The event brought together a closely matched field following the slower-than-expected final at the Paris 2024 Olympics. China’s Qin Haiyang, the 2023 World Champion and the only swimmer of 2025 under 58.7 seconds (58.61), was the favourite after a disappointing Olympic performance considered unrepresentative of his usual form. Italy’s Olympic champion Nicolò Martinenghi, despite declining times, was expected to remain a medal contender, while fellow Italian Ludovico Viberti had recorded 59.04 in 2025. Germany’s Lucas Matzerath and Melvin Imoudu, fourth and fifth in Paris, were speculated to possibly deliver the country’s strongest 100 m breaststroke showing since 1978. Young competitors included AmericanCampbell McKean (58.96) and China’s Dong Zhihao (59.06).[3]
Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 59.75 seconds. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 1:01.84 seconds. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events.[4][5]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
