# Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre butterfly

The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 29 to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's fourteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1968.
The medals for the competition were presented by Ng Ser Miang, IOC Vice-President, Singapore; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dale Neuburger, FINA Treasurer; United States.

## Summary

U.S. megastar Caeleb Dressel fended off a late charge by Kristóf Milák to win his second individual Olympic title in a world record of 49.45. Dressel used his signature explosive start and breakout to establish an early lead, turning first at the 50 m mark 0.65 seconds clear of the field. Though Milák closed strongly, Dressel held on for the victory and lower his world record by 5-hundredths of a second. Meanwhile Milák, the 200 m butterfly champion from earlier in the week, could not overtake Dressel but touched in a European record of 49.68 to win silver and pass Michael Phelps and Milorad Čavić to become the second fastest performer in history.
Switzerland's Noè Ponti (50.74) eclipsed his national record from the semi-finals by 0.02 seconds to claim the final spot on the podium. Tied second at the turn alongside Milák, ROC's Andrey Minakov (50.88) fell off the podium to take fourth. Matching his Polish record from the heats, Poland's Jakub Majerski (50.92) tied for fifth with Australia's Matthew Temple who could not replicate his stunning 50.45 trials performance. Guatemala's Luis Martínez touched in a national record of 51.09 to take seventh, while Bulgaria's Josif Miladinov (51.49) was a shade off his times in the earlier rounds to finish in eighth.
Singapore's Joseph Schooling, the gold medalist from Rio de Janeiro five years ago, did not qualify in the semifinal stage, with a time of 53.12.
The medals for the competition were presented by Singapore's IOC Vice-President Ng Ser Miang, and the gifts were presented by the U.S.' FINA Treasurer Dale Neuburger.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Caeleb Dressel (USA) | 49.50 | Gwangju, South Korea | 26 July 2019 |
| Olympic record | Joseph Schooling (SIN) | 50.39 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 12 August 2016 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Record |
| 29 July | Heat 8 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 50.39 | =OR |
| 30 July | Semifinal 1 | Kristóf Milák | Hungary | 50.31 | OR |
| 30 July | Semifinal 2 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 49.71 | OR |
| 31 July | Final | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 49.45 | WR |

## Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 51.96 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 53.52 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.

