[4] On the first day of the competition, Steinegger challenged seven other swimmers in the second heat of the women's 400 m individual medley, including Norway's Sara Nordenstam, who eventually won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke.

[5] The following morning, Steinegger finished fifth and sixteenth overall, on the fourth heat of the women's 400 m freestyle, with a time of 4:09.72, approximately five seconds behind Olympic champions Camelia Potec of Romania and Laure Manaudou of France.

[citation needed] At the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy, Steinegger narrowly missed out of the semi-finals in the sixth and final heat of the women's 400 m freestyle by approximately five seconds behind Potec, lowering her Austrian record time to 4:09.30.

[9] In her second event, 200 m freestyle, Steinegger became the first female Austrian swimmer to swim under two minutes, and also, attained another record time of 1:59.11 on the tenth and final heat, finishing only in sixth place and twenty-first overall.

For her first event, 400 m individual medley, Steinegger swam in the fourth heat against seven other competitors, including Spain's Mireia Belmonte García, China's Ye Shiwen, and multiple-time Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe.

Shortly after the World Championships, Steinegger won a bronze medal in the women's 400 m individual medley at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China by one second behind Japan's Miho Takahashi, with a time of 4:43.30.