| Final | | time | | gap | L | | 1. Roy Romain |  Great Britain | 2:40.1 | | ER | | | 2. Anton Cerer |  Yugoslavia | 2:41.6 | | +1.5s | | | 3. Sandor Nemeth |  Hungary | 2:46.2 | | +6.1s | | | 4. John Rothman |  Sweden | 2:50.7 | | +10.6s | | | 5. Maurice Lusien |  France | 2:53.6 | | +13.6s | | | 6. Sigurdur Jonsson |  Iceland | 2:55.0 | | +14.9s | | | -. Sandor Szegedy | Hungary | DQ | | | |
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| World Record: 2:36.8 Alfred Nakache, France - Marseille, France 6th July 1941 | | European Champion 1938: Joachim Balke, Germany 2:45.8 |
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Heats Thursday, 11th September | | Best 2 from each Heat and Best 3rd advanced to Final. Swimm-Off was needed for Best 3rd place. |
| Heat 3 | | time | | | L | Rk | | 1. Sandor Szegedy | Hungary | 2:44.2 | | | 2 | 1. | | 2. Roy Romain | Great Britain | 2:47.4 | | | 3 | 4. | | 3. Severin Bijelic | Yugoslavia | 2:48.4 | | | 4 | 7. | | 4. Jiri Linhart |  Czechoslovakia | 2:50.8 | | | 6 | | | 5. Carlo Bertetti |  Italy | 3:00.2 | | | 1 | | | -. Mendes Silva |  Portugal | | | | 5 | |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | | L | Rk | | 1. Anton Cerer | Yugoslavia | 2:45.1 | | | 5 | 3. | | 2. Sigurdur Jonsson | Iceland | 2:54.0 | | | 2 | 8. | | 3. John Service | Great Britain | 2:56.8 | | | 6 | | | 4. Hans Widmer |  Switzerland | 2:58.0 | | | 1 | | | 5. Pietro Venturrini | Italy | 3:08.2 | | | 3 | | | -. Artem Nakache | France | DNS | | | 4 | |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | | L | Rk | | 1. Sandor Nemeth | Hungary | 2:45.5 | | | 5 | 2. | | 2. John Rothman | Sweden | 2:47.8 | | | 4 | 5. | | 3. Maurice Lusien | France | 2:48.4 | | | 3 | 6. | | 4. Bob Bonte |  Netherlands | 2:52.0 | | | 1 | | | 5. Ludovit Komadel | Czechoslovakia | 2:54.1 | | | 2 | | | 6. Niklaus Wildhaber | Switzerland | 2:57.2 | | | 6 | | | 7. Sigurdur Thor Johnson | Iceland | 2:59.6 | | | 7 | |
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| 1. Maurice Lusien | France | 2:49.8 | | | - | 6. | | 2. Severin Bijelic | Yugoslavia | 2:50.3 | | | - | 7. |
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| Ranking | | time | FR | | 1. Verdeur |  United States | 2:35.0 | | 2. De Forrest | United States | 2:36.0 | | 3. Sohi | United States | 2:38.8 | | 4. Szegedy | Hungary | 2:40.0 | | 4. Linhart | Czechoslovakia | 2:40.0 | | 6. Seibold | United States | 2:40.5 | | 7. Peres |  Argentina | 2:40.8 | | 8. Councilman | United States | 2:41.8 | | 8. Skovadja | Czechoslovakia | 2:41.8 | | 10.Balmores | United States | 2:44.4 |
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| 2 competitors from nation were allowed participate. |
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