# 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) – Men's 50 metre backstroke

The men's 50 metre backstroke competition of the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) was held on 13 and 14 December 2018.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record Championship record | Florent Manaudou | France | 22.22 | Doha | 6 December 2014 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats were started on 13 December at 9:56.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Guilherme Guido | Brazil | 23.00 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 0 | Shane Ryan | Ireland | 23.03 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | Christian Diener | Germany | 23.15 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | 23.16 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 23.16 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 8 | Ryan Murphy | United States | 23.25 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Simone Sabbioni | Italy | 23.34 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 5 | Robert Glință | Romania | 23.38 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 0 | Matt Grevers | United States | 23.39 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | Xu Jiayu | China | 23.39 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 6 | Guilherme Basseto | Brazil | 23.46 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Mitch Larkin | Australia | 23.49 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 2 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 23.57 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 6 | Dylan Carter | Trinidad and Tobago | 23.73 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 1 | Gabriel Lópes | Portugal | 23.75 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 6 | Viktar Staselovich | Belarus | 23.79 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | 5 | Charles Hockin | Paraguay | 23.80 | NR |
| 18 | 3 | 3 | Cătălin Ungur | Romania | 23.91 | |
| 19 | 4 | 8 | Tomoe Zenimoto Hvas | Norway | 23.96 | |
| 20 | 4 | 7 | İskender Başlakov | Turkey | 23.98 | |
| 20 | 5 | 7 | Conor Ferguson | Ireland | 23.98 | |
| 22 | 3 | 2 | Thierry Bollin | Switzerland | 24.06 | |
| 23 | 3 | 8 | Hugo González | Spain | 24.10 | |
| 24 | 2 | 6 | Omar Pinzón | Colombia | 24.15 | |
| 25 | 3 | 1 | Andrew Jeffcoat | New Zealand | 24.17 | |
| 26 | 3 | 7 | Tomáš Franta | Czech Republic | 24.18 | |
| 27 | 4 | 1 | Yuma Edo | Japan | 24.24 | |
| 28 | 2 | 4 | Kang Ji-seok | South Korea | 24.54 | |
| 29 | 4 | 9 | Kasipat Chograthin | Thailand | 24.63 | NR |
| 30 | 4 | 2 | Mikita Tsmyh | Belarus | 24.69 | |
| 31 | 5 | 9 | Adil Kaskabay | Kazakhstan | 24.79 | |
| 32 | 2 | 2 | Ádám Telegdy | Hungary | 25.03 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Ģirts Feldbergs | Latvia | 25.27 | |
| 34 | 1 | 7 | Merdan Ataýew | Turkmenistan | 25.30 | |
| 35 | 2 | 3 | Armando Barrera Aira | Cuba | 25.38 | |
| 36 | 4 | 0 | Kristinn Þórarinsson | Iceland | 25.39 | |
| 37 | 2 | 1 | Tryfonas Hadjichristoforou | Cyprus | 25.68 | NR |
| 38 | 3 | 9 | Chang Hou-Chi | Chinese Taipei | 25.85 | |
| 39 | 2 | 8 | Eisner Barberena Espinoza | Nicaragua | 26.45 | |
| 40 | 2 | 0 | Andrianirina Lalanomena | Madagascar | 27.16 | |
| 41 | 2 | 9 | Bede Mark Aitu | Cook Islands | 27.70 | |
| 42 | 1 | 0 | Omar Alrowaila | Bahrain | 28.30 | |
| 43 | 1 | 4 | Santisouk Inthavong | Laos | 29.82 | |
| 44 | 1 | 1 | Mohammed Jibali | Libya | 29.90 | |
| 45 | 1 | 9 | Olimjon Ishanov | Tajikistan | 30.50 | |
| 46 | 1 | 5 | Imaan Ali | Maldives | 31.16 | |
| 47 | 1 | 8 | Tokelo Makepe | Botswana | 34.73 | |
| 48 | 1 | 6 | Yousif Ibrahim | Sudan | 34.89 | |
| 49 | 1 | 2 | Alie Kamara | Sierra Leone | 36.41 | |
| 50 | 1 | 3 | Hollingsword Wolul | Vanuatu | 37.46 | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were started on 13 December at 20:22.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Ryan Murphy | United States | 22.87 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Xu Jiayu | China | 22.91 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Shane Ryan | Ireland | 22.96 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | 23.15 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Dylan Carter | Trinidad and Tobago | 23.19 | NR |
| 6 | 7 | Mitch Larkin | Australia | 23.22 | |
| 7 | 6 | Robert Glință | Romania | 23.25 | |
| 8 | 8 | Viktar Staselovich | Belarus | 23.80 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 22.68 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Guilherme Guido | Brazil | 23.00 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Simone Sabbioni | Italy | 23.10 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Christian Diener | Germany | 23.18 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Matt Grevers | United States | 23.22 | |
| 6 | 7 | Guilherme Basseto | Brazil | 23.39 | |
| 7 | 1 | Apostolos Christou | Greece | 23.64 | |
| 8 | 8 | Gabriel Lópes | Portugal | 23.69 | =NR |

### Final

The final was held on 14 December at 20:30.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Evgeny Rylov | Russia | 22.58 | NR |
| | 5 | Ryan Murphy | United States | 22.63 | |
| | 3 | Shane Ryan | Ireland | 22.76 | NR |
| 4 | 7 | Kliment Kolesnikov | Russia | 22.77 | WJ |
| 5 | 6 | Guilherme Guido | Brazil | 22.79 | |
| 6 | 2 | Simone Sabbioni | Italy | 23.26 | |
| 7 | 8 | Dylan Carter | Trinidad and Tobago | 23.44 | |
| 8 | 1 | Christian Diener | Germany | 23.49 | |