# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
On the wake of Aaron Peirsol's official retirement in 2011, U.S. swimmer Matt Grevers continued to build an American supremacy in the event by following the former champion's footsteps towards his first individual gold. He held off a challenge from France's Camille Lacourt down the final stretch to touch the wall first in a sterling time of 52.16, eclipsing Peirsol's 2008 Olympic record by 0.38 seconds. Grevers also enjoyed his teammate Nick Thoman taking home the silver in 52.92, as the Americans climbed again on top of the podium for an eleventh time in the event's Olympic history and for a second straight 1–2 finish since 2008. Moving from behind at the final turn, Japan's Ryosuke Irie came up with a stalwart swim to capture the bronze in 52.97.
Leading the race early on the initial length, Lacourt dropped off the podium to a fourth-place time in 53.08. Great Britain's Liam Tancock (53.35), Germany's Helge Meeuw (53.48), Australia's defending bronze medalist Hayden Stoeckel (53.55), and China's Cheng Feiyi (53.77) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the finale.
Other notable swimmers featured Russian duo Arkady Vyatchanin, reigning Olympic bronze medalist, who missed the final roster with a ninth-place effort (53.79); and Vladimir Morozov, who later scratched the semifinals to focus on his 4×100 m freestyle relay duty, allowing Greece's three-time Olympian Aristeidis Grigoriadis to occupy his slot.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Aaron Peirsol (USA) | 51.94 | Indianapolis, United States | 8 July 2009 |
| Olympic record | Aaron Peirsol (USA) | 52.54 | Beijing, China | 12 August 2008 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 30 July | Final | Matt Grevers | United States | 52.16 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 4 | Matt Grevers | United States | 52.92 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 2 | Cheng Feiyi | China | 53.22 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Nick Thoman | United States | 53.48 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | Camille Lacourt | France | 53.51 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 5 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 53.56 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 7 | Nick Driebergen | Netherlands | 53.62 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 53.83 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | Liam Tancock | Great Britain | 53.86 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 6 | Hayden Stoeckel | Australia | 53.88 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 2 | Vladimir Morozov | Russia | 54.01 | Q, WD |
| 10 | 5 | 2 | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 54.01 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Jan-Philip Glania | Germany | 54.07 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 8 | Charles Francis | Canada | 54.08 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 3 | Gareth Kean | New Zealand | 54.26 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | 1 | Daniel Arnamnart | Australia | 54.28 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 3 | Aschwin Wildeboer | Spain | 54.36 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 6 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 54.52 | Q |
| 18 | 3 | 1 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 54.53 | NR |
| 19 | 3 | 5 | Mirco di Tora | Italy | 54.70 | |
| 20 | 3 | 7 | Chris Walker-Hebborn | Great Britain | 54.78 | |
| 21 | 3 | 4 | He Jianbin | China | 54.81 | |
| 22 | 3 | 3 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 54.84 | |
| 23 | 4 | 6 | Bastiaan Lijesen | Netherlands | 54.88 | |
| 24 | 4 | 1 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 54.91 | |
| 25 | 4 | 7 | Juan Miguel Rando Galvez | Spain | 54.93 | |
| 26 | 3 | 8 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 55.00 | |
| 27 | 5 | 1 | Marcin Tarczyński | Poland | 55.06 | |
| 28 | 4 | 8 | Daniel Orzechowski | Brazil | 55.16 | |
| 29 | 2 | 8 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 55.22 | NR |
| 30 | 3 | 2 | Mathias Gydesen | Denmark | 55.31 | |
| 31 | 5 | 7 | Benjamin Stasiulis | France | 55.36 | |
| 32 | 2 | 5 | Omar Pinzón | Colombia | 55.37 | |
| 33 | 6 | 8 | Charl Crous | South Africa | 55.37 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Pedro Medel | Cuba | 55.40 | NR |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | Oleksandr Isakov | Ukraine | 55.43 | |
| 36 | 2 | 7 | Park Seon-kwan | South Korea | 55.51 | |
| 37 | 3 | 6 | Daniel Bell | New Zealand | 55.53 | |
| 38 | 2 | 4 | Alexandr Tarabrin | Kazakhstan | 55.55 | |
| 39 | 2 | 6 | I Gede Siman Sudartawa | Indonesia | 55.99 | |
| 40 | 1 | 4 | Bradley Ally | Barbados | 56.27 | |
| 41 | 2 | 3 | Federico Grabich | Argentina | 56.56 | |
| 42 | 1 | 5 | Heshan Unamboowe | Sri Lanka | 57.94 | |
| 43 | 1 | 3 | Zane Jordan | Zambia | 58.77 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Camille Lacourt | France | 53.03 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Liam Tancock | Great Britain | 53.25 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Cheng Feiyi | China | 53.50 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Arkady Vyatchanin | Russia | 53.79 | |
| 5 | 3 | Nick Driebergen | Netherlands | 53.81 | |
| 6 | 8 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 54.20 | |
| 7 | 7 | Charles Francis | Canada | 54.42 | |
| 8 | 1 | Daniel Arnamnart | Australia | 54.48 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Matt Grevers | United States | 52.66 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 53.29 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Nick Thoman | United States | 53.47 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 53.52 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Hayden Stoeckel | Australia | 53.72 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | Jan-Philip Glania | Germany | 53.90 | |
| 7 | 8 | Aschwin Wildeboer | Spain | 53.99 | |
| 8 | 1 | Gareth Kean | New Zealand | 54.00 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Matt Grevers | United States | 52.16 | OR |
| | 2 | Nick Thoman | United States | 52.92 | |
| | 6 | Ryosuke Irie | Japan | 52.97 | |
| 4 | 5 | Camille Lacourt | France | 53.08 | |
| 5 | 3 | Liam Tancock | Great Britain | 53.35 | |
| 6 | 1 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 53.48 | |
| 7 | 8 | Hayden Stoeckel | Australia | 53.55 | |
| 8 | 7 | Cheng Feiyi | China | 53.77 | |