The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event)[1] of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics, symbolizing the pinnacle of speed and athleticism in swimming competitions. [2]
The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1922.[3] The current world records holders are Pan Zhanle who broke the record in Paris 2024 Olympics [4] and Sarah Sjöström (since 2017).
Australian Dawn Fraser won the event a record three times at the Olympics, and she is the only woman to win it more than once. Four men, American Duke Kahanamoku, Weissmuller, Russian Alexander Popov, and Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband won the event at the Olympics twice. Popov was also world champion (held since 1973) three times.
Edition | Winner | Time | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Athens 1896 | 1:22.2 | |||
Paris 1900 | align=center colspan=3 bgcolor=lightgrey | not held | ||
St. Louis 1904 | align=center colspan=3 bgcolor=lightgrey | the race was 100 yards, not 100 meters | ||
London 1908 | 1:05.6 | |||
Stockholm 1912 | 1:03.4 | |||
Antwerp 1920 | 1:01.4 | |||
Paris 1924 | 59.0 | |||
Amsterdam 1928 | 58.6 | |||
58.2 | [5] | |||
Berlin 1936 | 57.6 | |||
London 1948 | 57.3 | |||
Helsinki 1952 | 57.4 | |||
Melbourne 1956 | 55.4 | |||
Rome 1960 | 55.2 | |||
Tokyo 1964 | 53.4 | |||
Mexico City 1968 | 52.2 | |||
Munich 1972 | 51.22 | |||
Montreal 1976 | 49.99 | |||
Moscow 1980 | 50.40 | |||
Los Angeles 1984 | 49.80 | |||
Seoul 1988 | 48.63 | |||
Barcelona 1992 | 49.02 | |||
Atlanta 1996 | 48.74 | |||
Sydney 2000 | 48.30 | |||
Athens 2004 | 48.17 | |||
Beijing 2008 | 47.21 | |||
London 2012 | 47.52 | |||
Rio de Janeiro 2016 | 47.58 | |||
Tokyo 2020 | 47.02 | |||
Paris 2024 | 46.40 |
Edition | Winner | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Belgrade 1973 | 51.70 | [6] | |
Cali 1975 | 51.25 | ||
Berlin 1978 | 50.24 | ||
Guayaquil 1982 | 50.18 | ||
Madrid 1986 | 48.94 | ||
Perth 1991 | 49.18 | ||
Roma 1994 | 49.12 | ||
Perth 1998 | 48.93 | ||
Fukuoka 2001 | 48.33 | ||
Barcelona 2003 | 48.42 | ||
Montreal 2005 | 48.12 | ||
Melbourne 2007 | 48.43 | ||
Rome 2009 | 46.91 | ||
Shanghai 2011 | 47.63 | ||
Barcelona 2013 | 47.71 | ||
Kazan 2015 | 47.84 | ||
Budapest 2017 | 47.17 | ||
Gwanju 2019 | 46.96 | ||
Budapest 2022 | 47.58 | ||
Fukuoka 2023 | 47.15 | ||
Doha 2024 | 47.53 | ||
Edition | Winner | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Stockholm 1912 | 1:22.2 | ||
Antwerp 1920 | 1:13.6 | ||
Paris 1924 | 1:12.4 | ||
Amsterdam 1928 | 1:11.0 | ||
1:06.8 | |||
Berlin 1936 | 1:05.9 | ||
London 1948 | 1:06.3 | ||
Helsinki 1952 | 1:06.8 | ||
Melbourne 1956 | 1:02.0 | ||
Rome 1960 | 1:01.2 | ||
Tokyo 1964 | 59.5 | ||
Mexico City 1968 | 1:00.0 | ||
Munich 1972 | 58.59 | ||
Montreal 1976 | 55.65 | ||
Moscow 1980 | 54.79 | ||
Los Angeles 1984 | 55.92 | ||
Seoul 1988 | 54.93 | ||
Barcelona 1992 | 54.65 | ||
Atlanta 1996 | 54.50 | ||
Sydney 2000 | 53.83 | ||
Athens 2004 | 53.84 | ||
Beijing 2008 | 53.12 | ||
London 2012 | 53.00 | ||
Rio de Janeiro 2016 | 52.70 | ||
Tokyo 2020 | 51.96 | ||
Paris 2024 | 52.16 | ||
Edition | Winner | Time | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Belgrade 1973 | 57.54 | |||
Cali 1975 | 56.50 | |||
Berlin 1978 | 55.68 | |||
Guayaquil 1982 | 55.79 | |||
Madrid 1986 | 55.05 | |||
Perth 1991 | 55.17 | |||
Roma 1994 | 54.01 | |||
Perth 1998 | 54.95 | |||
Fukuoka 2001 | 54.18 | |||
Barcelona 2003 | 54.37 | |||
Montreal 2005 | 54.18 | |||
Melbourne 2007 | 53.40 | |||
Rome 2009 | 52.07 | |||
Shanghai 2011 | 53.45 | |||
Barcelona 2013 | 52.34 | |||
Kazan 2015 | 52.52 | |||
Budapest 2017 | 52.27 | |||
Gwanju 2019 | 52.04 | |||
Budapest 2022 | 52.67 | |||
Fukuoka 2023 | 52.16 | |||
Doha 2024 | 52.26 |