# Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 30 and 31 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
Romanian David Popovici, China's Pan Zhanle, Australia's Kyle Chalmers, and France's Maxime Grousset were the favourites for the event, and they all progressed through to the final. In the heats, national records for Nepal and Vanuatu were broken.
In the final, Zhanle swam both the fastest opening split and fastest closing split to win with a new world record of 46.40. Chalmers won silver with 47.48 and Popovici won bronze with 47.49. All eight swimmers finished in under 48 seconds, which had never happened before in an Olympic final, and Zhanle's swim broke the first swimming world record of the Olympics. It was the biggest margin of victory in the event since the 1928 Olympics, and Zhanle later called it a "perfect performance".

## Background

In 2022, 17-year-old David Popovici of Romania had broken the world record in the event, lowering it to 46.86. Popovici also swam a 46.88 at the 2024 European Championships which was the second fastest qualifying time for the Olympics. At the 2024 World Championships China's Pan Zhanle broke Popovici's record with a time of 46.80. That time had not been beaten since, and was the fastest qualification time.
Australian Kyle Chalmers was the 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Olympic silver medallist. He won the World Championships in 2023, where he swam 47.15 to win gold; that time was the fourth fastest qualifying time for the Olympics. The third fastest qualifying time was held by the USA's Jack Alexy, who swam 47.08 at the 2024 US Olympic Trials.
Other contenders were Frenchman Maxime Grousset, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist; Hungary's Nándor Németh, the 2024 World Championships bronze medallist; and Italy's Alessandro Miressi, the 2024 World Championships silver medallist. The USA's Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel did not qualify.
SwimSwam predicted that Chalmers would win, followed by Grousset in second and Popovici in third. Swimming World predicted Popovici would win, followed by Zhanle in second and Chalmers in third.

## Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT). For this event, the OQT was 48.34 seconds. World Aquatics then considered athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT. Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 48.58 for this event. In total, 32 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, 46 athletes qualified through universality places and one athlete qualified through achieving the OCT.
Top 10 fastest qualification times :
| Swimmer | Country | Time | Competition |
| Pan Zhanle | China | 46.80 | 2024 World Aquatics Championships |
| David Popovici | Romania | 46.88 | 2024 European Championships |
| Jack Alexy | United States | 47.08 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 47.15 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Chris Guiliano | United States | 47.25 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Maxime Grousset | France | 47.33 | 2024 French Elite Championships |
| Matthew Richards | Great Britain | 47.45 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Nándor Németh | Hungary | 47.49 | 2024 European Championships |
| Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 47.54 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Joshua Liendo | Canada | 47.55 | 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials |

