Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay ; at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
Dates	September 7, 1973
Nations	12
Winning time	7:33.221 WR
Medalists
	→

The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on September 7.

Records[]

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

World record	United States (USA) John Kinsella () Fred Tyler () Steve Genter (1:52.78) Mark Spitz (1:54.24)	7:35.78	Munich, West Germany	31 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
7 September	Heat	France		7:51.455	CR
7 September	Heat	Australia		7:48.432	CR
7 September	Final	United States	Kurt Krumpholz Robin Backhaus Richard Klatt Jim Montgomery	7:33.221	WR

12 teams participated in 2 heats.^[1]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
1	2	-	Australia	John Kulasalu Steve Badger Brad Cooper Michael Wenden	7:48.432	Q, CR
2	1	-	France		7:51.455	Q, CR
3	2	-	West Germany		7:52.244	Q
4	1	-	Sweden		7:52.298	Q
5	2	-	Soviet Union		7:52.968	Q
6	2	-	East Germany		7:53.635	Q
7	2	-	Great Britain		7:54.257	Q, NR^[2]
8	1	-	United States		7:54.404	Q
9	1	-	Canada		7:58.432
10	1	-	Italy		7:58.515
11	2	-	Brazil		8:12.066
12	1	-			8:23.574

The results of the final are below.

Rank	Lane	Nation	Athletes	Time	Notes
	8	United States	Kurt Krumpholz Robin Backhaus Richard Klatt Jim Montgomery	7:33.221	WR
	4	Australia	John Kulasalu (1:57.49) Steve Badger (1:55.97) Brad Cooper (1:54.29) Michael Wenden (1:55.91)	7:43.659	CWR^[3]
	3	West Germany	Klaus Steinbach Werner Lampe Peter Nocke Folkert Meeuw	7:43.684
4	7	East Germany	Roger Pyttel Peter Bruch Wilfried Hartung Lutz Unger	7:44.444
5	6	Sweden	Bernt Zarnowiecki Bengt Gingsjö Anders Bellbring Gunnar Larsson	7:45.585
6	2	Soviet Union	Viktor Aboimov Vladimir Krivtsov Aleksandr Samsonov Vladimir Bure	7:47.794
7	1	Great Britain	Brian Brinkley Raymond Terrell Colin Cunningham Gordon Downie	7:54.305
8	5	France	Marc Lazzaro	8:04.452

^ "For the Record" (pdf). Swimming World Magazine: 74. October 1973. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
^ Fox, Norman (8 September 1973). "Poor turn holds Wilkie to third place in medley final". The Times. London. p. 15.
^ "Aust second in swim relay". The Sun-Herald. Sydney: John Fairfax and Sons Limited. AAP. 9 September 1973. p. 91.