The men's 200 metre freestyle was a sprint swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event in the Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics

At the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, seven swimming events were contested. Only men competed in the swimming competition. There was a total of 76 participants from 12 countries competing.-Medal table:-Medal summary:-Participating nations:...

 program in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. It was the shortest of the three freestyle events. It was held on 11 August and 12 August 1900. 26 swimmers from 10 nations competed.

Semifinals

In the first round, there were five semifinals. The winner of each semifinal advanced to the final, as did the five fastest losers from across all the semifinals. The semifinals were held on 11 August.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		2:35.6
2		2:40.0
3		2:50.4
4		3:05.8
5		3:35.0

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		2:38.0
2		2:51.0
3		3:12.2
4		3:24.0

Semifinal 3

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		2:59.0
2		3:13.0
3		3:46.6
4		3:47.0
5		3:47.6
DNF		-

Semifinal 4

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		3:05.0
2		3:10.4
3		3:42.0
4		4:32.0
5		4:39.4

Semifinal 5

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		2:22.6
2		2:47.0
3		2:47.4
4		2:48.0
5		4:28.0
6		4:36.4

Final

The final was held on 12 August. Wahle did not start in the final. Lane won easily, more than six seconds ahead of Halmay and Ruberl.

Place	Athlete	Time
1		2:25.2
2		2:31.4
3		2:32.0
4		2:45.6
5		2:53.0
6		2:55.0
7		2:56.2
8		2:58.2
9		Unknown
—		DNS