Medalists
| Gold |
 Michael Phelps
United States (USA) |
| Silver |
 Park Tae-Hwan
South Korea (KOR) |
| Bronze |
Peter Vanderkaay
United States (USA) |
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World Record |
Michael Phelps (USA) |
1:43.86 |
Melbourne, Australia |
27 March 2007 |
| Olympic Record |
Ian Thorpe (AUS) |
1:44.71 |
Athens, Greece |
16 August 2004 |
Heats
| Rank |
Heat |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
8 |
2 |
Dominik Meichtry |
Switzerland |
1:45.80 |
Q |
| 2 |
6 |
4 |
Jean Basson |
South Africa |
1:46.31 |
Q |
| 3 |
6 |
2 |
Brent Hayden |
Canada |
1:46.40 |
|
| 4 |
8 |
4 |
Michael Phelps |
United States |
1:46.48 |
Q |
| 5 |
6 |
3 |
Colin Russell |
Canada |
1:46.58 |
Q |
| 6 |
8 |
5 |
Park Tae-Hwan |
South Korea |
1:46.73 |
Q |
| 7 |
8 |
3 |
Danila Izotov |
Russia |
1:46.80 |
Q |
| 8 |
8 |
7 |
Yoshihiro Okumura |
Japan |
1:46.89 |
Q |
| 9 |
6 |
7 |
Emiliano Brembilla |
Italy |
1:47.04 |
Q |
| 10 |
7 |
5 |
Paul Biedermann |
Germany |
1:47.09 |
Q |
| 11 |
8 |
6 |
Ross Davenport |
Great Britain |
1:47.13 |
Q |
| 12 |
7 |
4 |
Peter Vanderkaay |
United States |
1:47.39 |
Q |
| 13 |
6 |
5 |
Amaury Leveaux |
France |
1:47.44 |
|
| 14 |
6 |
6 |
Nicholas Sprenger |
Australia |
1:47.64 |
Q |
| 15 |
5 |
6 |
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or |
Israel |
1:47.78 |
Q |
| 16 |
8 |
1 |
Dominik Koll |
Austria |
1:47.81 |
Q |
| 17 |
7 |
7 |
Robert Renwick |
Great Britain |
1:47.82 |
Q |
| 18 |
6 |
1 |
Rodrigo Castro |
Brazil |
1:47.87 |
Q |
| 19 |
6 |
8 |
Oussama Mellouli |
Tunisia |
1:47.97 |
|
| 20 |
7 |
3 |
Alexander Sukhorukov |
Russia |
1:47.97 |
|
| 21 |
5 |
5 |
Darian Townsend |
South Africa |
1:48.08 |
|
| 22 |
7 |
6 |
Kenrick Monk |
Australia |
1:48.17 |
|
| 23 |
5 |
1 |
Sergii Advena |
Ukraine |
1:48.18 |
|
| 24 |
5 |
4 |
Sho Uchida |
Japan |
1:48.34 |
|
| 25 |
7 |
8 |
Romans Miloslavskis |
Latvia |
1:48.41 |
|
| 26 |
5 |
2 |
Shaune Fraser |
Cayman Islands |
1:48.60 |
|
| 27 |
4 |
4 |
Gard Kvale |
Norway |
1:48.73 |
|
| 28 |
7 |
2 |
Massimiliano Rosolino |
Italy |
1:48.76 |
|
| 29 |
5 |
3 |
Andreas Zisimos |
Greece |
1:48.82 |
|
| 30 |
5 |
8 |
Glenn Surgeloose |
Belgium |
1:48.92 |
|
| 31 |
4 |
7 |
Jon Raahauge Rud |
Denmark |
1:48.96 |
|
| 32 |
3 |
5 |
Ryan Pini |
Papua New Guinea |
1:49.04 |
|
| 33 |
7 |
1 |
Enjian Zhang |
China |
1:49.15 |
|
| 34 |
8 |
8 |
Lukasz Gasior |
Poland |
1:49.25 |
|
| 35 |
4 |
5 |
Norbert Kovacs |
Hungary |
1:49.34 |
|
| 36 |
4 |
6 |
Martín Kutscher |
Uruguay |
1:49.61 |
|
| 37 |
3 |
1 |
Dominik Straga |
Croatia |
1:49.63 |
|
| 38 |
4 |
3 |
Christoffer Wikström |
Sweden |
1:49.84 |
|
| 39 |
5 |
7 |
Tiago Venancio |
Portugal |
1:50.24 |
|
| 40 |
3 |
7 |
Radovan Siljevski |
Serbia |
1:50.25 |
|
| 41 |
2 |
6 |
Bryan Tay |