## Competition format

The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

## Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
| 29 July 2021 | 19:43 | Heats |
| 30 July 2021 | 10:30 | Semifinals |
| 31 July 2021 | 10:30 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 50.39 | Q, =OR |
| 2 | 7 | 4 | Kristóf Milák | Hungary | 50.62 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | 6 | Jakub Majerski | Poland | 50.97 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 8 | 5 | Andrey Minakov | ROC | 51.00 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | 6 | Noè Ponti | Switzerland | 51.24 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 5 | Josif Miladinov | Bulgaria | 51.28 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 7 | Luis Martínez | Guatemala | 51.29 | Q, NR |
| 8 | 6 | 4 | Matthew Temple | Australia | 51.39 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | Joshua Liendo | Canada | 51.52 | Q |
| 10 | 7 | 5 | Mehdy Metella | France | 51.53 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 1 | Nyls Korstanje | Netherlands | 51.54 | Q, NR |
| 12 | 6 | 3 | Naoki Mizunuma | Japan | 51.57 | Q |
| 12 | 8 | 2 | Tom Shields | United States | 51.57 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 2 | Youssef Ramadan | Egypt | 51.67 | Q, NR |
| 14 | 7 | 2 | Szebasztián Szabó | Hungary | 51.67 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 6 | Sun Jiajun | China | 51.74 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 2 | Federico Burdisso | Italy | 51.82 | |
| 18 | 6 | 6 | Chad le Clos | South Africa | 51.89 | |
| 18 | 8 | 7 | Mikhail Vekovishchev | ROC | 51.89 | |
| 20 | 7 | 3 | Takeshi Kawamoto | Japan | 51.93 | |
| 21 | 5 | 3 | Tomer Frankel | Israel | 51.99 | |
| 22 | 6 | 8 | Paweł Korzeniowski | Poland | 52.00 | |
| 23 | 7 | 1 | Marius Kusch | Germany | 52.05 | |
| 24 | 4 | 6 | Santiago Grassi | Argentina | 52.07 | |
| 24 | 8 | 8 | Jacob Peters | Great Britain | 52.07 | |
| 26 | 7 | 8 | Vinicius Lanza | Brazil | 52.08 | |
| 27 | 3 | 2 | Tomoe Zenimoto Hvas | Norway | 52.22 | NR |
| 28 | 4 | 8 | Louis Croenen | Belgium | 52.23 | |
| 29 | 4 | 7 | Antani Ivanov | Bulgaria | 52.25 | |
| 30 | 8 | 1 | David Morgan | Australia | 52.31 | |
| 31 | 6 | 1 | Santo Condorelli | Italy | 52.32 | |
| 32 | 5 | 7 | Matthew Sates | South Africa | 52.34 | |
| 33 | 3 | 7 | Dylan Carter | Trinidad and Tobago | 52.36 | NR |
| 34 | 4 | 4 | Quah Zheng Wen | Singapore | 52.39 | |
| 35 | 3 | 4 | Wang Kuan-hung | Chinese Taipei | 52.44 | |
| 35 | 4 | 3 | Ümitcan Güreş | Turkey | 52.44 | |
| 37 | 3 | 8 | Shane Ryan | Ireland | 52.52 | NR |
| 37 | 4 | 5 | Jan Šefl | Czech Republic | 52.52 | |
| 37 | 5 | 5 | Simon Bucher | Austria | 52.52 | |
| 40 | 3 | 6 | Nikola Miljenić | Croatia | 52.68 | |
| 41 | 3 | 1 | Kregor Zirk | Estonia | 52.82 | |
| 42 | 5 | 4 | Yauhen Tsurkin | Belarus | 52.90 | |
| 43 | 4 | 1 | Matheus Gonche | Brazil | 53.02 | |
| 44 | 5 | 8 | Joseph Schooling | Singapore | 53.12 | |
| 45 | 2 | 2 | Abeku Jackson | Ghana | 53.39 | NR |
| 46 | 2 | 5 | Sajan Prakash | India | 53.45 | |
| 47 | 2 | 4 | Moon Seung-woo | South Korea | 53.59 | |
| 48 | 2 | 3 | Abbas Qali | Kuwait | 53.62 | |
| 49 | 2 | 1 | Steven Aimable | Senegal | 53.64 | |
| 50 | 2 | 7 | Navaphat Wongcharoen | Thailand | 54.36 | |
| 51 | 2 | 6 | Benjamin Hockin | Paraguay | 54.81 | |
| 51 | 2 | 8 | Davidson Vincent | Haiti | 54.81 | |
| 53 | 3 | 5 | Daniel Martin | Romania | 55.09 | |
| 54 | 1 | 4 | Salvador Gordo | Angola | 55.96 | |
| 55 | 1 | 5 | Yousif Bu Arish | Saudi Arabia | 56.29 | NR |
| | 1 | 3 | Abdulla Ahmed | Bahrain | DSQ | |
| | 3 | 3 | Ihor Troianovskyi | Ukraine | DNS | |
| | 4 | 2 | Gal Cohen Groumi | Israel | DNS | |
| | 8 | 3 | James Guy | Great Britain | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of semis, advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 49.71 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Kristóf Milák | Hungary | 50.31 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Noè Ponti | Switzerland | 50.76 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | Josif Miladinov | Bulgaria | 51.06 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 5 | Andrey Minakov | ROC | 51.11 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 6 | Matthew Temple | Australia | 51.12 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 5 | Jakub Majerski | Poland | 51.24 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 6 | Luis Martínez | Guatemala | 51.30 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 2 | Mehdy Metella | France | 51.32 | |
| 10 | 1 | 7 | Naoki Mizunuma | Japan | 51.46 | |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | Joshua Liendo | Canada | 51.50 | |
| 12 | 2 | 7 | Nyls Korstanje | Netherlands | 51.80 | |
| 13 | 1 | 8 | Sun Jiajun | China | 51.82 | |
| 14 | 2 | 8 | Szebasztián Szabó | Hungary | 51.89 | |
| 15 | 2 | 1 | Tom Shields | United States | 51.99 | |
| 16 | 1 | 1 | Youssef Ramadan | Egypt | 52.27 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 49.45 | WR |
| | 5 | Kristóf Milák | Hungary | 49.68 | ER |
| | 3 | Noè Ponti | Switzerland | 50.74 | NR |
| 4 | 2 | Andrey Minakov | ROC | 50.88 | |
| 5 | 1 | Jakub Majerski | Poland | 50.92 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Matthew Temple | Australia | 50.92 | |
| 7 | 8 | Luis Martínez | Guatemala | 51.09 | NR |
| 8 | 6 | Josif Miladinov | Bulgaria | 51.49 | |