The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 25 to 27 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's twenty-sixth appearance, having been held at every edition since 1904 except 1964. Moreover, these Games marked the first time when the men's sprint backstroke event was held in Tokyo, as the event was not included in the swimming program in 1964.

Traditionally, the event has been dominated by Americans, who have won 15 gold medals in 25 Olympic men's 100 metre backstroke competitions, and all gold medals in the event since 1996. This time, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and 2019 World Championship silver medalist Evgeny Rylov edged his compatriot Kliment Kolesnikov and defending Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Murphy, who did not medal in 2019, to win first gold by a Russian in this event and also the first gold medal in swimming by a Russian since Larisa Ilchenko won the open water competition in 2008. Rylov subsequently repeated the gold medal performance in his signature 200 metres backstroke race.

Leading at the turn by 6 one-hundredths of a second over Rylov, Kolesnikov could not maintain his lead and settled for silver just 0.02 seconds behind in 52.00. Despite a late charge, Murphy could not overtake the Russian duo, settling for bronze in 52.19.

Italy's Thomas Ceccon clocked a national record of 52.30 to fall short of the podium, placing fourth. Meanwhile China's two-time defending World champion Xu Jiayu (52.51) fell to fifth, while Spain's Hugo González (52.78) edged Australia's Mitch Larkin (52.79) by one one-hundredth of a second to take sixth. Romania's Robert Glință (52.95) clocked a sub-53 time to round out the field.

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

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event was 53.85 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) could automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time was 55.47 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time was 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 could also use their universality place.

Competition format The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final.

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound 25 July 2021 19:51 Heats 26 July 2021 11:31 Semifinals 27 July 2021 10:59 Final

Results Heats The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 5 4 Kliment Kolesnikov 52.15 2 5 3 Thomas Ceccon 52.49 , NR 3 4 4 Xu Jiayu 52.70 4 5 5 Mitch Larkin 52.97 5 5 2 Ryosuke Irie 52.99 6 6 2 Yohann Ndoye-Brouard 53.13 7 6 4 Evgeny Rylov 53.22 6 5 Ryan Murphy 53.22 9 5 6 Hugo González 53.45 10 4 3 Mewen Tomac 53.49 11 4 6 Guilherme Guido 53.65 12 6 6 Robert Glință 53.67 13 4 7 Isaac Cooper 53.73 14 3 5 Marek Ulrich 53.74 15 4 5 Hunter Armstrong 53.77 6 3 Apostolos Christou 53.77 17 4 2 Luke Greenbank 53.79 5 7 Simone Sabbioni 53.79 19 6 7 Markus Thormeyer 53.80 20 3 8 Guilherme Basseto 53.84 5 8 Lee Ju-ho 53.84 22 3 2 Quah Zheng Wen 53.94 23 2 6 Kacper Stokowski 53.99 24 5 1 Pieter Coetze 54.05 25 3 4 Ole Braunschweig 54.14 26 6 1 Cole Pratt 54.27 27 3 6 Srihari Nataraj 54.31 28 2 2 Francisco Santos 54.35 NR 29 4 8 Ádám Telegdy 54.42 30 2 5 Jan Čejka 54.69 31 3 7 Yakov Toumarkin 54.81 32 2 3 Dylan Carter 54.82 33 3 1 Mikita Tsmyh 54.88 34 1 4 Merdan Atayev 55.24 35 3 3 Bernhard Reitshammer 55.26 36 2 4 Michael Laitarovsky 55.34 37 2 7 Kaloyan Levterov 55.60 38 4 1 Daniel Martin 56.91 39 1 5 Gabriel Castillo 58.24 40 1 3 Heriniavo Rasolonjatovo 59.81 — 6 8 Richárd Bohus

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

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 1 6 Ryan Murphy 52.24 2 2 4 Kliment Kolesnikov 52.29 3 1 5 Mitch Larkin 52.76 4 1 4 Thomas Ceccon 52.78 5 2 6 Evgeny Rylov 52.91 6 2 5 Xu Jiayu 52.94 7 2 2 Hugo González 53.05 8 1 7 Robert Glință 53.20 9 2 3 Ryosuke Irie 53.21 2 8 Hunter Armstrong 53.21 11 1 8 Apostolos Christou 53.41 12 2 1 Isaac Cooper 53.43 13 1 1 Marek Ulrich 53.54 14 1 2 Mewen Tomac 53.62 15 2 7 Guilherme Guido 53.80 — 1 3 Yohann Ndoye-Brouard

Final

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 2 Evgeny Rylov 51.98 ER 5 Kliment Kolesnikov 52.00 4 Ryan Murphy 52.19 4 6 Thomas Ceccon 52.30 NR 5 7 Xu Jiayu 52.51 6 1 Hugo González 52.78 7 3 Mitch Larkin 52.79 8 8 Robert Glință 52.95

References