# Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Lenny Krayzelburg, a Ukrainian-born American whose swimming career began in the old Soviet system, shattered a new Olympic record to claim a gold medal in the event, slashing 0.14 seconds off an eight-year-old standard set by Jeff Rouse in Barcelona. He seized the lead on the first length, and held off a challenge from Australia's overwhelming favorite Matt Welsh down the final lap to touch the wall first in 53.72. Delighted by the frenzied home crowd, Welsh took home with a silver medal in an Oceanian record of 54.07. Meanwhile, Germany's Stev Theloke stormed home from behind to wrest a bronze in 54.82, edging out another Aussie Josh Watson (55.01) by almost two-tenths of a second (0.20).
Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski finished fifth with a time of 55.04, and was followed in the sixth spot by U.S. swimmer Neil Walker in 55.14. Theloke's teammate Steffen Driesen (55.27) and Israel's Eithan Urbach (55.74) closed out the field.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Lenny Krayzelburg (USA) | 53.60 | Sydney, Australia | 24 August 1999 |
| Olympic record | Jeff Rouse (USA) | 53.86 | Barcelona, Spain | 31 July 1992 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 18 September | Final | Lenny Krayzelburg | United States | 53.72 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | 4 | Lenny Krayzelburg | United States | 54.38 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 54.70 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | Stev Theloke | Germany | 55.00 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | 5 | Josh Watson | Australia | 55.09 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 55.14 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Neil Walker | United States | 55.34 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 3 | Steffen Driesen | Germany | 55.39 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Gordan Kožulj | Croatia | 55.43 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 2 | Eithan Urbach | Israel | 55.44 | Q, NR |
| 10 | 7 | 3 | Alexandre Massura | Brazil | 55.58 | Q |
| 11 | 6 | 5 | Rodolfo Falcón | Cuba | 55.61 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 6 | David Ortega | Spain | 55.80 | Q |
| 13 | 7 | 2 | Péter Horváth | Hungary | 55.81 | Q |
| 14 | 7 | 8 | Chris Renaud | Canada | 55.85 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 5 | Simon Dufour | France | 56.01 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | 1 | Adam Ruckwood | Great Britain | 56.19 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 1 | Derya Büyükuncu | Turkey | 56.21 | |
| 18 | 6 | 7 | Marko Strahija | Croatia | 56.26 | |
| 19 | 4 | 2 | Sergey Ostapchuk | Russia | 56.26 | |
| 20 | 5 | 7 | Mariusz Siembida | Poland | 56.27 | |
| 21 | 5 | 8 | Emanuele Merisi | Italy | 56.35 | |
| 21 | 4 | 7 | Răzvan Florea | Romania | 56.35 | NR |
| 23 | 5 | 6 | Rogério Romero | Brazil | 56.44 | |
| 24 | 6 | 2 | Darius Grigalionis | Lithuania | 56.47 | |
| 25 | 7 | 6 | Mark Versfeld | Canada | 56.50 | |
| 26 | 7 | 7 | Volodymyr Nikolaychuk | Ukraine | 56.71 | |
| 27 | 4 | 4 | Alex Lim | Malaysia | 56.81 | |
| 28 | 4 | 1 | Miroslav Machovič | Slovakia | 56.95 | |
| 28 | 4 | 8 | Nuno Laurentino | Portugal | 56.95 | |
| 30 | 6 | 8 | Simon Thirsk | South Africa | 57.06 | |
| 31 | 2 | 3 | Sung Min | South Korea | 57.12 | |
| 32 | 3 | 2 | Blaž Medvešek | Slovenia | 57.26 | |
| 33 | 3 | 7 | Markus Rogan | Austria | 57.35 | |
| 34 | 4 | 6 | Ouyang Kunpeng | China | 57.47 | |
| 35 | 3 | 4 | Philipp Gilgen | Switzerland | 57.50 | |
| 36 | 3 | 3 | Mattias Ohlin | Sweden | 57.51 | |
| 37 | 3 | 5 | Scott Talbot-Cameron | New Zealand | 57.86 | |
| 38 | 1 | 2 | Alexandru Ivlev | Moldova | 57.91 | |
| 39 | 3 | 8 | Ivan Angelov | Bulgaria | 58.03 | |
| 40 | 4 | 3 | Eduardo Germán Otero | Argentina | 58.09 | |
| 41 | 2 | 1 | Diego Gallo | Uruguay | 58.18 | NR |
| 42 | 3 | 6 | Milorad Čavić | FR Yugoslavia | 58.25 | |
| 43 | 2 | 8 | Dulyarit Phuangthong | Thailand | 58.48 | |
| 44 | 3 | 1 | Haitham Hassan | Egypt | 58.67 | |
| 45 | 2 | 4 | Gary Tan | Singapore | 58.69 | |
| 46 | 2 | 2 | Mehdi Addadi | Algeria | 58.74 | |
| 47 | 1 | 3 | Benjamin Lo-Pinto | Seychelles | 58.90 | |
| 48 | 2 | 7 | Mike Fung-A-Wing | Suriname | 59.06 | |
| 49 | 2 | 5 | Konstantin Priahin | Kyrgyzstan | 59.86 | |
| 50 | 1 | 4 | Germán Martínez | Colombia | 59.94 | |
| 51 | 2 | 6 | Nicholas Neckles | Barbados | 1:00.19 | |
| 52 | 1 | 6 | Pavel Sidorov | Kazakhstan | 1:01.02 | |
| 53 | 1 | 7 | Mauricio Prudencio | Bolivia | 1:01.15 | |
| 54 | 1 | 5 | Faisal Al-Mahmeed | Kuwait | 1:05.17 | |
| 55 | 1 | 1 | Welbert Samuel | Federated States of Micronesia | 1:12.38 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 54.52 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Josh Watson | Australia | 54.93 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Neil Walker | United States | 55.20 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Chris Renaud | Canada | 55.70 | |
| 5 | 2 | Alexandre Massura | Brazil | 56.07 | |
| 6 | 6 | Gordan Kožulj | Croatia | 56.26 | |
| 7 | 7 | David Ortega | Spain | 56.33 | |
| 8 | 8 | Adam Ruckwood | Great Britain | 56.34 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Lenny Krayzelburg | United States | 54.32 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Stev Theloke | Germany | 54.95 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Eithan Urbach | Israel | 55.31 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 3 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 55.34 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Steffen Driesen | Germany | 55.41 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | Rodolfo Falcón | Cuba | 55.59 | |
| 7 | 1 | Péter Horváth | Hungary | 55.65 | |
| 8 | 8 | Simon Dufour | France | 55.79 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Lenny Krayzelburg | United States | 53.72 | OR |
| | 5 | Matt Welsh | Australia | 54.07 | OC |
| | 6 | Stev Theloke | Germany | 54.82 | |
| 4 | 3 | Josh Watson | Australia | 55.01 | |
| 5 | 1 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 55.04 | |
| 6 | 2 | Neil Walker | United States | 55.14 | |
| 7 | 8 | Steffen Driesen | Germany | 55.27 | |
| 8 | 7 | Eithan Urbach | Israel | 55.74 | |