# Swimming at the 2011 Pan American Games – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 Pan American Games took place on October 20 at the Scotiabank Aquatics Center in the municipality of Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico. The defending Pan American Games champion was César Cielo Filho of Brazil.
This race consisted of one length of the pool in freestyle.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Pan American Games records were as follows:
| World record | César Cielo Filho (BRA) | 20.91 | São Paulo, Brazil | December 18, 2009 |
| Pan American Games record | César Cielo Filho (BRA) | 21.84 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | July 22, 2007 |

## Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to two entrants providing they had met the A standard (23.1) in the qualifying period (January 1, 2010 to September 4, 2011). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing they had met the B standard (23.8) in the same qualifying period.

## Results

All times are in minutes and seconds.
| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | GR | Games record | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |

### Heats

The first round was held on October 20.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | César Cielo | Brazil | 22.17 | QA |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | Hanser García | Cuba | 22.37 | QA |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 22.44 | QA |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | Brett Fraser | Cayman Islands | 22.73 | QA |
| 5 | 1 | 4 | William Copeland | United States | 22.75 | QA |
| 6 | 3 | 5 | Bryan Lundquist | United States | 22.77 | QA |
| 7 | 3 | 6 | Federico Grabich | Argentina | 22.87 | QA |
| 8 | 3 | 3 | Roy-Allan Burch | Bermuda | 22.96 | QA |
| 8 | 1 | 6 | Gabriel Melconian | Uruguay | 22.96 | QB |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | Lucas del Piccolo | Argentina | 23.02 | QB |
| 11 | 2 | 6 | Roberto Gomez | Venezuela | 23.11 | QB |
| 12 | 2 | 3 | Elvis Burrows | Bahamas | 23.36 | QB |
| 13 | 1 | 7 | Alejandro Escudero | Mexico | 23.48 | QB |
| 14 | 2 | 2 | Perry Lindo | Netherlands Antilles | 23.60 | QB |
| 15 | 3 | 2 | Rory Biskupski | Canada | 23.64 | QB |
| 16 | 1 | 2 | Martyn Forde | Barbados | 23.71 | QB |
| 17 | 2 | 7 | Antonio Cisneros | Mexico | 23.72 | |
| 18 | 3 | 7 | Oliver Elliot | Chile | 23.74 | |
| 19 | 3 | 1 | Tolga Akcayli | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 25.65 | |
| | 2 | 1 | Niall Roberts | Guyana | | DNS |

### Swim-off

A swim-off was contested between Roy-Allan Burch and Gabriel Melconián to determine who would advance as the eighth seed to the A Final.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Roy-Allan Burch | Bermuda | 22.76 | QA |
| 2 | 4 | Gabriel Melconian | Uruguay | 23.07 | QB |

### B Final

The B final was also held on October 20.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 6 | Elvis Burrows | Bahamas | 23.05 |
| 10 | 5 | Lucas del Piccolo | Argentina | 23.07 |
| 11 | 4 | Gabriel Melconian | Uruguay | 23.10 |
| 12 | 3 | Roberto Gomez | Venezuela | 23.12 |
| 13 | 1 | Rory Biskupski | Canada | 23.58 |
| 14 | 2 | Alejandro Escudero | Mexico | 23.61 |
| 15 | 7 | Perry Lindo | Netherlands Antilles | 23.65 |
| 16 | 8 | Martyn Forde | Barbados | 23.67 |

### A Final

The A final was also held on October 20.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.58 | PR |
| | 3 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 22.05 | |
| | 5 | Hanser García | Cuba | 22.15 | |
| 4 | 2 | William Copeland | United States | 22.30 | |
| 5 | 6 | Brett Fraser | Cayman Islands | 22.60 | |
| 6 | 7 | Bryan Lundquist | United States | 22.67 | |
| 7 | 8 | Roy-Allan Burch | Bermuda | 22.82 | |
| 8 | 1 | Federico Grabich | Argentina | 22.97 | |