# Swimming at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke competition of the swimming events at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships took place May 21 and 22. The heats and semifinals took place on May 21, the final on May 22.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world, European and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Aaron Peirsol | United States | 51.94 | Indianapolis | July 8, 2009 |
| European record Championship record | Camille Lacourt | France | 52.11 | Budapest | August 10, 2010 |

## Results
### Heats

43 swimmers participated in 6 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 6 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 54.22 | Q, =NR |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | Guy Barnea | Israel | 54.44 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 54.45 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Jonatan Kopelev | Israel | 54.61 | |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | Mirco di Tora | Italy | 54.77 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 54.78 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 54.78 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 6 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 54.82 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 54.83 | Q, NR |
| 10 | 4 | 3 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 54.96 | Q, NR |
| 10 | 5 | 6 | Matteo Milli | Italy | 54.96 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 7 | Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or | Israel | 55.01 | |
| 13 | 6 | 7 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 55.13 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 4 | Jérémy Stravius | France | 55.21 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 2 | Sebastiano Ranfagni | Italy | 55.39 | |
| 16 | 5 | 1 | Olexandr Isakov | Ukraine | 55.48 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 2 | Christian Diener | Germany | 55.59 | |
| 18 | 6 | 2 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 55.67 | Q |
| 19 | 1 | 4 | Pedro Oliveira | Portugal | 55.83 | Q, NR |
| 20 | 6 | 8 | Gábor Balog | Hungary | 55.83 | |
| 21 | 4 | 1 | Mikhail Zvyagin | Russia | 55.87 | SO |
| 21 | 6 | 1 | Andres Olvik | Estonia | 55.87 | SO |
| 23 | 4 | 7 | Jonathan Massacand | Switzerland | 55.90 | |
| 24 | 3 | 2 | Martin Baďura | Czech Republic | 56.26 | |
| 25 | 2 | 4 | Konstantīns Blohins | Latvia | 56.28 | NR |
| 26 | 3 | 3 | Martin Zhelev | Bulgaria | 56.36 | |
| 26 | 3 | 5 | Matas Andriekus | Lithuania | 56.36 | |
| 28 | 5 | 8 | Karl Burdis | Ireland | 56.43 | |
| 29 | 6 | 5 | Juan Miguel Rando Galvez | Spain | 56.54 | |
| 30 | 1 | 3 | Jan Šefl | Czech Republic | 56.58 | |
| 31 | 4 | 8 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 56.66 | |
| 32 | 2 | 2 | Jakub Jasiński | Poland | 56.77 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Pavels Vilcans | Latvia | 56.92 | |
| 34 | 3 | 1 | Jean-François Schneiders | Luxembourg | 56.93 | |
| 35 | 2 | 8 | Danas Rapšys | Lithuania | 57.00 | |
| 36 | 3 | 6 | Lukas Räuftlin | Switzerland | 57.31 | |
| 36 | 3 | 7 | Andriy Nikishenko | Ukraine | 57.31 | |
| 38 | 2 | 5 | Mateusz Wysoczynski | Poland | 57.56 | |
| 39 | 1 | 5 | Roko Šimunić | Croatia | 57.61 | |
| 40 | 2 | 3 | Sebastian Stoss | Austria | 57.73 | |
| 41 | 2 | 6 | Dominik Dür | Austria | 58.09 | |
| 42 | 2 | 1 | Justinas Bilis | Lithuania | 58.13 | |
| 43 | 3 | 8 | Petar Petrović | Serbia | 58.95 | |

#### Swim-Off

The swim-off took place to determine the last semifinal participant.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Mikhail Zvyagin | Russia | 55.97 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Andres Olvik | Estonia | 56.15 | |

### Semifinals

The eight fasters swimmers advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 54.35 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 54.74 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Jérémy Stravius | France | 54.79 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Mirco di Tora | Italy | 54.88 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Lavrans Solli | Norway | 54.90 | |
| 6 | 4 | Guy Barnea | Israel | 54.95 | |
| 7 | 2 | Matteo Milli | Italy | 55.25 | |
| 8 | 8 | Mikhail Zvyagin | Russia | 56.02 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 53.80 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 53.90 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 54.26 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 54.47 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Pavel Sankovich | Belarus | 55.06 | |
| 6 | 1 | Olexandr Isakov | Ukraine | 55.33 | |
| 7 | 7 | Felix Wolf | Germany | 55.40 | |
| 8 | 8 | Pedro Oliveira | Portugal | 55.90 | |

### Final

The final was held at 17:14.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Aristeidis Grigoriadis | Greece | 53.86 | |
| | 4 | Helge Meeuw | Germany | 54.06 | |
| | 3 | Yakov-Yan Toumarkin | Israel | 54.14 | NR |
| 4 | 2 | Péter Bernek | Hungary | 54.77 | |
| 5 | 7 | Vitaly Borisov | Russia | 54.78 | |
| 5 | 8 | Mirco di Tora | Italy | 54.78 | |
| 7 | 1 | Jérémy Stravius | France | 54.96 | |
| 8 | 6 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 55.00 | |