# Swimming at the 2002 Commonwealth Games – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The Men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place between 2 August 2002 and 3 August 2002 at Manchester Aquatics Centre.

## Schedule

All times are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
| Date | Time | Event |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 11:16 | Heat 1 |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 11:19 | Heat 2 |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 10:23 | Heat 3 |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 10:26 | Heat 4 |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 19:46 | Semifinal 1 |
| Friday, 2 August 2002 | 19:50 | Semifinal 2 |
| Saturday, 3 August 2002 | 19:58 | Final |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Lenny Krayzelburg | United States | 53.60 | Sydney | 24 August 1999 |
| Games record | Mark Versfeld | Canada | 55.52 | Kuala Lumpur | 16 September 1998 |
The following new records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| 3 August | Final | Matt Welsh | Australia | 54.72 | GR |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were held the morning session on 2 August.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 56.35 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 56.45 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | Adam Ruckwood | England | 56.87 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | Ethan Rolff | Australia | 57.04 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 2 | Martin Harris | England | 57.06 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 57.09 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 4 | Gregor Tait | Scotland | 57.23 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 2 | Nicholas Neckles | Barbados | 57.49 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Tobias Oriwol | Canada | 57.70 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 6 | Simon Burnett | England | 57.79 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 5 | Alex Lim | Malaysia | 57.88 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | 6 | James Veldman | Canada | 58.20 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 5 | Riley Janes | Canada | 58.41 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | 3 | Cameron Gibson | New Zealand | 58.50 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 7 | Andrew Mackay | Cayman Islands | 59.66 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 7 | Ramon James | Jamaica | 1:00.29 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | 2 | Ron Cowen | Bermuda | 1:00.71 | |
| 17 | 2 | 7 | Dane Harrop | Isle of Man | 1:00.71 | |
| 19 | 4 | 1 | Ian Powell | Guernsey | 1:01.08 | |
| 20 | 2 | 8 | Jonathon Le Noury | Guernsey | 1:03.46 | |
| 21 | 3 | 8 | Folahan Oluwole | Nigeria | 1:04.51 | |
| 22 | 4 | 8 | Rubel Rana | Bangladesh | 1:05.05 | |
| 23 | 1 | 5 | Jamie Zammitt | Gibraltar | 1:05.26 | |
| 24 | 1 | 3 | Jean Francois Wai Choon | Mauritius | 1:05.92 | |
| 25 | 1 | 4 | Kabir Walia | Kenya | 1:06.07 | |
| 26 | 2 | 1 | Roy-Allan Burch | Bermuda | 1:06.33 | |
| 27 | 1 | 6 | Lateef Aliasau | Nigeria | 1:06.78 | |
| 28 | 1 | 2 | David Korpela | Malawi | 1:14.03 | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held the evening session on 2 August.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 55.91 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 7 | Alex Lim | Malaysia | 56.11 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 6 | Gregor Tait | Scotland | 56.32 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 56.49 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | Adam Ruckwood | England | 56.61 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 5 | Ethan Rolff | Australia | 56.83 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 57.00 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | Martin Harris | England | 57.26 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 1 | Riley Janes | Canada | 57.28 | |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | Simon Burnett | England | 57.34 | |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | Tobias Oriwol | Canada | 57.47 | |
| 12 | 1 | 7 | James Veldman | Canada | 57.52 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | Cameron Gibson | New Zealand | 57.62 | |
| 14 | 1 | 6 | Nicholas Neckles | Barbados | 57.84 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Andrew Mackay | Cayman Islands | 59.49 | |
| 16 | 1 | 8 | Ramon James | Jamaica | 1:01.08 | |

### Final

The final were held the evening session on 3 August.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 54.72 | GR |
| | 6 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 55.38 | |
| | 5 | Alex Lim | Malaysia | 55.44 | |
| 4 | 1 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 55.98 | |
| 5 | 3 | Gregor Tait | Scotland | 56.08 | |
| 6 | 2 | Adam Ruckwood | England | 56.65 | |
| 7 | 7 | Ethan Rolff | Australia | 56.98 | |
| 8 | 8 | Martin Harris | England | 58.40 | |