# Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre butterfly

The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place between 20 and 21 October. This swimming event used the butterfly stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

## Medalists

| Gold | Doug Russell United States |
| Silver | Mark Spitz United States |
| Bronze | Ross Wales United States |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Doug Russell | United States | 57.3 |
| 2 | Vladimir Nemshilov | Soviet Union | 59.1 |
| 3 | Antonio Attanasio | Italy | 1:00.0 |
| 4 | John Thurley | Great Britain | 1:00.7 |
| 5 | Ayis Capéronis | Switzerland | 1:00.9 |
| 6 | Joseph Meyten | Belgium | 1:02.2 |
| 7 | Andrew Loh | Hong Kong | 1:06.5 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Joseph Jackson | Great Britain | 59.7 |
| 2 | Gary Goodner | Puerto Rico | 1:00.3 |
| 3 | Ron Jacks | Canada | 1:00.5 |
| 4 | Sergey Konov | Soviet Union | 1:00.8 |
| 5 | João Lima Neto | Brazil | 1:02.3 |
| 6 | Ramiro Benavides | Guatemala | 1:03.1 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Ross Wales | United States | 58.7 |
| 2 | Yury Suzdaltsev | Soviet Union | 59.3 |
| 3 | Avraham Melamed | Israel | 59.4 |
| 4 | Horst-Günter Gregor | East Germany | 59.8 |
| 5 | István Szentirmay | Hungary | 1:01.0 |
| 6 | Leroy Goff | Philippines | 1:02.0 |
| 7 | Salvador Vilanova | El Salvador | 1:06.4 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Satoshi Maruya | Japan | 58.1 |
| 2 | Martyn Woodroffe | Great Britain | 59.7 |
| 3 | Werner Freitag | West Germany | 1:00.1 |
| 4 | Graham Dunn | Australia | 1:01.6 |
| 5 | Donnacha O'Dea | Ireland | 1:02.8 |
| 6 | Guðmundur Gíslason | Iceland | 1:03.3 |
| 7 | Friedrich Jokisch | El Salvador | 1:10.5 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Mark Spitz | United States | 58.5 |
| 2 | Yasuo Takada | Japan | 1:00.0 |
| 3 | José Ferraioli | Puerto Rico | 1:00.6 |
| 4 | Angelo Tozzi | Italy | 1:00.6 |
| 5 | Ingvar Eriksson | Sweden | 1:00.6 |
| 6 | Tomas Becerra | Colombia | 1:02.2 |
| 7 | Bob Loh | Hong Kong | 1:06.5 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Lutz Stoklasa | West Germany | 59.2 |
| 2 | Robert Cusack | Australia | 59.6 |
| 3 | Tom Arusoo | Canada | 59.8 |
| 4 | Mario Santibáñez | Mexico | 1:01.7 |
| 5 | Peter Feil | Sweden | 1:02.3 |
| 6 | Maximiliano Aguilar | Mexico | 1:04.0 |
| 7 | Rubén Guerrero | El Salvador | 1:10.1 |
Heat 7
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Luis Nicolao | Argentina | 59.3 |
| 2 | Bo Westergren | Sweden | 59.9 |
| 3 | Arturo Lang-Lenton | Spain | 1:00.7 |
| 4 | Eduardo Orejuela | Ecuador | 1:00.9 |
| 5 | Giampiero Fossati | Italy | 1:01.7 |
| 6 | Lee Tong-shing | Taiwan | 1:05.2 |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinals 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mark Spitz | United States | 57.4 | |
| 2 | Lutz Stoklasa | West Germany | 58.5 | |
| 3 | Joseph Jackson | Great Britain | 59.3 | |
| 4 | Avraham Melamed | Israel | 59.6 | |
| 5 | Werner Freitag | West Germany | 59.9 | Q |
| 6 | Bo Westergren | Sweden | 59.9 | |
| 7 | José Ferraioli | Puerto Rico | 1:00.9 | |
| 8 | John Thurley | Great Britain | 1:00.2 | |

#### Semifinals 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Satoshi Maruya | Japan | 58.0 |
| 2 | Vladimir Nemshilov | Soviet Union | 59.0 |
| 3 | Martyn Woodroffe | Great Britain | 59.5 |
| 4 | Tom Arusoo | Canada | 59.6 |
| 5 | Ingvar Eriksson | Sweden | 59.9 |
| 6 | Antonio Attanasio | Italy | 1:00.3 |
| 7 | Ron Jacks | Canada | 1:00.5 |

#### Semifinals 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Doug Russell | United States | 55.9 | |
| 2 | Ross Wales | United States | 58.2 | |
| 3 | Yury Suzdaltsev | Soviet Union | 58.9 | |
| 4 | Robert Cusack | Australia | 58.2 | |
| 5 | Yasuo Takada | Japan | 59.8 | |
| 6 | Gary Goodner | Puerto Rico | 1.00.1 | Q |
| 7 | Angelo Tozzi | Italy | 1:00.8 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Doug Russell | United States | 55.9 | OR |
| | Mark Spitz | United States | 56.4 | |
| | Ross Wales | United States | 57.2 | |
| 4 | Vladimir Nemshilov | Soviet Union | 58.1 | |
| 5 | Satoshi Maruya | Japan | 58.6 | |
| 6 | Yury Suzdaltsev | Soviet Union | 58.8 | |
| 7 | Lutz Stocklasa | West Germany | 58.9 | |
| 8 | Robert Cusack | Australia | 59.8 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record