Faroe Islands | 2:36.89 | 1 | 2 | |
| 64 | Danielle Bernadine Findlay | Zambia | 2:42.73 | 1 | 1 | |
| 65 | Ruth Carvalho | Angola | 2:44.91 | 1 | 7 | |
| 66 | Mahnoor Maqsood | Pakistan | 3:01.14 | 1 | 8 | |
| – | Sanja Jovanović | Croatia | DNS | 7 | 0 | |
| – | Alessia Filippi | Italy | DNS | 7 | 3 | |
| – | Rachael Catherine Glenister | American Samoa | DSQ | 1 | 4 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes |
| 1 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:05.86 | 2 | 4 | CR |
| 2 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:07.00 | 2 | 3 | NR |
| 3 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:07.21 | 1 | 7 | NR |
| 4 | Elizabeth Beisel | USA | 2:07.48 | 2 | 5 | |
| 5 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 2:07.64 | 1 | 4 | |
| 6 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 2:08.49 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.77 | 1 | 3 | |
| 8 | Elizabeth Pelton | USA | 2:09.57 | 2 | 6 | |
| 9 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:09.77 | 1 | 5 | |
| 10 | Tomoyo Fukuda | Japan | 2:10.09 | 1 | 2 | |
| 11 | Pernille Jessing Larsen | Denmark | 2:10.35 | 2 | 7 | |
| 12 | Lauren Lavigna | Canada | 2:10.54 | 2 | 2 | |
| 13 | Sophie Edington | Australia | 2:10.57 | 1 | 8 | |
| 14 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:10.58 | 2 | 1 | |
| 15 | Simona Baumrtova | Czech Republic | 2:10.79 | 2 | 8 | NR |
| 16 | Alicja Tchórz | Poland | 2:11.06 | 1 | 6 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Lane | Notes |
| | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:04.81 | 4 | WR |
| | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:04.94 | 5 | ER |
| | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:06.39 | 6 | |
| 4 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 2:06.66 | 2 | NR |
| 5 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:07.98 | 3 | |
| 6 | Elizabeth Pelton | United States | 2:08.04 | 8 | |
| 7 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.13 | 1 | |
| 8 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 2:08.89 | 7 | |