Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 200 metre freestyle
Women's 200 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 5.
Records show that prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 5 September | Heat | Lesley Allardice | | 2:12.946 | CR |
| 5 September | Heat | Irwi Johansson | | 2:09.260 | CR |
| 5 September | Heat | Andrea Eife | | 2:08.099 | CR |
| 5 September | Heat | Keena Rothhammer | | 2:07.531 | CR |
| 5 September | Final | Keena Rothhammer | | 2:04.999 | CR |
Results
Heats
34 swimmers participated in 5 heats, qualified swimmers are listed:
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | - | Keena Rothhammer | | 2:07.531 | Q, CR |
| 2 | 5 | - | Shirley Babashoff | | 2:07.753 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | - | Andrea Eife | | 2:08.099 | Q, CR |
| 4 | 2 | - | Irwi Johansson | | 2:09.260 | Q, CR |
| 5 | 5 | - | Virginia Rickard | | 2:09.936 | Q, PB |
| 6 | 2 | - | Elke Sehmisch | | 2:09.973 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | - | Jutta Weber | | 2:10.778 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | - | Veronica Stel | | 2:10.878 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | - | Suzy Anderson | | 2:11.179 | |
| 10 | 5 | - | Guylaine Berger | | 2:11.400 | |
| 11 | 3 | - | Leslie Cliff | | 2:11.506 | |
| 12 | 3 | - | Angela Steinbach | | 2:12.438 | |
| 13 | 1 | - | Lesley Allardice | | 2:12.946 | CR |
| 14 | 5 | - | T. Zolotnickaia | | 2:13.141 | |
| 15 | 4 | - | Maria Guimarães | | 2:14.218 | |
| 16 | 1 | - | Brenda Holmes | | 2:14.431 | |
| 17 | 4 | - | Federica Stabilini | | 2:14.496 | |
| 18 | 5 | - | Lucy Burle | | 2:14.987 | |
| 19 | 1 | - | Marie Sundeborg | | 2:15.506 | |
| 20 | 1 | - | Ileana Morales | | 2:15.518 | |
| 21 | 4 | - | Tamara Shelofastova | | 2:15.940 | |
| 22 | 3 | - | Chantal Schertz | | 2:16.558 | |
| 23 | 1 | - | Cathy Whiting | | 2:17.016 | |
| 24 | 3 | - | E. Pilawska | | 2:17.716 | |
| 25 | 2 | - | Eleni Avlanitou | | 2:19.384 | |
| 26 | 4 | - | M. Saavedra | | 2:20.064 | |
| 27 | 4 | - | Marianela Huen | | 2:21.916 | |
| 28 | 1 | - | L. Moreda | | 2:23.097 | |
| 29 | 5 | - | Leslie Thompson | | 2:23.220 | |
| 30 | 2 | - | E. Tomandl | | 2:24.075 | |
| 31 | 4 | - | B. Garcia | | 2:24.328 | |
| 32 | 3 | - | Myriam Mizouni | | 2:25.432 | |
| 33 | 3 | - | Edit Kovács | | 2:25.470 | |
| 34 | 2 | - | H. Nastaren | | 2:45.589 | |
Final
The results of the final are below.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | Keena Rothhammer | | 2:04.999 | CR |
| - | Shirley Babashoff | | 2:05.332 | |
| - | Andrea Eife | | 2:05.525 | |
| - | Virginia Rickard | | 2:07.889 | PB |
| - | Irwi Johansson | | 2:08.895 | |
| - | Elke Sehmisch | | 2:09.331 | |
| - | Veronica Stel | | 2:09.412 | |
| - | Jutta Weber | | 2:10.587 | |
