| Men 200m Backstroke Swimming III World Championship 1978 West Berlin - Wednesday, 23rd August - Gold Medal: Jesse Vassalloo, United States |
| Final | | time | | gap | L | ag | 50m | 100m | 150m | | 1. Jesse Vassallo |  United States | 2:02.16 | | - | 5 | 17 | 29.17s | 1:00.17 | 1:31.28 | | 2. Gary Hurring |  New Zealand | 2:03.71 | NR | +1.55s | 6 | 16 | 29.37s | 1:00.61 | 1:32.01 | | 3. Zoltan Verraszto |  Hungary | 2:03.90 | | +1.74s | 3 | 22 | 28.90s | 59.90s | 1:31.65 | | 4. Tim Shaw | United States | 2:04.33 | | +2.17s | 4 | 20 | 29.11s | 1:00.19 | 1:32.24 | | 5. Fred Eefting |  Netherlands | 2:05.01 | NR | +2.85s | 2 | 19 | 28.95s | 1:00.57 | 1:32.64 | | 6. Sandor Wladar | Hungary | 2:07.32 | | +5.16s | 8 | 15 | 29.86s | 1:02.33 | 1:35.23 | | 7. Conrado Porta |  Argentina | 2:07.43 | | +5.27s | 1 | 20 | 30.52s | 1:03.00 | 1:35.62 | | -. Viktor Kuznetsov |  Soviet Union | 2:05.56 | DQ | - | 7 | 17 | | | |
Garry Hutlring, New Zealand was charged with illegal touch.
Viktor Kuznetsov, Soviet Union was disqualified on Sun, Aug 28 by FINA because "of an ofense against the doping regulations." Wladar and Porta were awarded sixth and seventh places respectively.
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| World Record: John Naber, United States 1:59.19 (27.73s, 57.45s, 1:27.99) | | Championship Record: Roland Matthes, East Germany 2:01.87 1973 (59.45s) |
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Heats - Wednesday, 23rd August | | Best 8 times advanced to Final>. |
| Heat 4 | | time | | gap | L | ag | Rk | | 2. Jesse Vassallo | United States | 2:05.04 | | +0.21s | - | 17 | 1. | | 4. Gary Hurring | New Zealand | 2:05.69 | | +0.86s | - | 16 | 2. | | 5. Fred Eefting | Netherlands | 2:05.96 | | +1.13s | - | 19 | 3. | | 7. Sandor Wladar | Hungary | 2:06.42 | | +1.59s | - | 15 | 4. |
| Heat 3 | | time | | gap | L | ag | Rk | | 1. Tim Shaw | United States | 2:04.83 | | - | - | 20 | 1. | | -. Viktor Kuznetsov | Soviet Union | 2:05.98 | DQ | +1.15s | - | 17 | 2. |
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| Heat 2 | | time | | gap | L | ag | Rk | | 3. Zoltan Verraszto | Hungary | 2:05.27 | | +0.44s | - | 22 | 1. | | 8. Miloslav Rolko |  Czechoslovakia | 2:07.42 | | +2.59s | - | 17 | 2. | | 9. Cam Henning |  Canada | 2:07.83 | | +3.00s | - | 17 | 3. |
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| Heat 1 | | time | | gap | L | ag | Rk | | 6. Conrado Porta | Argentina | 2:06.07 | | +1.24s | - | 20 | 1. | | 10.Mike Scarth | Canada | 2:07.84 | | +3.01s | - | 19 | 2. |
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| Heat - | | time | | gap | L | ag | Rk | | 11.Jim Carter |  Great Britain | 2:08.66 | | +3.83s | - | 21 | | | 12.Gary Abraham | Great Britain | 2:08.99 | | +4.16s | - | 19 | | | 13.Dec Thorell |  Sweden | 2:09.01 | | +4.18s | - | 19 | | | 14.Reinhold Becker |  West Germany | 2:09.14 | | +4.31s | - | 19 | | | 15.Glenn Patching |  Australia | 2:09.41 | | +4.58s | - | 20 | | | 16.Serhiy Fesenko | Soviet Union | 2:10.01 | | +5.18s | - | 19 | | | 17.Thomas Lebherz | West Germany | 2:10.29 | | +5.46s | - | 15 | | | 18.Danielle Cerabino |  Italy | 2:10.64 | | +5.81s | - | _ | | | 19.Leszek Gorski |  Poland | 2:11.65 | | +6.82s | - | 17 | | | 20.Carlos Berrocal |  Puerto Rico | 2:11.93 | | +7.10s | - | 21 | | | 21.Genaro Otero |  Colombia | 2:12.30 | | +7.47s | - | _ | | | 22.Noriyoshi Mishina |  Japan | 2:14.72 | | +9.89s | - | _ | | | 24.Luki Niode |  Indonesia | 2:18.37 | NR | +13.54s | - | 14 | | | 25.David Lindquist |  US Virgin Islands | 2:21.49 | NR | +16.66s | - | _ | | | -. David Cummins |  Ireland | DNS | | - | - | 16 | | | -. Lan Bullock | New Zealand | DNS | | - | - | _ | |
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