The women's 50 metre backstroke event at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships took place between 27 July – 28 July. The heats and semifinals were held on 27 July. The final was held on 28 July.

Records

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

	Name	Nationality	Time	Location	Date
World record	Janine Pietsch Janine Pietsch Janine Pietsch is a German backstroke swimmer. In the course of her career, she competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, won two gold medals on the short course at the 2006 FINA World Swimming Championships, and four European gold medals.-2001–2005:Pietsch's first success on an...	Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	28.19	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...	25 May 2005
Championship record	Nina Zhivanevskaya Nina Zhivanevskaya Nina Aleksandrovna Zhivanevskaya is a 5-time Olympic backstroke swimmer from Russia, who has swum for Spain since 1999, following her marriage to a Spaniard ....	Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	28.48	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...	24 July 2003

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	WR	CR
27 July	Semifinal	Chang Gao		28.31		CR

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Giaan Rooney Giaan Rooney Giaan Leigh Rooney OAM is a retired Australian swimmer. She won an Olympic gold medal and broke a world record at the Athens Olympics...		28.63
	Chang Gao		28.69
	Antje Buschschulte Antje Buschschulte Antje Buschschulte is a German swimmer. Her best disciplines are the short distance freestyle and backstroke races. Buschschulte swims for the sporting club SC Magdeburg. Up to now, she has won 24 German championships....		28.72
4	Mai Nakamura Mai Nakamura is a former backstroke swimmer from Japan. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Nakamura won the silver medal in the 100m Backstroke and a bronze medal as part of the Women's Relay Team for the 4x100 Medley.-References:* *...		28.86
5	Sophie Edington Sophie Edington Sophia Jane Edington is an Australian backstroke and freestyle swimmer.She trained at the Kingscliff ASC club under Greg Salter. After Greg took up an overseas coaching role Sophie moved to Queensland to train under the QAS program from the end of 2008...		28.87
6	Janine Pietsch Janine Pietsch Janine Pietsch is a German backstroke swimmer. In the course of her career, she competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, won two gold medals on the short course at the 2006 FINA World Swimming Championships, and four European gold medals.-2001–2005:Pietsch's first success on an...		28.88
7	Hannah McLean Hannah McLean Hannah McLean is a New Zealand swimming competitor. She won a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.She also competed at the 2004 Olympic Games.-References:...		28.90
8	Nam-Eun Lee		29.35