Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay

Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay ; at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
Dates	September 5, 1973
Nations	14
Winning time	3:27.183 CR
Medalists
	→

The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 5.

Records[]

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.

World record	United States (USA) David Edgar (52.69) John Murphy (52.04) Jerry Heidenreich (50.78) Mark Spitz (50.90)	3:26.42	Munich, West Germany	28 August 1972
Competition record	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Nation	Athletes	Time	Record
5 September	Heat	France	Michel Rousseau (51.73)	3:35.575	CR
5 September	Heat	United States	(53.39) (53.42) Kurt Krumpholz (52.50) Rick Klatt (53.13)	3:32.442	CR
5 September	Final	United States	Melvin Nash (52.65) Joe Bottom (51.42) Jim Montgomery (51.17) John Murphy (51.94)	3:27.183	CR

14 teams participated in 2 heats.^[1]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
1	2	-	United States	(53.39) (53.42) Kurt Krumpholz (52.50) Rick Klatt (53.13)	3:32.442	Q, CR
2	2	-	East Germany		3:33.837	Q
3	2	-	Soviet Union		3:34.700	Q
4	2	-	Brazil		3:35.256	Q
5	1	-	France	Michel Rousseau (51.73)	3:35.575	Q, CR
6	2	-	Italy		3:35.655	Q
7	1	-	West Germany		3:35.882	Q
8	1	-	Australia	Michael Wenden (52.61) Steve Badger (54.98) Neil Rogers (54.50) John Kulasalu (54.47)	3:36.566	Q, NR^[2]
9	1	-	Canada		3:36.915
10	2	-	Spain		3:37.686
11	2	-	Romania		3:39.171
12	1	-	Yugoslavia		3:42.949
13	1	-			3:48.080
	1	-	Sweden			DSQ

The results of the final are below.^[3]^[4]

Rank	Lane	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
	4	United States	Melvin Nash (52.65) Joe Bottom (51.42) Jim Montgomery (51.17) John Murphy (51.94)	3:27.183	CR
	3	Soviet Union	Igor Grivennikov (53.36) Viktor Aboimov (52.97) Vladimir Krivtsov (52.68) Vladimir Bure (52.35)	3:31.367
	5	East Germany	Roland Matthes (53.86) Roger Pyttel (52.37) Peter Bruch (52.84) Hartmut Flöckner (52.96)	3:32.031
4	1	West Germany	Klaus Steinbach (52.67) Peter Nocke (53.13) Gerhard Schiller (53.43) (54.10)	3:33.336
5	6	Brazil	Ruy de Oliveira (53.77) José Namorado (53.30) (53.69) José Aranha (52.63)	3:33.392
6	8	Australia	Michael Wenden (52.83) Steve Badger (54.29) Neil Rogers (54.16) John Kulasalu (53.99)	3:35.274
7	7	Italy	Roberto Pangaro (54.06) Alberto Castagnetti (55.53) Paolo Barelli (53.63) Marcello Guarducci (53.62)	3:36.842
8	2	France	(55.96) Pierre-Yves Copin (54.79) (56.20) Alain Hermitte (54.31)	3:41.267

^ "Sporting Details". The Sydney Morning Herald. John Fairfax Holdings. September 6, 1973. p. 21.
^ "Swim team 'baby' lifts Aust hopes". The Sydney Morning Herald. John Fairfax Holdings. AAP-Reuters. September 6, 1973. p. 19.
^ Krastev, Todor. "Men 4x100m Freestyle Relay Swimming World Championship 1973 Belgrade (YUG)". todor66.com. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
^ "For the Record". Swimming World and Junior Swimmer. North Hollywood, California. 14 (10): 73. October 1973.