# Swimming at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre backstroke

The men's 50 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships took place May 23 and 24. The heats and semifinals took place on May 23, the final on May 24.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world, European and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record European record | Liam Tancock | Great Britain | 24.04 | Rome | August 2, 2009 |
| Championship record | Camille Lacourt | France | 24.07 | Budapest | August 12, 2010 |

## Results
### Heats

43 swimmers participated in 6 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 3 | Mirco Di Tora | Italy | 25.18 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | Jonatan Kopelev | Israel | 25.24 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 6 | Dorian Gandin | France | 25.40 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 4 | Guy Barnea | Israel | 25.44 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 25.46 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 25.49 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 4 | 7 | Christian Diener | Germany | 25.52 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Stefano Mauro Pizzamiglio | Italy | 25.59 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 4 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 25.62 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 7 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 25.67 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 25.68 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Juan Miguel Rando Galvez | Spain | 25.71 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 5 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 25.78 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 1 | David Gamburg | Israel | 25.86 | |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Karl Burdis | Ireland | 25.87 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 8 | Alexis Manacas Santos | Portugal | 25.88 | Q, NR |
| 17 | 4 | 4 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 25.94 | Q |
| 18 | 6 | 7 | Matteo Milli | Italy | 25.99 | |
| 19 | 5 | 2 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 26.06 | |
| 20 | 3 | 6 | Jonathan Massacand | Switzerland | 26.13 | |
| 21 | 3 | 4 | Jakub Jasiński | Poland | 26.24 | |
| 22 | 3 | 2 | Martin Zhelev | Bulgaria | 26.26 | NR |
| 23 | 4 | 1 | Olexandr Isakov | Ukraine | 26.30 | |
| 24 | 2 | 5 | Martin Baďura | Czech Republic | 26.31 | NR |
| 25 | 3 | 5 | Ádám Szilágyi | Hungary | 26.32 | |
| 25 | 6 | 8 | Gábor Balog | Hungary | 26.32 | |
| 27 | 1 | 4 | Itai Chammha | Israel | 26.34 | |
| 28 | 4 | 2 | Andres Olvik | Estonia | 26.41 | |
| 29 | 2 | 6 | Mikhail Zvyagin | Russia | 26.43 | |
| 30 | 2 | 3 | Konstantīns Blohins | Latvia | 26.47 | |
| 31 | 5 | 1 | Roko Šimunić | Croatia | 26.48 | |
| 32 | 3 | 8 | Matas Andriekus | Lithuania | 26.51 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Pavels Vilcans | Latvia | 26.61 | |
| 34 | 3 | 1 | Sasa Gerbec | Croatia | 26.63 | |
| 35 | 4 | 8 | Mateusz Wysoczynski | Poland | 26.64 | |
| 36 | 2 | 4 | Dominik Dür | Austria | 26.69 | |
| 37 | 2 | 8 | Justinas Bilis | Lithuania | 26.98 | |
| 38 | 2 | 2 | Jean-François Schneiders | Luxembourg | 27.00 | |
| 39 | 1 | 5 | Petar Petrović | Serbia | 27.04 | |
| 39 | 3 | 3 | Mindaugas Sadauskas | Lithuania | 27.04 | |
| 41 | 2 | 1 | Lukas Räuftlin | Switzerland | 27.22 | |
| 42 | 3 | 7 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 28.34 | |
| 43 | 1 | 3 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | Finland | 28.53 | |

### Semifinals

The eight fasters swimmers advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Jonatan Kopelev | Israel | 24.98 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Guy Barnea | Israel | 25.29 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 25.36 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 2 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 25.40 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 6 | Stefano Mauro Pizzamiglio | Italy | 25.54 | |
| 6 | 8 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 25.75 | |
| 7 | 1 | Karl Burdis | Ireland | 25.78 | |
| 8 | 7 | Juan Miguel Rando Galvez | Spain | 25.88 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Mirco Di Tora | Italy | 25.23 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 25.29 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 25.36 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 5 | Dorian Gandin | France | 25.39 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Christian Diener | Germany | 25.51 | |
| 6 | 1 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 25.70 | |
| 7 | 2 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 25.78 | |
| 8 | 8 | Alexis Manacas Santos | Portugal | 26.01 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:19.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Jonatan Kopelev | Israel | 24.73 | |
| | 5 | Mirco Di Tora | Italy | 24.95 | |
| | 1 | Dorian Gandin | France | 25.14 | |
| | 3 | Guy Barnea | Israel | 25.14 | |
| | 7 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 25.14 | NR |
| 6 | 2 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 25.25 | NR |
| 7 | 8 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 25.28 | NR |
| 8 | 6 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 25.46 | |