# 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The Men's 200 metre backstroke competition of the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) was held on 16 December 2018.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Mitch Larkin | Australia | 1:45.63 | Sydney | 27 November 2015 |
| Championship record | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:46.68 | Dubai | 19 December 2010 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were started at 09:37.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 1 | Ryan Murphy | United States | 1:49.26 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | Mitch Larkin | Australia | 1:49.55 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:50.05 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:50.11 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Christian Diener | Germany | 1:50.31 | Q, WD |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 1:50.51 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 4 | Xu Jiayu | China | 1:50.65 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 8 | Jacob Pebley | United States | 1:50.80 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Hayate Matsubara | Japan | 1:50.99 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 3 | Grigoriy Tarasevich | Russia | 1:51.32 | |
| 11 | 2 | 1 | Matteo Restivo | Italy | 1:51.58 | |
| 12 | 4 | 6 | Jorden Merrilees | Australia | 1:51.60 | |
| 13 | 2 | 6 | Anton Lončar | Croatia | 1:51.79 | |
| 14 | 2 | 4 | Danas Rapšys | Lithuania | 1:52.25 | |
| 15 | 4 | 2 | Ádám Telegdy | Hungary | 1:52.48 | |
| 16 | 3 | 0 | Gabriel Lópes | Portugal | 1:52.66 | NR |
| 17 | 1 | 4 | Omar Pinzón | Colombia | 1:53.07 | |
| 18 | 2 | 2 | Hugo González | Spain | 1:53.08 | |
| 19 | 3 | 2 | Dávid Földházi | Hungary | 1:53.09 | |
| 20 | 2 | 0 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 1:53.20 | |
| 21 | 1 | 3 | Nils Liess | Switzerland | 1:54.55 | |
| 22 | 4 | 7 | Tomáš Franta | Czech Republic | 1:54.78 | |
| 23 | 3 | 9 | Daniel Martin | Romania | 1:55.24 | |
| 24 | 4 | 1 | Bradlee Ashby | New Zealand | 1:55.77 | |
| 25 | 4 | 8 | Tomoe Zenimoto Hvas | Norway | 1:56.01 | |
| 26 | 3 | 6 | Mikita Tsmyh | Belarus | 1:56.14 | |
| 27 | 2 | 8 | Chuang Mu-lun | Chinese Taipei | 1:56.66 | |
| 28 | 1 | 5 | Yeziel Morales Miranda | Puerto Rico | 1:58.26 | |
| 29 | 1 | 7 | Matthew Mays | United States Virgin Islands | 1:58.99 | |
| 30 | 4 | 0 | Berk Özkul | Turkey | 1:59.04 | |
| 31 | 4 | 9 | Lee Ju-ho | South Korea | 1:59.48 | |
| 32 | 1 | 2 | Driss Lahrichi | Morocco | 1:59.50 | |
| 33 | 1 | 6 | Erick Gordillo | Guatemala | 1:59.80 | |
| 34 | 2 | 9 | Armando Barrera Aira | Cuba | 2:00.82 | |
| 35 | 1 | 8 | Abdulaziz Al-Obaidly | Qatar | 2:09.03 | |
| 36 | 1 | 1 | Andrianirina Lalanomena | Madagascar | 2:09.90 | |
| 37 | 1 | 0 | Joel Gjini | Albania | 2:20.26 | |
| | 2 | 7 | Li Guangyuan | China | | DNS |
| | 3 | 7 | Leonardo de Deus | Brazil | | DNS |

### Final

The final was held at 18:55.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 6 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:47.02 |
| | 4 | Ryan Murphy | United States | 1:47.34 |
| | 3 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:48.25 |
| | 5 | Mitch Larkin | Australia | 1:48.25 |
| 5 | 1 | Jacob Pebley | United States | 1:49.72 |
| 6 | 7 | Xu Jiayu | China | 1:49.91 |
| 7 | 2 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 1:50.88 |
| 8 | 8 | Hayate Matsubara | Japan | 1:51.96 |