## Heats

Six heats took place on 30 July 2024, starting at 11:17. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. Alexy won the eighth heat with the fastest qualifying time of 47.57, while Grousset qualified with the second fastest time of 47.70. Popovici, Németh, Chalmers, Miressi and Zhanle all qualified. Zhanle qualified with the joint thirteenth fastest qualifying time of 48.40, which SwimSwam commented "wasn’t a great swim" for him. Between the heats and semifinals of this event, Zhanle swam broke the event's Olympic record in his split of the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay.
South Korean Hwang Sun-woo, who qualified with the sixteenth fastest qualifying time, withdrew from the semifinals in favour of resting for the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay. This allowed Australian William Yang to compete in the semifinals instead. Nepal's Alexander Shah lowered his country's national record to 51.91, while Johnathan Silas lowered Vanuatu's national record to 59.38, however neither of them were fast enough to qualify.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Jack Alexy | United States | 47.57 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | 5 | Maxime Grousset | France | 47.70 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | 4 | David Popovici | Romania | 47.92 | Q |
| 4 | 9 | 3 | Nándor Németh | Hungary | 47.93 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | 6 | Jordan Crooks | Cayman Islands | 48.01 | Q |
| 6 | 10 | 5 | Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 48.07 | Q |
| 7 | 8 | 3 | Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 48.24 | Q |
| 8 | 9 | 5 | Chris Guiliano | United States | 48.25 | Q |
| 8 | 10 | 2 | Josha Salchow | Germany | 48.25 | Q |
| 10 | 9 | 6 | Andrej Barna | Serbia | 48.34 | Q |
| 10 | 10 | 6 | Joshua Liendo | Canada | 48.34 | Q |
| 12 | 10 | 7 | Guilherme Caribé | Brazil | 48.35 | Q |
| 13 | 8 | 7 | Velimir Stjepanović | Serbia | 48.40 | Q |
| 13 | 10 | 3 | Matthew Richards | Great Britain | 48.40 | Q |
| 13 | 10 | 4 | Pan Zhanle | China | 48.40 | Q |
| 16 | 8 | 2 | Hwang Sun-woo | South Korea | 48.41 | Q, WD |
| 17 | 10 | 8 | William Yang | Australia | 48.46 | q |
| 18 | 9 | 1 | Jacob Whittle | Great Britain | 48.47 | |
| 19 | 7 | 8 | Sergio de Celis | Spain | 48.49 | |
| 20 | 8 | 1 | Danas Rapšys | Lithuania | 48.53 | |
| 21 | 7 | 6 | Tomer Frankel | Israel | 48.66 | |
| 22 | 10 | 1 | Wang Haoyu | China | 48.79 | |
| 23 | 7 | 4 | Sean Niewold | Netherlands | 48.82 | |
| 23 | 7 | 5 | Rafael Fente-Damers | France | 48.82 | |
| 23 | 9 | 8 | Leonardo Deplano | Italy | 48.82 | |
| 26 | 5 | 5 | Lamar Taylor | Bahamas | 48.84 | |
| 26 | 6 | 4 | Mikel Schreuders | Aruba | 48.84 | |
| 28 | 9 | 7 | Diogo Ribeiro | Portugal | 48.88 | |
| 29 | 7 | 2 | Yuri Kisil | Canada | 49.06 | |
| 30 | 6 | 5 | Ralph Daleiden | Luxembourg | 49.12 | |
| 31 | 7 | 7 | Cameron Gray | New Zealand | 49.24 | |
| 32 | 7 | 1 | Jorge Iga | Mexico | 49.28 | |
| 33 | 8 | 8 | Nikola Miljenić | Croatia | 49.34 | |
| 34 | 7 | 3 | Dylan Carter | Trinidad and Tobago | 49.35 | |
| 35 | 9 | 2 | Marcelo Chierighini | Brazil | 49.38 | |
| 36 | 6 | 7 | Jakub Majerski | Poland | 49.44 | |
| 37 | 6 | 2 | Alberto Mestre | Venezuela | 49.51 | |
| 38 | 6 | 3 | Jonathan Tan | Singapore | 49.60 | |
| 39 | 6 | 1 | Daniel Gracík | Czech Republic | 49.65 | |
| 40 | 6 | 6 | Björn Seeliger | Sweden | 49.70 | |
| 41 | 6 | 8 | Adilbek Mussin | Kazakhstan | 49.92 | |
| 42 | 5 | 3 | Simon Doueihy | Lebanon | 50.10 | |
| 43 | 4 | 1 | Nikolas Antoniou | Cyprus | 50.35 | |
| 44 | 4 | 3 | Jayhan Odlum-Smith | Saint Lucia | 50.39 | |
| 44 | 4 | 5 | Yousuf Al-Matrooshi | United Arab Emirates | 50.39 | |
| 46 | 5 | 4 | Jack Kirby | Barbados | 50.42 | |
| 47 | 4 | 4 | Leo Nolles | Uruguay | 50.58 | |
| 48 | 5 | 8 | Samyar Abdoli | Iran | 50.63 | |
| 49 | 5 | 6 | Dulyawat Kaewsriyong | Thailand | 50.64 | |
| 50 | 4 | 8 | Enkhtamir Batbayar | Mongolia | 50.81 | |
| 51 | 4 | 2 | Matthieu Seye | Senegal | 50.84 | |
| 52 | 4 | 6 | Harry Stacey | Ghana | 51.12 | |
| 53 | 3 | 6 | Zaid Al-Sarraj | Saudi Arabia | 51.21 | |
| 54 | 4 | 7 | Kyle Abeysinghe | Sri Lanka | 51.42 | |
| 55 | 5 | 7 | Ian Ho | Hong Kong | 51.46 | |
| 56 | 5 | 2 | Artur Barseghyan | Armenia | 51.54 | |
| 57 | 5 | 1 | Javier Núñez | Dominican Republic | 51.55 | |
| 58 | 3 | 4 | Adell Sabovic | Kosovo | 51.77 | |
| 59 | 3 | 1 | Alexander Shah | Nepal | 51.91 | NR |
| 60 | 2 | 5 | Ovesh Purahoo | Mauritius | 52.22 | |
| 61 | 3 | 5 | Musa Zhalayev | Turkmenistan | 52.29 | |
| 62 | 3 | 7 | Grisi Koxhaku | Albania | 52.32 | |
| 63 | 3 | 8 | Mohamad Zubaid | Kuwait | 52.35 | |
| 64 | 3 | 3 | Henrique Mascarenhas | Angola | 52.52 | |
| 65 | 2 | 4 | Nixon Hernández | El Salvador | 52.73 | |
| 66 | 3 | 2 | Johann Stickland | Samoa | 52.94 | |
| 67 | 2 | 3 | Antoine De Lapparent | Cambodia | 52.95 | |
| 68 | 2 | 2 | Irvin Hoost | Suriname | 52.99 | |
| 69 | 2 | 6 | Samiul Islam Rafi | Bangladesh | 53.10 | |
| 70 | 2 | 7 | Issa Al-Adawi | Oman | 53.19 | |
| 71 | 2 | 1 | Collins Saliboko | Tanzania | 53.38 | |
| 72 | 1 | 4 | Josh Tarere | Papua New Guinea | 53.85 | |
| 73 | 1 | 6 | Phone Pyae Han | Myanmar | 55.56 | |
| 74 | 1 | 3 | Sangay Tenzin | Bhutan | 56.08 | |
| 75 | 2 | 8 | Yousef Abubaker | Libya | 56.19 | |
| 76 | 1 | 5 | Alexien Kouma | Mali | 56.34 | |
| 77 | 1 | 2 | Johnathan Silas | Vanuatu | 59.38 | NR |
| 78 | 1 | 7 | Giorgio Armani Nguichie Kamseu Kamogne | Cameroon | 1:03.42 | |
| 79 | 1 | 1 | Hadji Hassane | Comoros | 1:07.21 | |

