# Swimming at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The Men's 100 Freestyle event at the 10th FINA World Aquatics Championships swam on 23–24 July 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. Preliminary and Semifinal heats swam on July 23; while the Final swam on July 24.
Prior to the start of the event, the existing World (WR) and Championship (CR) records were:
* WR: 47.84 by Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands) swum on 19 September 2000 in Sydney, Australia
* CR: 48.33 by Anthony Ervin (USA) swum on 27 July 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan

## Results
### Final

| Place | Swimmer | Nation | Time |
| 1 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 48.42 |
| 2 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.68 |
| 3 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 48.77 |
| 4 | Jason Lezak | USA | 48.94 |
| 5 | Andrei Kapralov | Russia | 48.95 |
| 6 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 49.30 |
| 7 | Ryk Neethling | South Africa | 49.51 |
| 8 | Milorad Čavić | Yugoslavia | 49.65 |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat + Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | S2 L4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.39 | q |
| 2 | S2 L5 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 48.51 | q |
| 3 | S1 L5 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 48.71 | q |
| 4 | S1 L4 | Jason Lezak | USA | 48.78 | q |
| 5 | S2 L3 | Andrei Kapralov | Russia | 48.98 | q |
| 6 | S1 L2 | Ryk Neethling | South Africa | 49.29 | q |
| 7 | S2 L7 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 49.44 | q |
| 8 | S1 L7 | Milorad Čavić | Yugoslavia | 49.54 | q |
| 9 | S2 L6 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 49.55 | |
| 10 | S1 L1 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 49.56 | |
| 11 | S1 L3 | Brent Hayden | Canada | 49.60 | |
| 12 | S1 L6 | Scott Tucker | USA | 49.70 | |
| 13 | S2 L8 | Lorenzo Vismara | Italy | 49.72 | |
| 14 | S2 L1 | Karel Novy | Switzerland | 49.77 | |
| 15 | S2 L2 | Peter Mankoč | Slovenia | 49.88 | |
| 16 | S1 L8 | Stefan Herbst | Germany | 50.12 | |

### Preliminaries

| Rank | Heat+Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | H21 L4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.86 | q |
| 2 | H19 L3 | Jason Lezak | United States | 48.93 | q |
| 3 | H20 L4 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 48.94 | q |
| 4 | H19 L4 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 49.17 | q |
| 5 | H20 L3 | Andrei Kapralov | Russia | 49.21 | q |
| 6 | H19 L2 | Brent Hayden | Canada | 49.54 | q |
| 7 | H19 L1 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 49.58 | q |
| 8 | H20 L5 | Scott Tucker | United States | 49.59 | q |
| 9 | H18 L6 | Peter Mankoč | Slovenia | 49.63 | q |
| 9 | H19 L5 | Ryk Neethling | South Africa | 49.63 | q |
| 11 | H21 L6 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 49.67 | q |
