# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 29 with the heats and the semifinals and July 30 with the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | César Cielo | Brazil | 20.91 | São Paulo | December 18, 2009 |
| Championship record | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.08 | Rome | August 1, 2009 |

## Results
### Heats

117 swimmers participated in 16 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 14 | 4 | César Cielo | Brazil | 22.03 | Q |
| 1 | 15 | 4 | Nathan Adrian | United States | 22.03 | Q |
| 1 | 15 | 8 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 22.03 | Q |
| 4 | 16 | 8 | Adam Brown | Great Britain | 22.08 | Q |
| 5 | 15 | 2 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 22.15 | Q |
| 5 | 16 | 5 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.15 | Q |
| 7 | 15 | 1 | Sergey Fesikov | Russia | 22.16 | Q |
| 7 | 16 | 1 | Marco Orsi | Italy | 22.16 | Q |
| 9 | 16 | 6 | Matthew Abood | Australia | 22.17 | Q |
| 10 | 15 | 3 | Alain Bernard | France | 22.19 | Q |
| 11 | 16 | 2 | Gideon Louw | South Africa | 22.21 | Q |
| 12 | 15 | 6 | Luca Dotto | Italy | 22.25 | Q |
| 13 | 14 | 5 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 22.26 | Q |
| 14 | 15 | 7 | Matt Targett | Australia | 22.31 | Q |
| 15 | 16 | 7 | Roland Schoeman | South Africa | 22.32 | Q |
| 16 | 14 | 3 | Andrey Grechin | Russia | 22.33 | Q |
| 17 | 15 | 5 | Brent Hayden | Canada | 22.34 | |
| 17 | 13 | 1 | David Dunford | Kenya | 22.34 | |
| 19 | 14 | 8 | Dominik Kozma | Hungary | 22.36 | |
| 20 | 16 | 3 | Cullen Jones | United States | 22.37 | |
| 21 | 16 | 4 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 22.38 | |
| 22 | 14 | 6 | Andriy Govorov | Ukraine | 22.51 | |
| 23 | 14 | 7 | Simon Burnett | Great Britain | 22.54 | |
| 24 | 13 | 4 | Lü Zhiwu | China | 22.55 | |
| 25 | 11 | 5 | Brett Fraser | Cayman Islands | 22.65 | |
| 25 | 14 | 2 | Marco di Carli | Germany | 22.65 | |
| 27 | 13 | 3 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | Finland | 22.67 | |
| 28 | 12 | 8 | Roy-Allan Burch | Bermuda | 22.69 | NR |
| 29 | 12 | 4 | Hanser García | Cuba | 22.72 | |
| 30 | 13 | 2 | Jasper Aerents | Belgium | 22.73 | |
| 31 | 13 | 8 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 22.80 | |
| 32 | 13 | 6 | Alexandre Agosthino | Portugal | 22.81 | |
| 33 | 13 | 7 | Odysseas Meladinis | Greece | 22.90 | |
| 34 | 12 | 3 | Mindaugas Sadauskas | Lithuania | 22.95 | |
| 35 | 12 | 1 | Barry Murphy | Ireland | 22.96 | |
| 36 | 14 | 1 | Filip Rypych | Poland | 22.99 | |
| 37 | 13 | 5 | Elvis Burrows | Bahamas | 23.14 | |
| 38 | 12 | 7 | Shehab Younis | Egypt | 23.17 | |
| 39 | 11 | 4 | Sidni Hoxha | Albania | 23.18 | NR |
| 40 | 12 | 6 | Virdhawal Khade | India | 23.21 | |
| 41 | 12 | 5 | Juan Manuel Cambindo | Colombia | 23.31 | |
| 42 | 11 | 3 | Ivars Akmentiņš | Latvia | 23.57 | |
| 43 | 10 | 4 | Andrew Chetcuti | Malta | 23.65 | |
| 44 | 10 | 2 | Amine Kouame | Morocco | 23.83 | |
| 45 | 9 | 4 | Luke Hall | Eswatini | 23.92 | |
