Swimming at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships took place on 9 September.

Women's 800 metre freestyle at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships
Venue	Tašmajdan Sports Centre
Location	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Dates	9 September 1973
Competitors	24 from 17 nations
Winning time	8:52.973 WR
Medalists
Novella Calligaris   Italy   Jo Harshbarger   United States   Gudrun Wegner   East Germany

Records

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

World record	Keena Rothhammer (USA)	8:53.68	Munich, West Germany	3 September 1972
Competition record	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
9 September	Timed Final	Marina Maliutina	Soviet Union	9:45.644	CR
9 September	Timed Final	Angela Franke	East Germany	9:09.677	CR
9 September	Timed Final	Novella Calligaris	Italy	8:52.973	WR

Results

24 swimmers participated in 3 heats. The event was a timed final. The first two heats were contested in the morning with the third and final heat contested in the evening.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	3	-	Novella Calligaris	Italy	8:52.973	WR
	3	-	Jo Harshbarger	United States	8:55.560
	3	-	Gudrun Wegner	East Germany	9:01.823
4	2	-	Angela Franke	East Germany	9:09.677	CR
5	3	-	Narelle Moras	Australia	9:09.936
6	3	-	Keena Rothhammer	United States	9:15.725
7	2	-	Elisa Gunston	Sweden	9:22.129
8	3	-	Sandra Yost	Australia	9:22.493
9	2	-	M. De Angelis	Italy	9:23.206
10	3	-	Anne Marie McCaffrey	Canada	9:23.503
11	3	-	Leslie Cliff	Canada	9:27.647
12	2	-	Maria Guimarães	Brazil	9:27.920
13	2	-	Roselina Angel	Colombia	9:42.695
14	1	-	Marina Maliutina	Soviet Union	9:45.644	CR
15	1	-	Sandra Arambatsis	Venezuela	9:51.384
16	2	-	Naoko Shio	Japan	9:51.499
17	2	-	Tatyana Skvortsova	Soviet Union	9:57.458
18	2	-	Svetlana Pavletic	Yugoslavia	10:04.873
19	1	-	Elzbieta Pilawska	Poland	10:06.768
20	1	-	Eva Tomandl	Austria	10:11.277
21	1	-	Loida Moreda	Puerto Rico	10:18.319
22	1	-	Myriam Mizouni	Tunisia	10:28.992
-	1	-	Belinda Phillips	Jamaica	-	DNS / DSQ
-	1	-	Leslie Thompson	Puerto Rico	-	DNS / DSQ