# Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which had not been featured at the 1900 Games. The competition was held on Saturday July 19, 1924 and on Sunday July 20, 1924. There were 30 competitors from 15 nations. Nations were limited to three swimmers each, down from four in 1920. The United States swept the medals for the second consecutive Games, winning its fourth consecutive gold medal. Johnny Weissmuller beat two-time defending champion Duke Kahanamoku in the final. Kahanamoku was the first man to win three medals in the event. His brother Samuel Kahanamoku earned the bronze medal.

## Background

This was the sixth appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.
One of the five finalists from 1920 returned: two-time gold medalist Duke Kahanamoku of the United States. American Johnny Weissmuller, the world record holder in the event, was a heavy favorite in the event. His teammates, Duke and Samuel Kahanamoku, were also strong contenders.
Argentina, Spain, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its sixth appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

## Competition format

The competition used a three-round (quarterfinals, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule was the one used since 1912; for each round before the final, the top two in each heat plus the fastest third-place swimmer would advance. There were 6 quarterfinals of between 4 and 6 swimmers, allowing 13 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. The 2 semifinals had 6 or 7 swimmers; 5 advanced to the final.
Each race involved two lengths of the 50-metre pool.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Johnny Weissmuller (USA) | 57.4 | Miami, United States | 17 February 1924 |
| Olympic record | Duke Kahanamoku (USA) | 1:00.4 | Antwerp, Belgium | 24 August 1920 |
In the second semifinal Johnny Weissmuller set a new Olympic record with 1:00.8 minutes. In the final he bettered his record with a time of 59.0 seconds.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 19 July 1924 | 10:00 15:00 | Heats Semifinals |
| Sunday, 20 July 1924 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Orvar Trolle | Sweden | 1:04.2 | Q |
| 2 | Duke Kahanamoku | United States | 1:04.2 | Q |
| 3 | Kazuo Onoda | Japan | 1:05.4 | |
| 4 | Charles Baillee | Great Britain | 1:08.2 | |
| 5 | Vlado Smokvina | Yugoslavia | 1:11.6 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Samuel Kahanamoku | United States | 1:03.2 | Q |
| 2 | Ernest Henry | Australia | 1:03.8 | Q |
| 3 | Torahiko Miyahata | Japan | 1:04.2 | q |
| 4 | Henri Padou | France | 1:05.0 | |
| 5 | Albert Dickin | Great Britain | 1:06.0 | |
| 6 | Stanislav Bičák | Czechoslovakia | 1:10.2 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Clayton Bourne | Canada | 1:06.2 | Q |
| 2 | Alberto Zorrilla | Argentina | 1:08.2 | Q |
| 3 | Viktor Legát | Czechoslovakia | 1:13.2 | |
| 4 | Charles Kopp | Switzerland | 1:15.0 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Katsuo Takaishi | Japan | 1:04.0 | Q |
| 2 | Ivan Stedman | Australia | 1:06.0 | Q |
| 3 | Georg Werner | Sweden | 1:07.0 | |
| 4 | Émile Zeibig | France | 1:08.0 | |
| 5 | Gé Dekker | Netherlands | 1:11.8 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Johnny Weissmuller | United States | 1:03.8 | Q |
| 2 | Alfred Harold Pycock | Great Britain | 1:05.2 | Q |
| 3 | Édouard Vanzeveren | France | 1:06.8 | |
| 4 | Moss Christie | Australia | 1:07.2 | |
| 5 | José Manuel Pinillo | Spain | 1:14.2 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arne Borg | Sweden | 1:05.4 | Q |
| 2 | István Bárány | Hungary | 1:08.4 | Q |
| 3 | Július Baláž | Czechoslovakia | 1:11.8 | |
| 4 | Dionysios Vasilopoulos | Greece | 1:12.0 | |
| 5 | Pieter Jacobszoon | Netherlands | 1:12.2 | |