| 46 | 10 | 3 | Yellow Yeiyah | Nigeria | 24.01 | |
| 46 | 11 | 2 | Oliver Elliot | Chile | 24.01 | |
| 48 | 10 | 6 | José Montoya | Costa Rica | 24.12 | |
| 49 | 11 | 8 | Anthony Clark | French Polynesia | 24.15 | |
| 50 | 11 | 6 | Serghei Golban | Moldova | 24.23 | |
| 51 | 11 | 1 | Mohammad Bidaryan | Iran | 24.33 | |
| 52 | 11 | 7 | Kareem Ennab | Jordan | 24.35 | |
| 53 | 9 | 7 | Chakyl Camal | Mozambique | 24.40 | |
| 54 | 9 | 5 | Christopher Duenas | Guam | 24.41 | |
| 55 | 10 | 5 | Mikael Koloyan | Armenia | 24.45 | |
| 56 | 9 | 2 | Julien Brice | Saint Lucia | 24.59 | |
| 57 | 8 | 3 | Heshan Unamboowe | Sri Lanka | 24.64 | |
| 57 | 9 | 3 | Gerard Baldrich Pujol | Andorra | 24.64 | |
| 59 | 10 | 1 | Kevin Avila | Guatemala | 24.66 | |
| 60 | 8 | 6 | Esau Simpson | Grenada | 24.72 | |
| 61 | 9 | 6 | Nicholas Coard | Grenada | 24.78 | |
| 62 | 9 | 8 | Niall Roberts | Guyana | 24.80 | |
| 63 | 8 | 4 | Mahfizur Rahman Sagor | Bangladesh | 24.82 | |
| 64 | 10 | 8 | Abbas Raad | Lebanon | 24.95 | |
| 65 | 8 | 7 | Sergey Krovyakov | Turkmenistan | 25.11 | |
| 66 | 4 | 8 | Adama Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | 25.33 | |
| 67 | 9 | 1 | Emile Bakale | Congo | 25.38 | |
| 68 | 7 | 7 | Mark Thompson | Zambia | 25.70 | |
| 69 | 7 | 1 | Indra Rakotondrazanaka | Madagascar | 25.72 | |
| 69 | 8 | 5 | Kerson Hadley | Micronesia | 25.72 | |
| 71 | 7 | 5 | Kouassi Brou | Ivory Coast | 25.81 | |
| 72 | 7 | 2 | Christian Nikles | Brunei | 25.86 | |
| 73 | 6 | 3 | Tolga Akcayli | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 25.96 | |
| 74 | 7 | 8 | Mamadou Soumare | Mali | 26.05 | |
| 75 | 10 | 7 | Tamir Andryei | Mongolia | 26.26 | |
| 76 | 8 | 1 | John Kamyuka | Botswana | 26.30 | |
| 77 | 8 | 2 | Shane Mangroo | Seychelles | 26.32 | |
| 78 | 7 | 3 | Zachary Payne | Cook Islands | 26.50 | |
| 79 | 6 | 4 | Tawil Majd | Palestine | 26.65 | |
| 80 | 6 | 5 | Israr Hussain | Pakistan | 27.03 | |
| 81 | 6 | 8 | Hemthon Ponloeu | Cambodia | 27.22 | |
| 82 | 6 | 7 | Prasiddha Jung Shah | Nepal | 27.30 | |
| 83 | 5 | 7 | Chamraen Youri Maximov | Cambodia | 27.48 | |
| 84 | 6 | 1 | Ganzi Mugula | Uganda | 27.58 | |
| 84 | 4 | 3 | Paul Edingue Ekane | Cameroon | 27.58 | |
| 84 | 6 | 6 | Shailesh Shumsher Rana | Nepal | 27.58 | |
| 87 | 3 | 2 | Mohamed Abd Elrawf Mahmoud | Sudan | 27.67 | |
| 88 | 4 | 4 | Abdourahman Osman | Djibouti | 27.69 | |
| 89 | 4 | 5 | Farhan Sultan | Bahrain | 27.70 | |
| 90 | 4 | 2 | Giordan Harris | Marshall Islands | 27.71 | |
| 91 | 2 | 2 | Jackson Niyomugabo | Rwanda | 27.73 | |
| 91 | 3 | 6 | Ching Maou Wei | American Samoa | 27.73 | |
| 93 | 2 | 7 | Patrick Rukundo | Rwanda | 28.08 | |
| 94 | 5 | 6 | Zandan Gunsennorou | Mongolia | 28.14 | |
| 95 | 3 | 4 | Shawn Wallace | Palau | 28.21 | |
| 96 | 8 | 8 | Athoumani Youssouf | Comoros | 28.52 | |
| 97 | 4 | 6 | Jeffrey Orel | Antigua and Barbuda | 28.57 | |
| 98 | 5 | 3 | Conrad Gaira | Uganda | 28.65 | |
| 99 | 5 | 8 | Mulualem Girma Teshale | Ethiopia | 28.81 | |
| 100 | 7 | 4 | Ahmed Chawali | Comoros | 28.82 | |