## Semifinals

Two semifinals took place on 30 July, starting at 20:30. The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Chalmers won the first heat to qualify with the second fastest time of 47.58, while Zhanle won the second heat to qualify with the fastest time of 47.21. The remaining finalists were: Németh, Grousset, Popovici, Alexy, the USA's Chris Guillano and Germany's Josha Salchow.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 8 | Pan Zhanle | China | 47.21 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | 3 | Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 47.58 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Nándor Németh | Hungary | 47.61 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | Maxime Grousset | France | 47.63 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | David Popovici | Romania | 47.66 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 4 | Jack Alexy | United States | 47.68 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 6 | Chris Guiliano | United States | 47.72 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | Josha Salchow | Germany | 47.94 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 6 | Alessandro Miressi | Italy | 47.95 | |
| 10 | 1 | 7 | Guilherme Caribé | Brazil | 48.03 | |
| 11 | 2 | 7 | Josh Liendo | Canada | 48.06 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | Matthew Richards | Great Britain | 48.09 | |
| 13 | 2 | 3 | Jordan Crooks | Cayman Islands | 48.10 | |
| 14 | 1 | 2 | Andrej Barna | Serbia | 48.11 | |
| 15 | 1 | 8 | William Yang | Australia | 48.42 | |
| 16 | 2 | 1 | Velimir Stjepanović | Serbia | 48.78 | |

## Final
### Race

The final took place at 22:39 on 31 July. Zhanle led the race from start to finish to claim a new world record of 46.40, which broke his previous world record of 46.80 set at the 2024 World Championships. He swam both the fastest opening half split of 22.28 and the fastest closing half split of 24.12. Chalmers was last at the halfway turn, but he swam the second fastest closing 50 metres to win silver with 47.48—his third Olympic medal in the event. Popovici finished 0.01 seconds behind Chalmers with 47.49 to win bronze, and Németh finished 0.01 seconds behind Popovici to finish fourth with 47.50. All eight swimmers finished in under 48 seconds, which had never happened before in an Olympic final, and SwimSwam called it an "unbelievable race".
Zhanle's swim broke the first swimming world record of the Olympics, which re-ignited discussions over whether the Paris Olympic pool was "slow" or not. It was the biggest margin of victory in the event since the 1928 Olympics, and it was China's first medal in the event. After the race, Zhanle, through a translator, called the race a "perfect performance".
Results :
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Pan Zhanle | China | 46.40 | WR |
| | 5 | Kyle Chalmers | Australia | 47.48 | |
| | 2 | David Popovici | Romania | 47.49 | |
| 4 | 3 | Nándor Németh | Hungary | 47.50 | |
| 5 | 6 | Maxime Grousset | France | 47.71 | |
| 6 | 8 | Josha Salchow | Germany | 47.80 | NR |
| 7 | 7 | Jack Alexy | United States | 47.96 | |
| 8 | 1 | Chris Guiliano | United States | 47.98 | |
Statistics :
| Name | 15 metre split (s) | 50 metre split (s) | 50–65 metre split (s) | Time (s) | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
| Pan Zhanle | 5.45 | 22.28 | 6.57 | 46.40 | 51.6 |
| Kyle Chalmers | 5.61 | 23.03 | 6.60 | 47.48 | 52.1 |
| David Popovici | 5.66 | 22.94 | 6.61 | 47.49 | 51.7 |
| Nándor Németh | 5.61 | 22.90 | 6.71 | 47.50 | 54.8 |
| Maxime Grousset | 5.33 | 22.61 | 6.60 | 47.71 | 53.0 |
| Josha Salchow | 5.62 | 22.93 | 6.88 | 47.80 | 50.6 |
| Jack Alexy | 5.55 | 22.63 | 6.82 | 47.96 | 48.0 |
| Chris Guiliano | 5.40 | 22.82 | 6.67 | 47.98 | 49.6 |