| 12 | H17 L3 | Milorad Čavić | FR Yugoslavia | 49.68 | q |
| 13 | H20 L8 | Karel Novy | Switzerland | 49.73 | q |
| 14 | H21 L5 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 49.74 | q |
| 15 | H20 L2 | Lorenzo Vismara | Italy | 49.78 | q |
| 16 | H20 L7 | Stefan Herbst | Germany | 49.87 | q |
| 17 | H21 L1 | Christian Galenda | Italy | 49.90 | |
| 18 | H20 L1 | Johan Kenkhuis | Netherlands | 50.07 | |
| 19 | H18 L5 | Rolandas Gimbutis | Lithuania | 50.12 | |
| 20 | H21 L2 | Lars Frölander | Sweden | 50.14 | |
| 21 | H19 L6 | Romain Barnier | France | 50.16 | |
| 22 | H21 L3 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 50.20 | |
| 23 | H17 L4 | Zuo Chen | China | 50.23 | |
| 24 | H18 L8 | Vyacheslav Shyrshov | Ukraine | 50.24 | |
| 25 | H21 L7 | Attila Zubor | Hungary | 50.28 | |
| 26 | H18 L4 | Eduard Lorente | Spain | 50.33 | |
| 27 | H16 L3 | Danil Haustov | Estonia | 50.42 | |
| 28 | H19 L7 | Roland Schoeman | South Africa | 50.43 | |
| 29 | H18 L2 | Renaat Dreesen | Belgium | 50.52 | |
| 30 | H18 L3 | Jader Souza | Brazil | 50.57 | |
| 31 | H21 L8 | Yannick Lupien | Canada | 50.58 | |
| 32 | H15 L2 | Örn Arnarson | Iceland | 50.59 | |
| 33 | H18 L1 | Ricardo Bousquet | Puerto Rico | 50.73 | |
| 34 | H20 L6 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 50.76 | |
| 35 | H11 L8 | Andrii Serdinov | Ukraine | 50.77 | |
| 36 | H16 L7 | Matti Rajakylä | Finland | 50.83 | |
| 37 | H17 L1 | Daisuke Hosokawa | Japan | 50.86 | |
| 38 | H17 L8 | Rodrigo Castro | Brazil | 50.89 | |
| 39 | H18 L7 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 50.91 | |
| 40 | H17 L2 | Pavel Lagoun | Belarus | 50.99 | |
| 41 | H19 L8 | Jere Hård | Finland | 51.01 | |
| 42 | H16 L4 | Paulius Viktoravičius | Lithuania | 51.08 | |
| 43 | H16 L6 | Igor Čerenšek | Croatia | 51.20 | |
| 44 | H16 L5 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 51.21 | |
| 45 | H16 L2 | Ravil Nachaev | Uzbekistan | 51.23 | |
| 46 | H15 L1 | Romāns Miloslavskis | Latvia | 51.37 | |
| 47 | H16 L8 | Raymond Rosal | Venezuela | 51.57 | |
| 48 | H13 L4 | Camilo Becerra | Colombia | 51.68 | |
| 49 | H14 L7 | Apostolos Tsagkarakis | Greece | 51.73 | |
| 50 | H17 L5 | Nuno Laurentino | Portugal | 51.83 | |
| 51 | H14 L1 | Paul Kutscher | Uruguay | 51.88 | |
| 52 | H14 L5 | Octavian Guţu | Moldova | 52.06 | |
| 52 | H14 L6 | Shai Livnat | Israel | 52.06 | |
| 54 | H14 L8 | Carl Probert | Fiji | 52.10 | |
| 54 | H15 L5 | Cameron Gibson | New Zealand | 52.10 | |
| 56 | H15 L6 | Ryan Pini | Papua New Guinea | 52.12 | |
| 57 | H15 L8 | Alexandros Aresti | Cyprus | 52.17 | |
| 58 | H14 L2 | Željko Panić | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 52.18 | |
| 59 | H17 L6 | Min Suk Kim | South Korea | 52.25 | |
| 60 | H12 L4 | Ismael Ortiz | Panama | 52.45 | |
| 61 | H15 L4 | Yun Ho Koh | South Korea | 52.46 | |
| 62 | H15 L3 | Francisco Picasso | Uruguay | 52.55 | |
| 63 | H14 L4 | Alexander Agafonov | Uzbekistan | 52.59 | |