| 101 | 3 | 8 | Phathana Inthavong | Laos | 28.94 | |
| 102 | 5 | 2 | Alisher Chingizov | Tajikistan | 29.05 | |
| 103 | 4 | 7 | Ammaar Ghadiyali | Tanzania | 29.23 | |
| 104 | 4 | 1 | Anauska Ndinga | Congo | 29.24 | |
| 105 | 2 | 4 | Mohamed Eltayeb | Sudan | 29.49 | |
| 106 | 1 | 4 | Christian Nassif | Central African Republic | 29.71 | |
| 107 | 5 | 4 | Amadou Camara | Guinea | 29.72 | |
| 108 | 3 | 3 | Wilfrid Tevoedjre | Benin | 31.49 | |
| 109 | 2 | 5 | Daniel Langinbelik | Marshall Islands | 31.73 | |
| 110 | 3 | 1 | Iourhanta Mohamed Osman | Djibouti | 31.79 | |
| 111 | 7 | 6 | Seele Benjamin Ntai | Lesotho | 32.74 | |
| 112 | 3 | 7 | Mohamed Mamaiv Sani | Niger | 33.37 | |
| 113 | 3 | 5 | Razak Marafa | Niger | 33.83 | |
| 114 | 5 | 5 | Tsepo Mafa | Lesotho | 34.54 | |
| 115 | 1 | 5 | Gailloty Croyeb | Central African Republic | 35.11 | |
| 116 | 2 | 3 | Eycub Leebeid | Mauritania | 45.18 | |
| – | 1 | 3 | Yau Mutas | DR Congo | | DNS |
| – | 2 | 6 | Hamza Labeid | Mauritania | | DSQ |
| – | 5 | 1 | Mamot Faye | Gambia | | DNS |
| – | 6 | 2 | Folarin Ogunsola | Gambia | | DNS |
| – | 12 | 2 | Nabil Kebbab | Algeria | | DNS |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held at 18:35.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Nathan Adrian | United States | 21.94 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Luca Dotto | Italy | 21.97 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Alain Bernard | France | 22.07 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Matt Targett | Australia | 22.09 | |
| 5 | 6 | Marco Orsi | Italy | 22.13 | |
| 6 | 5 | Adam Brown | Great Britain | 22.21 | |
| 7 | 3 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.23 | |
| 8 | 8 | Andrey Grechin | Russia | 22.36 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 21.76 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.79 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 21.97 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 22.02 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Gideon Louw | South Africa | 22.02 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Sergey Fesikov | Russia | 22.09 | |
| 7 | 2 | Matthew Abood | Australia | 22.16 | |
| 8 | 8 | Roland Schoeman | South Africa | 22.42 | |

### Swimoff

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Matt Targett | Australia | 22.15 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sergey Fesikov | Russia | 22.32 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:09.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 5 | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.52 |
| | 6 | Luca Dotto | Italy | 21.90 |
| | 8 | Alain Bernard | France | 21.92 |
| 4 | 3 | Nathan Adrian | United States | 21.93 |
| 5 | 4 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 21.96 |
| 6 | 2 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 21.99 |
| 7 | 1 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 22.04 |
| 8 | 7 | Gideon Louw | South Africa | 22.11 |