# Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 200 metre individual medley

The women's 200 metre individual medley competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 4.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Kornelia Ender (GDR) | 2:23.01 | East Berlin, East Germany | 13 April 1973 |
| Competition record | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 4 September | Heat | Leslie Cliff | Canada | 2:28.842 | CR |
| 4 September | Heat | Kathy Heddy | United States | 2:28.306 | CR |
| 4 September | Heat | Andrea Hübner | East Germany | 2:24.168 | CR |
| 4 September | Final | Andrea Hübner | East Germany | 2:20.518 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

30 swimmers participated in 4 heats, qualified swimmers are listed:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | - | Andrea Hübner | East Germany | 2:24.16 | Q, CR |
| 2 | 4 | - | Kornelia Ender | East Germany | 2:25.31 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | - | Novella Calligaris | Italy | 2:26.49 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | - | Debra Cain | Australia | 2:26.72 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | - | Kathy Heddy | United States | 2:28.30 | Q, CR |
| 6 | 4 | - | Julie Woodcock | United States | 2:28.66 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | - | Leslie Cliff | Canada | 2:28.84 | Q, CR |
| 8 | 4 | - | Yukari Takemoto | Japan | 2:29.55 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | - | Susan Hunter | New Zealand | 2:29.99 | |
| 10 | 2 | - | Judy Wright | Canada | 2:30.03 | |
| 11 | 1 | - | Karin Bormann | West Germany | 2:30.19 | |
| 12 | 1 | - | Anita Zarnowiecki | Sweden | 2:30.48 | |
| 13 | 2 | - | Trine Krogh | Norway | 2:31.28 | |
| 14 | 4 | - | Nataliya Popova | Soviet Union | 2:32.23 | |
| 15 | 4 | - | Gail Neall | Australia | 2:32.72 | |
| 16 | 4 | - | Helga Niemann | West Germany | 2:32.95 | |
| 17 | 2 | - | Marina Malyutina | Soviet Union | 2:32.95 | |
| 18 | 1 | - | Olga Chlupova | Czechoslovakia | 2:33.09 | |
| 19 | 4 | - | Gisela Cerezo | Venezuela | 2:33.93 | |
| 20 | 3 | - | Jasna Efendic | Yugoslavia | 2:34.73 | |
| 21 | 2 | - | Maria Isabel Guerra | Brazil | 2:36.42 | |
| 22 | 3 | - | Naoko Shio | Japan | 2:36.97 | |
| 23 | 1 | - | Nieves Panadell | Spain | 2:37.43 | |
| 24 | 1 | - | Roselina Angee | Colombia | 2:37.97 | |
| 25 | 1 | - | Eleni Avlonitou | Greece | 2:39.44 | |
| 26 | 4 | - | García Borras | Argentina | 2:39.94 | |
| 27 | 3 | - | María Mock | Puerto Rico | 2:40.55 | |
| 28 | 2 | - | Angela López | Puerto Rico | 2:44.44 | |
| 29 | 1 | - | Myriam Mizouni | Tunisia | 2:45.52 | |
| – | 3 | - | Gabriella Verraszto | Hungary | | DNS / DQ |

### Final

The results of the final are below.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | - | Andrea Hübner | East Germany | 2:20.518 | WR |
| | - | Kornelia Ender | East Germany | 2:21.218 | |
| | - | Kathy Heddy | United States | 2:23.842 | |
| 4 | - | Novella Calligaris | Italy | 2:24.075 | |
| 5 | - | Julie Woodcock | United States | 2:25.728 | |
| 6 | - | Leslie Cliff | Canada | 2:26.263 | |
| 7 | - | Yukari Takemoto | Japan | 2:26.475 | |
| 8 | - | Debra Cain | Australia | 2:26.634 | |