Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle


The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 11–12 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Summary

Sixteen years after he tied for the gold with Gary Hall, Jr., U.S. swimmer Anthony Ervin, aged 35, reclaimed his title in the program's shortest race to become the oldest male champion in Olympic swimming history. He threw down a gold-medal time of 21.40 to touch out the defending titleholder Florent Manaudou of France by a hundredth of a second. Manaudou was quick off the blocks, but could not catch Ervin near the wall to finish with a silver in 21.41. Meanwhile, Ervin's teammate Nathan Adrian swam to another bronze-medal feat at the Games with a 21.49.
Separated the top three by almost two tenths of a second, Great Britain's Benjamin Proud finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 21.68, while Ukraine's Andriy Hovorov, who led a vast field of swimmers earlier in the heats, slipped shortly to fifth in 21.74. Brazil's hometown favorite Bruno Fratus, fourth-place finalist from London 2012, and South Africa's Brad Tandy shared the sixth spot in a matching 21.79, with Lithuanian swimmer Simonas Bilis closing out the field.
Other notable swimmers featured Australia's Cameron McEvoy, Russia's Vladimir Morozov, Manaudou's brother-in-law and countryman Frédérick Bousquet, and Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell, who scored a twenty-seventh place finish in his fifth Olympic appearance.

Records

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

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event was 22.27 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee could automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time was 23.05 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 was 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. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.
RankHeatLaneNameNationTimeNotes
1113Andriy Hovorov21.49, NR
2104Nathan Adrian21.61
3105Anthony Ervin21.63
4114Florent Manaudou21.72
594Cameron McEvoy21.80
695Vladimir Morozov21.81
7103Benjamin Proud21.83
7107Santo Condorelli21.83
992Luca Dotto21.87
10106Kristian Gkolomeev21.93
10115Bruno Fratus21.93
1296Brad Tandy21.94
13116Ítalo Duarte21.96
1497Shinri Shioura22.01
14118Simonas Bilis22.01, NR
16108Norbert Trandafir22.10
17112Krisztián Takács22.12
18102Katsumi Nakamura22.13
1993Damian Wierling22.18
2082Yu Hexin22.20
2178Renzo Tjon-A-Joe22.23NR
2184Filip Wypych22.23
2372Ali Khalafalla22.25=NR
23117Ari-Pekka Liukkonen22.25
2571Oussama Sahnoune22.27
2591Frédérick Bousquet22.27
2787George Bovell22.30
2883Aleksei Brianskiy22.33
2977Douglas Erasmus22.37
3088Ning Zetao22.38
3176Federico Grabich22.44
3264Geoffrey Cheah22.46
3385Odysseus Meladinis22.47
33101Matthew Abood22.47
3573Yuri Kisil22.50
3598Paweł Juraszek22.50
37111Federico Bocchia22.54
3881François Heersbrandt22.58
3974Jasper Aerents22.61
4065Mario Todorović22.65
4113Sidni Hoxha22.80NR
4186Ziv Kalontarov22.80
4366Shane Ryan22.88
4463Cristian Quintero22.92
4562Jordan Augier23.28
4667José Alberto Quintanilla23.35
4761Vahan Mkhitaryan23.50
4856Abdoul Niane23.66
4944Hilal Hemed Hilal23.70NR
5068Anthony Barbar23.77
5154Meli Malani23.88
5155Maksim Inić23.88
5353Ahmad Attellesey23.89
5457Mahfizur Rahman Sagor23.92
5558Abeiku Jackson24.30
5617Adam Viktora24.32
5751Lum Zhaveli24.53
5845Farhan Farhan24.61
5943Samson Opuakpo24.85
6052Batsaikhany Dulguun24.90
6121Nikolas Sylvester25.64NR
6248Olim Qurbonov25.77
6347Giordan Harris25.81
6446Joshua Tibatemwa25.98
6535Dionisio Augustine26.17
6641Billy-Scott Irakose26.36
6727Tindwende Sawadogo26.38
6842Eloi Imaniraguha26.43
6938Santisouk Inthavong26.54NR
7024Albachir Mouctar26.56NR
7134Ibrahim Nishwan26.72
7236Shawn Dingilius-Wallace26.78
7325Osman Kamara26.90
7422Bourhan Abro27.13
7515Maël Ambonguilat27.21
7631Athoumane Solihi27.31
7732Jules Bessan27.32
7833Amadou Camara27.35
7937Pap Jonga27.48
8026Eméric Kpegba27.67
8123Abdelaziz Mohamed Ahmed27.71
8228Dienov Andres Koka28.00
8314Brave Lifa28.54
8412Christian Nassif30.00
8516Frantz Dorsainvil30.86

Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
RankHeatLaneNameNationTimeNotes
115Florent Manaudou21.32
224Andriy Hovorov21.46, NR
225Anthony Ervin21.46
414Nathan Adrian21.47
526Benjamin Proud21.54, NR
627Bruno Fratus21.71
628Simonas Bilis21.71, NR
817Brad Tandy21.80
922Luca Dotto21.84
1013Vladimir Morozov21.88
1123Cameron McEvoy21.89
1216Santo Condorelli21.97
1312Kristian Gkolomeev21.98
1418Norbert Trandafir21.99
1521Ítalo Duarte22.05
1611Shinri Shioura22.18

Final