The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships took place between 22 July – 23 July. Both the heats and semifinals were held on 22 July with the heats being held in the morning session and the semifinals being held in the evening session. The final was held on 23 July.

Records

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

	Name	Nationality	Time	Location	Date
World record	Michael Phelps Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:54.58	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...	24 July 2001
Championship record	Michael Phelps Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:54.58	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...	24 July 2001

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	WR	CR
July 22	Semifinals	Michael Phelps Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...	United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	1:53.93	WR	CR

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Michael Phelps Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...		1:54.35
	Takashi Yamamoto		1:55.52
	Tom Malchow Tom Malchow Thomas James Malchow is a swimmer from the United States, who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He broke Denis Pankratov's world record in the 200 m butterfly in 2000.Malchow was also a captain of the U.S. Men's Swimming Team at the 2004...		1:55.66
4	Stephen Parry Stephen Parry (swimmer) Stephen Benjamin Parry is a former British butterfly swimmer. He competed internationally in 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly distances....		1:56.10
5	Denis Sylantyev		1:56.36
6	Serhiy Advena		1:57.21
7	Justin Norris Justin Norris Justin Neville Norris is an Australian butterfly and individual medley swimmer, who won the bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly at the 2000 Sydney Olympics....		1:58.22
8	Travis Nederpelt Travis Nederpelt Travis Nederpelt is a swimmer from Western Australia. A butterfly specialist, he represented his country in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens and in 2008 at Beijing...		1:58.95