Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 27 to 29 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. There were approximately 60 competitors from approximately 45 nations, with the ultimate numbers determined through the ongoing selection process, including universality places.

Background

It was the event's 28th appearance, having been held at every edition except 1900.

Defending champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia is expected to return, as are fifth-place finisher Duncan Scott of Great Britain and sixth-place finisher Caeleb Dressel of the United States. Dressel is the two-time reigning World Champion (2017 and 2019), with Chalmers the runner-up in 2019.

Summary

Labelled the "next Michael Phelps" following his breakthrough four years ago at the 2017 World Championships, the U.S.' megastar Caeleb Dressel finally won his first individual Olympic title. Dressel used his signature explosive start to gain a strong advantage on the field and touch first at the 50, before narrowly holding on in the final lap to clock a new Olympic record of 47.02.

While Australia's defending Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers stormed home in the last 50, he could not overtake Dressel down the stretch, relegating him to silver by 0.06 seconds. Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov turned first at the halfway mark 0.10 seconds ahead of Dressel, though could not hang on with the finishing speed of Dressel and Chalmers, claiming bronze in 47.44.

French swimmer Maxime Grousset could not emulate the feats of his compatriot Alain Bernard, the 2008 Olympic Champion, slipping off the podium to fourth place. Korea's Hwang Sun-woo (47.82) and Italy's Alessandro Miressi (47.86) followed Grousset in fifth and sixth. Romanian 16-year old David Popovici (48.04) was unable to replicate his stunning 47.30 from earlier in the year, falling to seventh while Hungary's Nandor Nemeth (48.10) rounded out the championship field.

The medals for the competition were presented by Canada's Dick Pound, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Senegal's Mouhamedou Diop, FINA Bureau Member.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 48.57 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 50.03 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.

Competition format

The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following record was established during the competition:

Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record July 29 Final Caeleb Dressel 47.02

Schedule The schedule is a three-day schedule, with each round on separate days.

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound Tuesday, 27 July 2021 19:00 Heats Wednesday, 28 July 2021 10:30 Semifinals Thursday, 29 July 2021 11:37 Final

Results Heats The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advance to the semifinals. Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 9 2 Thomas Ceccon 47.71 2 9 4 Caeleb Dressel 47.73 3 8 4 Kyle Chalmers 47.77 4 9 5 Alessandro Miressi 47.83 5 7 4 Kliment Kolesnikov 47.89 6 7 3 Hwang Sun-woo 47.97 , NR 7 8 5 Andrey Minakov 48.00 8 9 6 David Popovici 48.03 9 9 3 Nándor Németh 48.11 10 8 8 Yuri Kisil 48.15 11 7 5 Zach Apple 48.16 12 8 3 Maxime Grousset 48.25 13 8 2 Andrej Barna 48.30 14 7 6 Joshua Liendo 48.34 15 7 2 Roman Mityukov 48.43 16 6 2 Jacob Whittle 48.44 17 9 7 Katsumi Nakamura 48.48 18 7 1 Apostolos Christou 48.50 18 8 6 He Junyi 48.50 20 7 8 Szebasztián Szabó 48.51 21 6 7 Stan Pijnenburg 48.53 22 6 6 Dylan Carter 48.66 23 7 7 Mehdy Metella 48.68 24 9 1 Cameron McEvoy 48.72 25 8 1 Pedro Spajari 48.74 26 6 4 Damian Wierling 48.83 27 6 1 Robin Hanson 49.07 28 5 7 Nikola Miljenić 49.25 29 6 8 Meiron Cheruti 49.26 30 5 3 Ali Khalafalla 49.31 5 4 Mikel Schreuders 32 6 5 Gabriel Santos 49.33 33 5 6 Alberto Mestre 49.44 34 4 5 Ian Ho 49.49 35 9 8 Serhiy Shevtsov 49.55 36 5 8 Luke Gebbie 49.64 NR 37 6 3 Oussama Sahnoune 49.65 38 4 4 Artur Barseghyan 49.78 NR 39 5 5 Joseph Schooling 49.84 40 4 6 Nikolas Antoniou 50.00 41 4 7 Khurshidjon Tursunov 50.14 42 4 8 Peter Wetzlar 50.31 NR 43 4 2 Samy Boutouil 50.37 44 5 1 Ben Hockin 50.41 45 5 2 Emir Muratović 50.43 46 4 3 Ari-Pekka Liukkonen 50.48 47 3 4 Mokhtar Al-Yamani 50.52 NR 48 4 1 Matthew Abeysinghe 50.62 49 3 3 Andrew Chetcuti 51.47 50 3 6 Yousuf Al-Matrooshi 51.50 51 3 5 Stefano Mitchell 51.64 52 3 2 Kledi Kadiu 51.65 53 3 1 Issa Al-Adawi 51.81 54 3 7 Jean Zephir 51.94 55 3 8 Miguel Mena 51.99 56 2 4 Danilo Rosafio 52.54 57 2 5 Jagger Stephens 52.72 58 2 6 Delron Felix 52.99 59 1 6 Alexander Shah 53.41 NR 60 2 3 Mathieu Marquet 53.56 61 2 2 Boško Radulović 53.60 62 2 7 Muhammad Haseeb Tariq 53.81 63 2 1 Atuhaire Ambala 54.23 64 1 3 Olt Kondirolli 54.33 2 8 Belly-Cresus Ganira NR 66 1 5 Yazan Al-Bawwab 54.51 67 1 4 Andrew Fowler 55.23 68 1 1 Sangay Tenzin 57.57 69 1 2 Mubal Ibrahim 58.37 70 1 7 Edgar Iro 8 7 Matthew Richards

Semifinals The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 2 3 Kliment Kolesnikov 47.11 , ER 2 1 4 Caeleb Dressel 47.23 3 1 5 Alessandro Miressi 47.52 4 1 3 Hwang Sun-woo 47.56 , AS 5 1 6 David Popovici 47.72 6 2 5 Kyle Chalmers 47.80 7 2 2 Nándor Németh 47.81 , NR 8 1 7 Maxime Grousset 47.82 9 2 1 Andrej Barna 47.94 NR 10 2 6 Andrey Minakov 48.03 11 2 7 Zach Apple 48.04 12 2 4 Thomas Ceccon 48.05 13 1 8 Jacob Whittle 48.11 14 1 1 Joshua Liendo 48.19 15 1 2 Yuri Kisil 48.31 16 2 8 Roman Mityukov 48.53

Final

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 5 Caeleb Dressel 47.02 7 Kyle Chalmers 47.08 4 Kliment Kolesnikov 47.44 4 8 Maxime Grousset 47.72 5 6 Hwang Sun-woo 47.82 6 3 Alessandro Miressi 47.86 7 2 David Popovici 48.04 8 1 Nándor Németh 48.10

References