### Semifinals

The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Duke Kahanamoku | United States | 1:01.6 | Q |
| 2 | Samuel Kahanamoku | United States | 1:02.2 | Q |
| 3 | Katsuo Takaishi | Japan | 1:02.4 | q |
| 4 | Orvar Trolle | Sweden | 1:02.6 | |
| 5 | Clayton Bourne | Canada | 1:06.0 | |
| 6 | István Bárány | Hungary | 1:08.0 | |
| — | Torahiko Miyahata | Japan | DNS | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Johnny Weissmuller | United States | 1:00.8 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Arne Borg | Sweden | 1:02.6 | Q |
| 3 | Ernest Henry | Australia | 1:03.0 | |
| 4 | Alfred Harold Pycock | Great Britain | 1:05.0 | |
| 5 | Ivan Stedman | Australia | 1:06.0 | |
| 6 | Alberto Zorrilla | Argentina | 1:07.6 | |

### Final

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Johnny Weissmuller | United States | 59.0 | OR |
| | Duke Kahanamoku | United States | 1:01.4 | |
| | Samuel Kahanamoku | United States | 1:01.8 | |
| 4 | Arne Borg | Sweden | 1:02.0 | |
| 5 | Katsuo Takaishi | Japan | 1:03.0 | |

## Results summary

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Heats | Semifinals | Final | Notes |
| | Johnny Weissmuller | United States | 1:03.8 | 1:00.8 | 59.0 | OR |
| | Duke Kahanamoku | United States | 1:04.2 | 1:01.6 | 1:01.4 | |
| | Samuel Kahanamoku | United States | 1:03.2 | 1:02.2 | 1:01.8 | |
| 4 | Arne Borg | Sweden | 1:05.4 | 1:02.6 | 1:02.0 | |
| 5 | Katsuo Takaishi | Japan | 1:04.0 | 1:02.4 | 1:03.0 | |
| 6 | Orvar Trolle | Sweden | 1:04.2 | 1:02.6 | Did not advance | |
| 7 | Ernest Henry | Australia | 1:03.8 | 1:03.0 | Did not advance | |
| 8 | Alfred Harold Pycock | Great Britain | 1:05.2 | 1:05.0 | Did not advance | |
| 9 | Clayton Bourne | Canada | 1:06.2 | 1:06.0 | Did not advance | |
| 9 | Ivan Stedman | Australia | 1:06.0 | 1:06.0 | Did not advance | |
| 11 | Alberto Zorrilla | Argentina | 1:08.2 | 1:07.6 | Did not advance | |
| 12 | István Bárány | Hungary | 1:08.4 | 1:08.0 | Did not advance | |
| 13 | Torahiko Miyahata | Japan | 1:04.2 | DNS | Did not advance | |
| 14 | Henri Padou | France | 1:05.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 15 | Kazuo Onoda | Japan | 1:05.4 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 16 | Albert Dickin | Great Britain | 1:06.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 17 | Édouard Vanzeveren | France | 1:06.8 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 18 | Georg Werner | Sweden | 1:07.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 19 | Moss Christie | Australia | 1:07.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 20 | Émile Zeibig | France | 1:08.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 21 | Charles Baillee | Great Britain | 1:08.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 22 | Stanislav Bičák | Czechoslovakia | 1:10.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 23 | Vlado Smokvina | Yugoslavia | 1:11.6 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 24 | Július Baláž | Czechoslovakia | 1:11.8 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 25 | Gé Dekker | Netherlands | 1:11.8 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 26 | Dionysios Vasilopoulos | Greece | 1:12.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 27 | Pieter Jacobszoon | Netherlands | 1:12.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 28 | Viktor Legát | Czechoslovakia | 1:13.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 29 | José Manuel Pinillo | Spain | 1:14.2 | did not advance | did not advance | |
| 30 | Charles Kopp | Switzerland | 1:15.0 | did not advance | did not advance | |