Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle

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Men's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue Tokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates30 July 2021 (heats)
31 July 2021 (semifinals)
1 August 2021 (final)
Competitors73 from 66 nations
Winning time21.07 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Florent Manaudou Flag of France.svg  France
Bronze medal icon.svg Bruno Fratus Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
  2016
2024  

The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 30 July to 1 August 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. [1] It was the event's tenth appearance, first held in 1904 (as 50 yards) and then at every edition since 1988. The event is nicknamed the "splash and dash" event. [2]

The winning margin was 0.48 seconds which as of 2023 is the only time this event has been won by more than 0.25 seconds at the Olympics.

Summary

U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel led from start to finish as he surged to an Olympic record time of 21.07, only 0.03 off his personal best time. By doing so, Dressel became the third male swimmer in history (joining Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz) to win three individual titles at a single Games.

At 0.48 seconds behind Dressel, Florent Manaudou claimed his second successive Olympic silver in this event following his triumph in 2012. Brazil's Bruno Fratus finished in 21.57 to win the bronze and his first career Olympic medal at the age of 32. Meanwhile, Dressel's teammate Michael Andrew narrowly missed the podium by two one-hundredths of a second.

Great Britain's Ben Proud and Greece's Kristian Gkolomeev came equal fifth in 21.72, while Lorenzo Zazzeri of Italy and Thom De Boer of the Netherlands rounded out the finalists.

The medals for competition were presented by Anant Singh, South African IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Husain Al-Musallam, FINA President.

Records

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

World recordFlag of Brazil.svg  César Cielo  (BRA)20.91 São Paulo, Brazil 18 December 2009 [3] [4]
Olympic recordFlag of Brazil.svg  César Cielo  (BRA)21.30 Beijing, China 16 August 2008 [5]

The following record was established during the competition:

DateEventSwimmerNationTimeRecord
August 1Final Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.07 OR

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 22.01 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 22.67 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. [6]

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. [7]

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) [1]

DateTimeRound
Friday, 30 July 202119:00Heats
Saturday, 31 July 202111:11Semifinals
Sunday, 1 August 202110:30Final