Singapore |
1:50.41 |
|
| 42 |
3 |
3 |
Crox Ernesto Acuña Rodríguez |
Venezuela |
1:50.52 |
|
| 43 |
3 |
2 |
Julio César Galofre |
Colombia |
1:50.62 |
|
| 44 |
3 |
6 |
Daniel Bego |
Malaysia |
1:50.92 |
|
| 45 |
2 |
5 |
Vladimir Sidorkin |
Estonia |
1:51.27 |
|
| 46 |
4 |
2 |
Kvetoslav Svoboda |
Czech Republic |
1:51.67 |
|
| 47 |
3 |
8 |
Saulius Binevicius |
Lithuania |
1:51.80 |
|
| 48 |
4 |
8 |
Virdhawal Khade |
India |
1:51.86 |
|
| 49 |
4 |
1 |
Raphael Stacchiotti |
Luxembourg |
1:52.01 |
|
| 50 |
2 |
3 |
Mario Montoya |
Costa Rica |
1:52.19 |
|
| 51 |
2 |
4 |
Mahrez Mebarek |
Algeria |
1:52.66 |
|
| 52 |
1 |
4 |
Irakli Revishvili |
Georgia |
1:53.60 |
|
| 53 |
2 |
1 |
Ibrahim Nazarov |
Uzbekistan |
1:56.27 |
|
| 54 |
1 |
3 |
Mihajlo Ristovski |
FYR Macedonia |
1:57.45 |
|
| 55 |
2 |
7 |
Andrei Zaharov |
Romania |
1:58.62 |
|
| 56 |
1 |
5 |
Emanuele Nicolini |
San Marino |
1:59.47 |
|
| 57 |
3 |
4 |
Luka Turk |
Slovenia |
DNS |
|
Semifinals
| Rank |
Heat |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
2 |
7 |
Peter Vanderkaay |
United States |
1:45.76 |
Q |
| 2 |
2 |
3 |
Park Tae-Hwan |
South Korea |
1:45.99 |
Q, AS |
| 3 |
1 |
4 |
Jean Basson |
South Africa |
1:46.13 |
Q |
| 4 |
2 |
5 |
Michael Phelps |
United States |
1:46.28 |
Q |
| 5 |
2 |
2 |
Paul Biedermann |
Germany |
1:46.41 |
Q |
| 6 |
2 |
6 |
Yoshihiro Okumura |
Japan |
1:46.44 |
Q |
| 7 |
2 |
4 |
Dominik Meichtry |
Switzerland |
1:46.54 |
Q |
| 8 |
2 |
8 |
Robbie Renwick |
Great Britain |
1:47.07 |
Q |
| 9 |
1 |
3 |
Danila Izotov |
Russia |
1:47.24 |
|
| 10 |
1 |
2 |
Ross Davenport |
Great Britain |
1:47.35 |
|
| 11 |
1 |
6 |
Emiliano Brembilla |
Italy |
1:47.70 |
|
| 12 |
1 |
7 |
Nicholas Sprenger |
Australia |
1:47.80 |
|
| 13 |
1 |
1 |
Dominik Koll |
Austria |
1:47.87 |
|
| 14 |
1 |
5 |
Colin Russell |
Canada |
1:48.13 |
|
| 15 |
2 |
1 |
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or |
Israel |
1:48.16 |
|
| 16 |
1 |
8 |
Rodrigo Castro |
Brazil |
1:48.71 |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Reaction
Time |
Time |
Notes |
| 50m |
100m |
150m |
200m |
| |
6 |
Michael Phelps |
United States |
0.73(5) |
24.31(1)
|
50.29(1)
25.98 |
1:16.84(1)
26.55 |
1:42.96
26.12 |
WR |
| |
5 |
Park Tae-Hwan |
South Korea |
|
|
|
|
1:44.85 |
AS |
| |
4 |
Peter Vanderkaay |
United States |
|
|
|
|
1:45.14 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Jean Basson |
South Africa |
|
|
|
|
1:45.97 |
|
| 5 |
2 |
Paul Biedermann |
Germany |
|
|
|
|
1:46.00 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Dominik Meichtry |
Switzerland |
|
|
|
|
1:46.95 |
|
| 7 |
7 |
Yoshihiro Okumura |
Japan |
|
|
|
|
1:47.14 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Robbie Renwick |
Great Britain |
|
|
|
|
1:47.47 |
|
|
