Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle explained

Event:	Men's 50 metre freestyle
Competition:	2011 World Aquatics Championships
Dates:	July 29, 2011 (heats and semifinals) July 30, 2011 (final)
Competitors:	121
Nations:	96
Win Value:	21.52
Gold:	César Cielo
Goldnoc:	BRA
Silver:	Luca Dotto
Silvernoc:	ITA
Bronze:	Alain Bernard
Bronzenoc:	FRA
Prev:	2009
Next:	2013

The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 29 with the heats and the semifinals and July 30 with the final.

Records

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

	Name	Nation	Time	Location	Date
World record	César Cielo		align=left	20.91	São Paulo	December 18, 2009
Championship record	César Cielo		align=left	21.08	Rome	August 1, 2009

117 swimmers participated in 16 heats.^[1]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Time	Notes
1	14	4		22.03	Q
1	15	4		22.03	Q
1	15	8		22.03	Q
4	16	8		22.08	Q
5	15	2		22.15	Q
5	16	5		22.15	Q
7	15	1		22.16	Q
7	16	1		22.16	Q
9	16	6		22.17	Q
10	15	3		22.19	Q
11	16	2		22.21	Q
12	15	6		22.25	Q
13	14	5		22.26	Q
14	15	7		22.31	Q
15	16	7		22.32	Q
16	14	3		22.33	Q
17	15	5		22.34
17	13	1		22.34
19	14	8		22.36
20	16	3		22.37
21	16	4		22.38
22	14	6		22.51
23	14	7		22.54
24	13	4		22.55
25	11	5		22.65
25	14	2		22.65
27	13	3		22.67
28	12	8		22.69	NR
29	12	4		22.72
30	13	2		22.73
31	13	8		22.80
32	13	6		22.81
33	13	7		22.90
34	12	3		22.95
35	12	1		22.96
36	14	1		22.99
37	13	5		23.14
38	12	7		23.17
39	11	4		23.18	NR
40	12	6		23.21
41	12	5		23.31
42	11	3		23.57
43	10	4		23.65
44	10	2		23.83
45	9	4		23.92
46	10	3		24.01
46	11	2		24.01
48	10	6		24.12
49	11	8		24.15
50	11	6		24.23
51	11	1		24.33
52	11	7		24.35
53	9	7		24.40
54	9	5		24.41
55	10	5		24.45
56	9	2		24.59
57	8	3		24.64
57	9	3		24.64
59	10	1		24.66
60	8	6		24.72
61	9	6		24.78
62	9	8		24.80
63	8	4		24.82
64	10	8		24.95
65	8	7		25.11
66	4	8		25.33
67	9	1		25.38
68	7	7		25.70
69	7	1		25.72
69	8	5		25.72
71	7	5		25.81
72	7	2		25.86
73	6	3	Tolga Akcayli	25.96
74	7	8		26.05
75	10	7		26.26
76	8	1		26.30
77	8	2		26.32
78	7	3		26.50
79	6	4		26.65
80	6	5		27.03
81	6	8		27.22
82	6	7		27.30
83	5	7		27.48
84	6	1		27.58
84	4	3		27.58
84	6	6		27.58
87	3	2		27.67
88	4	4		27.69
89	4	5		27.70
90	4	2		27.71
91	2	2		27.73
91	3	6		27.73
93	2	7		28.08
94	5	6		28.14
95	3	4		28.21
96	8	8		28.52
97	4	6		28.57
98	5	3		28.65
99	5	8		28.81
100	7	4		28.82
101	3	8		28.94
102	5	2		29.05
103	4	7		29.23
104	4	1		29.24
105	2	4		29.49
106	1	4		29.71
107	5	4		29.72
108	3	3		31.49
109	2	5		31.73
110	3	1		31.79
111	7	6		32.74
112	3	7		33.37
113	3	5		33.83
114	5	5		34.54
115	1	5		35.11
116	2	3		45.18
–	1	3			DNS
–	2	6			DSQ
–	5	1			DNS
–	6	2			DNS
–	12	2			DNS

The semifinals were held at 18:35.^[2]

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	1	21.76	Q
2	4	21.79	Q
3	3	21.97	Q
4	5	22.02	Q
4	7	22.02	Q
6	6	22.09
7	2	22.16
8	8	22.42

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4			22.15
2	5			22.32

The final was held at 18:09.^[4]