Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke explained

Event:Men's 100 meter backstroke
Games:1920 Summer
Venue:Stade Nautique d'Antwerp
Dates:August 22–23
Competitors:12
Nations:6
Gold:Warren Kealoha
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Ray Kegeris
Silvernoc:USA
Bronze:Gérard Blitz
Bronzenoc:BEL
Prev:1912
Next:1924

The men's 100 metre backstroke was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was the fourth appearance of the event.

A total of 12 swimmers from six nations competed in the event, which was held on Sunday, August 22 and on Monday, August 23, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record1:15.6 Otto FahrMagdeburg (GER)April 29, 1912
Olympic Record1:20.8 Harry HebnerStockholm (SWE)July 10, 1912

In the first semi-final Ray Kegeris bettered the Olympic record to 1:17.8 minutes. In the second semi-final Warren Kealoha set a new world record with 1:14.8 minutes.

Results

Semifinals

Sunday, August 22, 1920: The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place width=220Swimmer width=90Time width=90Qual.
1 1:17.8 Q OR
2 1:19.0 Q
3 1:28.0
4 1:28.2
5
6

Semifinal 2

Place width=220Swimmer width=90Time width=90Qual.
1 1:14.8 Q WR
2 1:18.6 Q
3 1:20.4 q
4 1:26.0
5
6

Final

Monday, August 23, 1920:

Place width=220Swimmer width=90Time
1 1:15.2
2 1:16.8
3 1:19.0
4 1:19.4
5

Notes

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Swimming at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170131/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1920/SWI/mens-100-metres-backstroke.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 29 August 2016 . Sports Reference.