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals. [8]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
1104 Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.32Q
2103 Florent Manaudou Flag of France.svg  France 21.65Q
395 Kristian Gkolomeev Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 21.66Q
484 Bruno Fratus Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 21.67Q
574 Vladyslav Bukhov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 21.73Q
683 Thom de Boer Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 21.75Q
787 Jesse Puts Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 21.84Q
882 Brent Hayden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 21.85Q
9107 Lorenzo Zazzeri Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 21.86Q
1091 Kliment Kolesnikov Russian Olympic Committee flag.png  ROC 21.88Q
1185 Michael Andrew Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.89Q
1294 Vladimir Morozov Russian Olympic Committee flag.png  ROC 21.92Q
13105 Benjamin Proud Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 21.93Q
1498 Alberto Mestre Flag of Venezuela (state).svg  Venezuela 21.96Q
1586 Maxime Grousset Flag of France.svg  France 21.97Q
106 Paweł Juraszek Flag of Poland.svg  Poland Q
1797 Meiron Cheruti Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 22.01
1881 Joshua Liendo Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 22.03
1977 Santo Condorelli Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 22.14
88 Nikola Miljenić Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia
92 Yu Hexin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
2278 Heiko Gigler Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 22.17
2396 Björn Seeliger Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 22.19
2476 Ali Khalafalla Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 22.22
108 Brad Tandy Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
2693 Ari-Pekka Liukkonen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 22.25
102 Maxim Lobanovskij Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
2864 Andrej Barna Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 22.29
29101 Cameron McEvoy Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 22.31
3071 Gabriel Castaño Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 22.32
3172 Konrad Czerniak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 22.33
3273 Ian Ho Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 22.45
3367 Dylan Carter Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago 22.46
68 Brett Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands
3561 Enzo Martínez Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 22.52
3665 Renzo Tjon-A-Joe Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 22.56
3775 Oussama Sahnoune Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 22.61
3863 Santiago Grassi Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 22.67
3966 Hwang Sun-woo Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 22.74
4062 David Popovici Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 22.77
4155 Luke Gebbie Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 22.84
4254 Emir Muratović Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 22.91
4353 Artur Barseghyan Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 23.14
4452 Alaa Maso Olympic flag.svg  Refugee Olympic Team 23.30
4556 Nikolas Antoniou Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 23.38
4657 Ghirmai Efrem Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea 23.94
4758 Filipe Gomes Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi 24.00
4851 Myagmaryn Delgerkhüü Flag of Mongolia.svg  Mongolia 24.63
4945 Shane Cadogan Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.svg  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 24.71
5044 Alassane Seydou Lancina Flag of Niger.svg  Niger 24.75
5143 Mohammed Ariful Islam Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh 24.81
5246 Puch Hem Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia 24.91
5347 Marc Dansou Flag of Benin.svg  Benin 24.99
5448 Adama Ouedraogo Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 25.22 NR
5541 Eloi Maniraguha Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda 25.38
5642 Shaquille Moosa Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia 25.54
5736 Mawupemon Otogbe Flag of Togo.svg  Togo 25.68
5835 Troy Pina Flag of Cape Verde.svg  Cape Verde 25.97
5934 Santisouk Inthavong Flag of Laos.svg  Laos 26.04
6033 Olimjon Ishanov Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan 26.12
6132 Mamadou Bah Flag of Guinea.svg  Guinea 26.52
6238 Abdelmalik Muktar Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 26.65
6337 Simanga Dlamini Flag of Swaziland.svg  Eswatini 26.94
6422 Charly Ndjoume Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 27.22
6526 Houssein Gaber Ibrahim Flag of Djibouti.svg  Djibouti 27.41
6625 Ebrima Buaro Flag of The Gambia.svg  The Gambia 27.44
6724 Shawn Dingilius-Wallace Flag of Palau.svg  Palau 27.46
6815 Adam Girard de Langlade Mpali Flag of Gabon.svg  Gabon 27.66
6923 Fahim Anwari Flag of Afghanistan (2004-2021).svg  Afghanistan 27.67
7027 Phillip Kinono Flag of the Marshall Islands.svg  Marshall Islands 27.86
7131 Joshua Wyse Flag of Sierra Leone.svg  Sierra Leone 27.90
7214 José da Silva Viegas Flag of East Timor.svg  East Timor 28.59
7313 Diosdado Miko Eyanga Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg  Equatorial Guinea 31.03

Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final. [9]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
124 Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.42Q
214 Florent Manaudou Flag of France.svg  France 21.53Q
315 Bruno Fratus Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 21.60Q
25 Kristian Gkolomeev Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Q
521 Benjamin Proud Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 21.67Q
27 Michael Andrew Flag of the United States.svg  United States Q
722 Lorenzo Zazzeri Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 21.75Q
813 Thom de Boer Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 21.78Q
912 Kliment Kolesnikov Russian Olympic Committee flag.png  ROC 21.82
16 Brent Hayden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
1123 Vladyslav Bukhov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 21.83
1226 Jesse Puts Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 21.87
28 Maxime Grousset Flag of France.svg  France
1418 Paweł Juraszek Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 21.88
1511 Alberto Mestre Flag of Venezuela (state).svg  Venezuela 22.22
1617 Vladimir Morozov Russian Olympic Committee flag.png  ROC 22.25

Final

[10]

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.07 OR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Florent Manaudou Flag of France.svg  France 21.55
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Bruno Fratus Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 21.57
47 Michael Andrew Flag of the United States.svg  United States 21.60
52 Benjamin Proud Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 21.72
6 Kristian Gkolomeev Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
71 Lorenzo Zazzeri Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 21.78
88 Thom de Boer Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 21.79

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References

  1. 1 2 "Swimming - Men's 50m Freestyle Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  2. "Anthony Ervin wins the men's 'splash and dash' 50m freestyle Olympic title".
  3. "Brazil's Cesar Cielo breaks 50m freestyle world record". France24. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. "Brazil Long Course Championships: Cesar Cielo Sets World Record". Swimming World Magazine. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  5. "'Big Cesar' races to first Brazilian swim gold". ESPN. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  6. "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 . FINA . Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  7. "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  8. "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  9. "Semifinals results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  10. "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.