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

The heats for the men's 200 m backstroke race at the 2009 World Championships took place in the morning and evening of 30 July, with the final in the evening session of 31 July at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and competition records were as follows:
| World record | Aaron Peirsol (USA) | 1:53.08 | Indianapolis, United States | 11 July 2009 |
| Championship record | Ryan Lochte (USA) | 1:54.32 | Melbourne, Australia | 30 March 2007 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 30 July | Semifinal 1 | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:54.06 | CR |
| 31 July | Final | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:51.92 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes |
| 1 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 1:55.20 | 9 | 4 | |
| 2 | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:55.88 | 8 | 4 | |
| 3 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:55.97 | 7 | 4 | |
| 4 | Stanislav Donets | Russia | 1:56.03 | 9 | 3 | |
| 5 | George Du Rand | South Africa | 1:56.06 | 8 | 1 | AF |
| 6 | Yannick Lebherz | Germany | 1:56.69 | 9 | 1 | |
| 7 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:56.74 | 9 | 8 | |
| 8 | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 1:56.97 | 9 | 5 | |
| 9 | Omar Pinzón | Colombia | 1:57.01 | 7 | 8 | SA |
| 10 | Aschwin Wildeboer | Spain | 1:57.15 | 8 | 5 | |
| 11 | Chris Walker-Hebborn | Great Britain | 1:57.52 | 8 | 2 | |
| 12 | Takashi Nakano | Japan | 1:57.58 | 7 | 3 | |
| 13 | Damiano Lestingi | Italy | 1:57.73 | 9 | 6 | |
| 14 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 1:57.75 | 9 | 7 | |
| 15 | Nick Driebergen | Netherlands | 1:57.86 | 7 | 7 | NR |
| 16 | Sebastian Stoss | Austria | 1:57.97 | 9 | 0 | |
| 17 | Ashley Delaney | Australia | 1:58.02 | 8 | 3 | |
| 18 | Benjamin Stasiulis | France | 1:58.17 | 7 | 6 | |
| 19 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 1:58.41 | 7 | 2 | |
| 20 | Kurt Bassett | New Zealand | 1:58.46 | 8 | 8 | NR |
| 21 | Matt Hawes | Canada | 1:58.89 | 8 | 6 | |
| 22 | Marco Loughran | Great Britain | 1:59.19 | 8 | 7 | |
| 23 | Derya Büyükuncu | Turkey | 1:59.49 | 9 | 9 | |
| 24 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 1:59.65 | 7 | 1 | |
| 25 | Darren Murray | South Africa | 1:59.84 | 5 | 5 | |
| 26 | Rufino Regueira | Spain | 2:00.35 | 9 | 2 | |
| 27 | Markus Rogan | Austria | 2:00.39 | 7 | 5 | |
| 28 | Dimitrios Chasiotis | Greece | 2:00.42 | 8 | 0 | |
| 29 | Miguel Robles | Mexico | 2:00.99 | 6 | 7 | NR |
| 30 | Zhang Yu | China | 2:01.05 | 5 | 4 | |
| 31 | Leonardo Guedes | Brazil | 2:01.20 | 7 | 0 | |
| 32 | Pedro Oliveira | Portugal | 2:01.49 | 6 | 4 | |
| 33 | Pedro Medel | Cuba | 2:01.70 | 6 | 6 | |
| 34 | Itai Chammah | Israel | 2:01.86 | 7 | 9 | |
| 35 | Jakub Jasinski | Poland | 2:01.95 | 8 | 9 | |
| 36 | Květoslav Svoboda | Czech Republic | 2:02.00 | 6 | 0 | |
| 37 | Cheng Feiyi | China | 2:02.29 | 6 | 3 | |
| 38 | Anders McIntyre | Canada | 2:02.64 | 5 | 0 | |
| 39 | Andres Olvik | Estonia | 2:02.97 | 6 | 8 | NR |
| 40 | Andriy Kovbasa | Ukraine | 2:03.56 | 4 | 4 | |
| 41 | Oleg Rabota | Kazakhstan | 2:03.71 | 6 | 2 | |
| 42 | Robi Zbogar | Slovenia | 2:03.99 | 6 | 9 | |
| 43 | Karl Burdis | Ireland | 2:04.34 | 5 | 6 | NR |
| 44 | David Rodriguez | Cuba | 2:04.42 | 5 | 2 | |
| 45 | Konstantins Bohins | Latvia | 2:04.61 | 4 | 2 | |
| 46 | Naoufel Benabid | Algeria | 2:05.06 | 5 | 1 | |
| 47 | Jean-Francois Schneiders | Luxembourg | 2:05.22 | 4 | 5 | |
| 48 | Stanislav Osinsky | Kazakhstan | 2:06.12 | 5 | 3 | |
| 49 | Ehud Segal | Israel | 2:06.91 | 6 | 1 | |