| 64 | H12 L7 | Ken Tomson | Estonia | 52.60 | |
| 64 | H14 L3 | Albert Subirats | Venezuela | 52.60 | |
| 66 | H15 L7 | Allen Ong | Malaysia | 52.66 | |
| 67 | H13 L3 | Vyacheslav Titarenko | Kazakhstan | 52.83 | |
| 68 | H12 L2 | Adil Bellaz | Morocco | 52.84 | |
| 69 | H13 L2 | Ronald Cowen | Bermuda | 52.99 | |
| 70 | H13 L1 | Maximiliano Schnettler | Chile | 53.07 | |
| 71 | H12 L3 | Alexandr Ivlev | Moldova | 53.11 | |
| 72 | H16 L1 | Aytekin Mindan | Turkey | 53.13 | |
| 73 | H11 L6 | Heidar Ingi Marinosson | Iceland | 53.15 | |
| 74 | H12 L5 | Howard Hinds | Netherlands Antilles | 53.19 | |
| 75 | H11 L5 | Kin Lun Doo | Hong Kong | 53.25 | |
| 76 | H11 L2 | Nicholas Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 53.29 | |
| 77 | H07 L1 | Kenny Roberts | Seychelles | 53.33 | |
| 78 | H11 L7 | Carlos Castro | Chile | 53.35 | |
| 79 | H10 L3 | Tuck Kar Wong | Malaysia | 53.51 | |
| 80 | H13 L7 | Roberto Sanso | Costa Rica | 53.52 | |
| 81 | H12 L6 | Ashby Brendan | Zimbabwe | 53.55 | |
| 82 | H10 L2 | Sean Dehere | Barbados | 53.62 | |
| 83 | H06 L7 | Gentle Offoin | Nigeria | 53.70 | |
| 84 | H08 L4 | Babak Farhoudi | Iran | 83.76 | |
| 85 | H12 L8 | Diego Mularoni | San Marino | 53.88 | |
| 86 | H11 L4 | Wing Fu | Hong Kong | 53.90 | |
| 87 | H10 L4 | Gregory Arkhurst | Ivory Coast | 54.01 | |
| 88 | H10 L5 | Martyn Forde | Barbados | 54.07 | |
| 89 | H13 L8 | Anovar Bennaceur | Tunisia | 54.25 | |
| 90 | H12 L1 | Cem Pasaoglu | Turkey | 54.32 | |
| 91 | H09 L6 | Carles Ridaura | Andorra | 54.34 | |
| 92 | H09 L4 | Gustavo Adolfo Martinez | Honduras | 54.49 | |
| 93 | H10 L7 | Zurab Khomasuridze | Georgia | 54.52 | |
| 94 | H09 L5 | Wing Cheung Victor Wong | Macau | 54.58 | |
| 95 | H09 L8 | Obied Ahmed Al Jassimi | United Arab Emirates | 54.67 | |
| 96 | H06 L6 | Yann Lausan | Tahiti | 54.88 | |
| 96 | H13 L6 | Maran Cruz | Puerto Rico | 54.88 | |
| 98 | H10 L6 | Alois Dansou | Benin | 54.89 | |
| 99 | H08 L6 | Kunakorn Yimsomruay | Thailand | 54.90 | |
| 100 | H17 L7 | Shaohua Huang | China | 54.98 | |
| 101 | H09 L1 | Levan Berdize | Georgia | 55.07 | |
| 102 | H09 L7 | Ayoub Salem Almas | United Arab Emirates | 55.16 | |
| 103 | H08 L7 | Khaly Ciss | Senegal | 55.17 | |
| 104 | H10 L8 | Afolabi Adeleke-Adedoyin | Nigeria | 55.23 | |
| 105 | H11 L1 | Mikayel Koloyan | Armenia | 55.34 | |
| 106 | H07 L8 | Abed Rahman Kaaki | Lebanon | 55.41 | |
| 107 | H06 L4 | Onan Thom | Guyana | 55.44 | |
| 107 | H08 L5 | Jamie Peterkin | Saint Lucia | 55.44 | |
| 109 | H08 L3 | Joao Aguiar | Angola | 55.48 | |
| 110 | H08 L2 | Davy Bisslik | Aruba | 55.52 | |
| 111 | H07 L4 | Miguel Navarro | Bolivia | 55.61 | |
| 112 | H10 L1 | Mauricio Prudencio | Bolivia | 55.70 | |
| 113 | H07 L7 | Kuan Fong Lao | Macau | 55.86 | |
| 114 | H08 L8 | Zaid Almarafi | Jordan | 56.05 | |
| 115 | H04 L5 | Rony Bakale | Republic of the Congo | 56.15 | |
| 115 | H05 L3 | Lam Le Ba | Vietnam | 56.15 | |
