# Swimming at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The Men's 200 metre backstroke competition of the 2018 European Aquatics Championships was held on 7 and 8 August 2018.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:51.92 | Rome | 31 July 2009 |
| European record | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:53.61 | Budapest | 28 July 2017 |
| Championship record | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:55.28 | Debrecen | 26 May 2012 |
The following new records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 8 August | Final | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:53.36 | CR, ER |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were started on 7 August at 09:41.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:56.67 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | Grigoriy Tarasevich | Russia | 1:57.07 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | 1:57.31 | |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Christian Diener | Germany | 1:57.89 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 7 | Brodie Williams | Great Britain | 1:58.62 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:58.70 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Ádám Telegdy | Hungary | 1:58.96 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 2 | Luca Mencarini | Italy | 1:59.09 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 6 | Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 1:59.21 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 3 | Matteo Restivo | Italy | 1:59.21 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 1 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 1:59.30 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 6 | Jakub Skierka | Poland | 1:59.44 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | 2 | Craig McNally | Great Britain | 1:59.58 | |
| 14 | 4 | 1 | Maxim Stupin | Russia | 1:59.60 | |
| 15 | 3 | 5 | Hugo González | Spain | 1:59.73 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Geoffroy Mathieu | France | 1:59.83 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 6 | Yakov Toumarkin | Israel | 2:00.08 | Q |
| 18 | 5 | 0 | Anton Lončar | Croatia | 2:00.11 | Q |
| 19 | 2 | 2 | Gabriel Lópes | Portugal | 2:00.35 | Q |
| 20 | 4 | 7 | Maxence Orange | France | 2:00.72 | |
| 21 | 3 | 0 | João Vital | Portugal | 2:00.98 | |
| 22 | 5 | 9 | Tomáš Franta | Czech Republic | 2:01.51 | |
| 23 | 2 | 7 | Ivan Gajšek | Croatia | 2:02.05 | |
| 24 | 3 | 9 | Gytis Stankevičius | Lithuania | 2:02.48 | |
| 25 | 5 | 7 | Mikita Tsmyh | Belarus | 2:02.50 | |
| 26 | 4 | 9 | Roman Dmytrijev | Czech Republic | 2:02.97 | |
| 27 | 2 | 8 | Ege Başer | Turkey | 2:03.08 | |
| 28 | 4 | 8 | Nikolaos Sofianidis | Greece | 2:03.21 | |
| 29 | 2 | 4 | Georgios Spanoudakis | Greece | 2:03.69 | |
| 30 | 3 | 8 | David Gamburg | Israel | 2:03.82 | |
| 31 | 2 | 5 | Rokas Juozelskis | Lithuania | 2:03.84 | |
| 32 | 2 | 9 | Armin Lelle | Estonia | 2:04.26 | |
| 33 | 5 | 8 | Nils Liess | Switzerland | 2:04.53 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Girts Feldbergs | Latvia | 2:04.59 | |
| 35 | 3 | 1 | Paul Bedel | France | 2:05.51 | |
| 35 | 2 | 0 | Patrick Staber | Austria | 2:05.51 | |
| 37 | 1 | 5 | Berk Özkul | Turkey | 2:05.99 | |
| 38 | 2 | 6 | Adam Černek | Slovakia | 2:06.39 | |
| 39 | 1 | 3 | Thomas Wareing | Malta | 2:08.70 | |
| | 1 | 4 | Metin Aydın | Turkey | Did not start | Did not start |
| | 4 | 0 | Gustav Höfkelt | Sweden | Did not start | Did not start |
| | 5 | 5 | Danas Rapšys | Lithuania | Did not start | Did not start |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were started on 7 August at 17:01.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Grigoriy Tarasevich | Russia | 1:57.62 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 1:58.14 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Hugo González | Spain | 1:58.43 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Brodie Williams | Great Britain | 1:58.66 | |
| 5 | 6 | Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 1:58.84 | |
| 6 | 3 | Ádám Telegdy | Hungary | 1:59.05 | |
| 7 | 1 | Yakov Toumarkin | Israel | 2:00.67 | |
| 8 | 8 | Gabriel Lópes | Portugal | 2:00.85 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:55.50 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:57.56 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Matteo Restivo | Italy | 1:57.80 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Luca Mencarini | Italy | 1:57.83 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Christian Diener | Germany | 1:57.92 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Geoffroy Mathieu | France | 1:58.65 | |
| 7 | 8 | Anton Lončar | Croatia | 1:59.86 | |
| 7 | 7 | Jakub Skierka | Poland | 1:59.86 | |

### Final

The final was started on 8 August at 17:32.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 1:53.36 | ER, CR |
| | 5 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:56.07 | |
| | 6 | Matteo Restivo | Italy | 1:56.29 | |
| 4 | 7 | Christian Diener | Germany | 1:57.05 | |
| 5 | 1 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 1:57.09 | |
| 6 | 3 | Grigoriy Tarasevich | Russia | 1:57.37 | |
| 7 | 2 | Luca Mencarini | Italy | 1:57.71 | |
| 8 | 8 | Hugo González | Spain | 1:59.06 | |