| 50 | Rehan Poncha | India | 2:06.92 | 4 | 1 | NR |
| 51 | Yury Zaharov | Kyrgyzstan | 2:07.07 | 5 | 7 | NR |
| 52 | Achelhi Bilal | Morocco | 2:07.59 | 3 | 3 | NR |
| 53 | Cheah Geoffrey Robin | Hong Kong | 2:08.25 | 4 | 3 | |
| 54 | Ng Kai Wee Rainer | Singapore | 2:08.57 | 4 | 7 | |
| 55 | Do Huy Long | Vietnam | 2:08.83 | 4 | 8 | |
| 56 | Jean Luis Gomez | Dominican Republic | 2:10.22 | 3 | 6 | |
| 57 | Tsung Chao-Lin | Chinese Taipei | 2:10.44 | 4 | 6 | |
| 58 | Nicholas James | Zimbabwe | 2:10.76 | 3 | 1 | |
| 59 | Boris Kirillov | Azerbaijan | 2:10.96 | 3 | 7 | |
| 60 | Kaspar Raigla | Estonia | 2:11.61 | 1 | 4 | |
| 61 | Doğa Çelik | Turkey | 2:12.26 | 5 | 9 | |
| 62 | Alberto Tasini | San Marino | 2:12.80 | 3 | 0 | |
| 63 | Yousuf Essa Al Yousuf | Saudi Arabia | 2:12.81 | 3 | 4 | |
| 64 | Antonio Tong | Macau | 2:13.22 | 4 | 9 | |
| 65 | Khachik Plavchyan | Armenia | 2:14.19 | 4 | 0 | |
| 66 | Byron Briedenhann | Namibia | 2:14.47 | 2 | 5 | |
| 67 | Ngou Pok Man | Macau | 2:14.87 | 2 | 7 | |
| 68 | Abbas Raad | Lebanon | 2:15.63 | 2 | 6 | NR |
| 69 | Javier Hernandez Maradiaga | Honduras | 2:16.09 | 3 | 8 | |
| 70 | Nicholas Coard | Grenada | 2:16.65 | 2 | 2 | |
| 71 | Praveen Tokas | India | 2:16.90 | 3 | 5 | |
| 72 | Mohammed Al Ghaferi | United Arab Emirates | 2:17.30 | 2 | 3 | NR |
| 73 | Armando Zayas Claure | Bolivia | 2:18.09 | 2 | 1 | |
| 74 | Mark Sammut | Malta | 2:19.46 | 3 | 9 | |
| 75 | Benjamin Gabbard | American Samoa | 2:20.25 | 1 | 5 | |
| 76 | Marcelino Richaards | Suriname | 2:21.05 | 2 | 8 | |
| 77 | Heimanu Sichan | French Polynesia | 2:21.63 | 2 | 4 | |
| 78 | Paul Elaisa | Fiji | 2:28.97 | 1 | 6 | |
| 79 | Mathieu Marquet | Mauritius | 2:29.91 | 2 | 9 | |
| 80 | Timur Atahanov | Turkmenistan | 2:34.13 | 1 | 2 | |
| 81 | Elaijie Erasito | Fiji | 2:36.75 | 1 | 1 | |
| 82 | Ahmet Halliyev | Turkmenistan | 2:39.58 | 1 | 7 | |
| – | Hocine Haciane | Andorra | DNS | 1 | 3 | |
| – | Ronny Vencatachellum | Mauritius | DNS | 2 | 0 | |
| – | Andrejs Dūda | Latvia | DNS | 3 | 2 | |
| – | Saša Imprić | Croatia | DNS | 5 | 8 | |
| – | Brett Fraser | Cayman Islands | DNS | 6 | 5 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes |
| 1 | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:54.06 | 1 | 4 | CR |
| 2 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 1:54.14 | 2 | 4 | |
| 3 | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 1:54.90 | 1 | 6 | ER |
| 4 | Stanislav Donets | Russia | 1:55.25 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:55.39 | 2 | 5 | |
| 6 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:55.62 | 2 | 6 | |
| 7 | George Du Rand | South Africa | 1:55.75 | 2 | 3 | AF |
| 8 | Aschwin Wildeboer | Spain | 1:55.78 | 1 | 2 | |
| 9 | Chris Walker-Hebborn | Great Britain | 1:56.05 | 2 | 7 | NR |
| 10 | Omar Pinzón | Colombia | 1:56.40 | 2 | 2 | SA |
| 11 | Nick Driebergen | Netherlands | 1:56.85 | 2 | 8 | NR |
| 12 | Takashi Nakano | Japan | 1:57.02 | 1 | 7 | |
| 13 | Sebastian Stoss | Austria | 1:57.15 | 1 | 8 | |
| 14 | Damiano Lestingi | Italy | 1:57.37 | 2 | 1 | |
| 15 | Yannick Lebherz | Germany | 1:58.01 | 1 | 3 | |
| 16 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 1:58.84 | 1 | 1 | |

## Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 1:51.92 | WR |
| | 5 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 1:52.51 | AS |
| | 2 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 1:53.82 | |
| 4 | 3 | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 1:54.75 | ER |
| 5 | 8 | Aschwin Wildeboer | Spain | 1:54.92 | NR |
| 6 | 6 | Stanislav Donets | Russia | 1:55.36 | |
| 7 | 7 | Radosław Kawęcki | Poland | 1:55.60 | NR |
| 8 | 1 | George Du Rand | South Africa | 1:56.63 | |