# Swimming at the 1986 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The finals and the qualifying heats of the men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1986 World Aquatics Championships were held on 22 August 1986 in Madrid, Spain.

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stefan Volery | Switzerland | 22.62 | CR |
| 2 | Tom Jager | United States | 22.66 | |
| 3 | Ang Peng Siong | Singapore | 22.71 | |
| 4 | Dano Halsall | Switzerland | 22.83 | |
| 5 | Matt Biondi | United States | 22.89 | |
| 6 | Gennadiy Prigoda | Soviet Union | 22.98 | |
| 7 | Per Johansson | Sweden | 23.03 | NR |
| 8 | Jörg Woithe | East Germany | 22.86 | |
| 9 | Hans Kroes | Netherlands | 23.27 | |
| 10 | Greg Fasala | Australia | 23.42 | |
| 11 | Franz Mortensen | Denmark | 23.48 | |
| 12 | Nils Liedberg | Sweden | 23.49 | |
| 13 | Andy Jameson | Great Britain | 23.51 | |
| 14 | Patrick Dybiona | Netherlands | 23.54 | |
| 15 | Matthias Lutze | East Germany | 23.56 | |
| 16 | Blair Hicken | Canada | 23.57 | NR |
| 17 | Marcos Goldenstein | Brazil | 23.59 | |
| 17 | Tzvetan Golomeev | Bulgaria | 23.59 | NR |
| 19 | Giovanni Franceschi | Italy | 23.63 | |
| 20 | Sergey Smiriagin | Soviet Union | 23.66 | |
| 21 | Andre Schadt | West Germany | 23.75 | |
| 22 | Petr Kladiva | Czechoslovakia | 23.80 | |
| 23 | Fernando Rodríguez | Peru | 23.91 | NR |
| 24 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 23.97 | |
| 25 | Matthew Renshaw | Australia | 24.01 | |
| 26 | Jose Medina | Mexico | 24.11 | |
| 27 | Cyro Delgado | Brazil | 24.12 | |
| 28 | Regent Lacoursiere | Canada | 24.13 | |
| 29 | Sergio Esteves | Portugal | 24.15 | |
| 30 | Luis Manuel Martin | Spain | 24.16 | |
| 31 | Yves Clausse | Luxembourg | 24.32 | |
| 32 | Katsunori Fujiwara | Japan | 24.36 | |
| 33 | Alexander Pilhatsch | Austria | 24.40 | |
| 34 | Anthony Nesty | Suriname | 24.45 | NR |
| 35 | Antonio Portela | Puerto Rico | 24.46 | |
| 36 | Hans Foerster | United States Virgin Islands | 24.50 | NR |
| 37 | Lyes Mahfoudia | Algeria | 24.57 | NR |
| 38 | Declan Connaughton | Ireland | 24.61 | |
| 39 | Sadri Ozun | Turkey | 24.64 | |
| 40 | Mohamed Yussef | Egypt | 24.71 | NR |
| 41 | Joaquin Herrero | Spain | 24.73 | |
| 42 | Manuel Guzman | Puerto Rico | 24.82 | |
| 43 | Harald Sinzinger | Austria | 24.96 | |
| 44 | Juan Tavares | Dominican Republic | 25.05 | |
| 45 | Ayman Nadim | Egypt | 25.31 | |
| 46 | Lee Ta Lin | Chinese Taipei | 25.32 | |
| 47 | Ronald Pickard | United States Virgin Islands | 25.47 | |
| 48 | Mika Lohi | Finland | 25.53 | |
| 49 | Chen Cheng I | Chinese Taipei | 25.91 | |
| 50 | Michele Piva | San Marino | 26.29 | |
| 51 | Daniele Piva | San Marino | 27.11 | |

### B Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | Greg Fasala | Australia | 23.01 |
| 10 | Hans Kroes | Netherlands | 23.31 |
| 11 | Nils Liedberg | Sweden | 23.53 |
| 12 | Patrick Dybiona | Netherlands | 23.55 |
| 13 | Franz Mortensen | Denmark | 23.71 |
| 14 | Andy Jameson | Great Britain | 23.73 |
| 15 | Matthias Lutze | East Germany | 23.74 |
| 16 | Blair Hicken | Canada | 23.78 |

### A Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Tom Jager | United States | 22.49 | CR |
| | Dano Halsall | Switzerland | 22.80 | |
| | Matt Biondi | United States | 22.85 | |
| 4 | Ang Peng Siong | Singapore | 23.03 | |
| 5 | Stefan Volery | Switzerland | 23.08 | |
| 6 | Per Johansson | Sweden | 23.10 | |
| 7 | Jörg Woithe | East Germany | 23.12 | |
| 8 | Gennadiy Prigoda | Soviet Union | 23.27 | |