The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships took place between 24 July – 25 July. Both the heats and semifinals were held on 24 July with the heats being held in the morning session and the semifinals being held in the evening session. The final was held on 25 July.

Records

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

	Name	Nationality	Time	Location	Date
World record	Aaron Peirsol Aaron Peirsol Aaron Wells Peirsol is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:55.15	Minneapolis	22 March 2002
Championship record	Aaron Peirsol Aaron Peirsol Aaron Wells Peirsol is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:57.13	Fukuoka Fukuoka Fukuoka most often refers to the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture.It can also refer to:-Locations:* Fukuoka, Gifu, a town in Gifu Prefecture, Japan* Fukuoka, Toyama, a town in Toyama Prefecture, Japan...	27 July 2001

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	WR	CR
July 24	Semifinals	Aaron Peirsol Aaron Peirsol Aaron Wells Peirsol is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:55.82		CR

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Aaron Peirsol Aaron Peirsol Aaron Wells Peirsol is a former American swimmer who specialized in the backstroke. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist . As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay...		1:55.92
	Gordan Kožulj Gordan Kožulj Gordan Kožulj is a former backstroke swimmer from Croatia, who competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1996....		1:57.47
	Simon Dufour		1:57.90
4	Bryce Hunt		1:57.92
5	Matt Welsh Matt Welsh Matthew "Matt" Welsh is an Australian swimmer who is the former world champion in the backstroke and butterfly. Welsh trained under coach Ian Pope at the Melbourne Vicentre Club. He took two golds in 50 metres butterfly and 50 metres backstroke, during one hour, at the World Championships in...		1:57.94
6	Arkady Vyatchanin Arkady Vyatchanin Arkady Arkadyevich Vyatchanin is an Russian backstroke swimmer. Vyatchanin has lived and trained in Taganrog since 1999 and is a student of the South Federal University...		1:58.07
7	Răzvan Florea Razvan Florea Răzvan Florea is a former Olympic and national record setting backstroke swimmer from Romania. He was the first Romanian male to win an Olympic medal in Swimming when he won the bronze medal in the 200 backstroke at the 2004 Olympics...		1:58.66
8	Blaž Medvešek Blaž Medvešek Blaž Medvešek is a former backstroke swimmer from Slovenia, who competed for his native country of Slovenia at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece as well as at 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia...		1:58.96