| 117 | H06 L8 | Ranui Teriipaia | Tahiti | 56.18 | |
| 118 | H08 L1 | Fadi Jalabi | Syria | 56.20 | |
| 119 | H09 L3 | Othmane Elghnimi | Morocco | 56.25 | |
| 120 | H06 L5 | Bradford Worrell | Saint Lucia | 56.27 | |
| 121 | H09 L2 | Omar Abu Faris | Jordan | 56.36 | |
| 122 | H06 L2 | Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw | Suriname | 56.49 | |
| 122 | H07 L5 | Benjamin Wells | Papua New Guinea | 56.49 | |
| 124 | H06 L3 | Rama Vyombo | Kenya | 56.65 | |
| 125 | H07 L3 | Abdoulaye Mbow | Senegal | 56.75 | |
| 126 | H04 L4 | Dean Palacios | Northern Mariana Islands | 57.07 | |
| 127 | H05 L4 | Patrick Boustany | Lebanon | 57.15 | |
| 128 | H04 L3 | Seung Gin Lee | Northern Mariana Islands | 57.20 | |
| 129 | H06 L1 | Omar Núñez | Nicaragua | 57.27 | |
| 130 | H05 L1 | Loren Lindborg | Marshall Islands | 57.30 | |
| 131 | H02 L2 | Hesham Al Shehabi | Bahrain | 57.44 | |
| 132 | H05 L2 | Jean Laurent Ravera | Monaco | 57.49 | |
| 133 | H04 L1 | Tamir Andrei | Mongolia | 57.66 | |
| 133 | H05 L7 | Connor Keith | Guam | 57.66 | |
| 135 | H07 L6 | Sergey Dyachkov | Azerbaijan | 57.73 | |
| 136 | H01 L5 | Yan Lin Aung | Myanmar | 57.79 | |
| 137 | H05 L8 | Asela Pradeep Perera | Sri Lanka | 57.93 | |
| 138 | H05 L6 | Ahmed Ouattara Zie | Ivory Coast | 58.04 | |
| 139 | H03 L3 | Kabir Walia | Kenya | 58.21 | |
| 140 | H03 L5 | Kin-Vincent Duenas | Guam | 58.35 | |
| 141 | H04 L2 | Orkhan Samadov | Azerbaijan | 58.42 | |
| 142 | H07 L2 | Nuno Rola | Angola | 58.48 | |
| 143 | H03 L8 | Peter James Linch | Zambia | 58.60 | |
| 144 | H04 L6 | Urnultsaikhan Ganbold | Mongolia | 58.62 | |
| 145 | H04 L8 | Clark Randrianandraina | Madagascar | 58.80 | |
| 146 | H03 L4 | Ronald Ying | Guyana | 59.44 | |
| 147 | H03 L2 | Neil Agius | Malta | 59.81 | |
| 148 | H03 L7 | Leonel Matonse | Mozambique | 59.87 | |
| 149 | H03 L1 | Mohammed S. Abbas | Iraq | 59.96 | |
| 150 | H04 L7 | Kreshnik Gjata | Albania | 1:00.13 | |
| 151 | H02 L6 | Chisela Kanchela | Zambia | 1:01.51 | |
| 152 | H02 L4 | Edgar Luberenga | Uganda | 1:01.61 | |
| 153 | H03 L6 | Aldi Gugushka | Albania | 1:01.78 | |
| 154 | H02 L8 | Joshua Marfleet | Samoa | 1:02.97 | |
| 155 | H02 L1 | Carlos Notarianni | Marshall Islands | 1:03.88 | |
| 156 | H01 L2 | Hassan Mubah | Maldives | 1:04.28 | |
| 157 | H01 L1 | Momadon Ouedrago | Burkina Faso | 1:07.09 | |
| 158 | H01 L3 | A.A. Romain Belemtougri | Burkina Faso | 1:19.42 | |
| - | H01 L4 | Mohammed Sultan Judat | Yemen | DQ | |
| - | H01 L6 | Ahmed Fargani | Libya | DQ | |
| - | H05 L5 | Aung Kyaw Moe | Myanmar | DQ | |
| - | - | Christoph Bühler | Switzerland | DNS | |
| - | - | Ayoub Salem Mallalah | United Arab Emirates | DNS | |
| - | - | Shade Sule Cole | Cameroon | DNS | |
| - | - | Fils Theodore Tchena | Cameroon | DNS | |
| - | - | Gibrilla Kanu | Sierra Leone | DNS | |
| - | - | Emery Nziyumvira | Burundi | DNS | |
| - | - | Fidel Davis | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | DNS | |