Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke explained

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place between 4 and 6 August, at the Empire Pool.^[1] This swimming event used the backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Results

Heats

The fastest two in each heat and the four fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:08.5	QQ
2		1:10.8	QQ
3		1:13.8
4		1:14.2
5		1:14.3
6		1:14.6
7		1:19.9

Heat 2

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:11.3	QQ
2		1:11.9	QQ
3		1:12.9
4		1:15.0
5		1:15.6
6		1:15.6
7		1:30.2

Heat 3

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:09.2	QQ
2		1:09.7	QQ
3		1:09.8	qq
4		1:10.9	qq
5		1:12.8
6		1:13.5
7		1:22.0

Heat 4

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:06.6	QQ
2		1:09.7	QQ
3		1:10.0	qq
4		1:11.2
5		1:11.8
6		1:14.8
7		1:24.5

Heat 5

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:06.9	QQ
2		1:11.4	QQ
3		1:17.1
4		1:19.0
5		1:19.4

Heat 6

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:07.4	QQ
2		1:09.3	QQ
3		1:10.5	qq
4		1:10.8
5		1:13.2
6		1:18.5

Semifinals

The fastest three in each semi-final and the fastest from across the semi-finals advanced.

Semifinal 1

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:07.3	QQ
2		1:08.3	QQ
3		1:09.1	QQ
4		1:09.6	qq
5		1:09.8	qq
6		1:09.8
7		1:11.3
8		1:11.4

Semifinal 2

Place	width=220	Swimmer	width=90	Time	width=90	Qual.
1		1:08.5	QQ
2		1:09.2	QQ
3		1:09.2	QQ
4		1:09.9
5		1:10.1
6		1:11.5
7		1:11.6
8		1:12.9

Key: Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
			1:06.4
			1:06.5
			1:07.8
4			1:09.0
4			1:09.0
6			1:09.1
7			1:09.2
8			1:09.6

Notes and References

1. Web site: Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Backstroke . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170123/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1948/SWI/mens-100-metres-backstroke.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 18 September 2016 . Sports Reference.