# Swimming at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships took place May 26 and 27. The heats and semifinals took place on May 26, the final on May 27.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world, European and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | César Cielo | Brazil | 20.91 | São Paulo | December 18, 2009 |
| European record | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 20.94 | Montpellier | April 26, 2009 |
| Championship record | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 21.36 | Budapest | August 14, 2010 |

## Results
### Heats

53 swimmers participated in 7 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | 4 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 22.29 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | Marco Orsi | Italy | 22.30 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 4 | Alain Bernard | France | 22.31 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.33 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 1 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | Finland | 22.38 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | Andrea Rolla | Italy | 22.39 | Q |
| 7 | 7 | 5 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 22.40 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | 3 | Andriy Govorov | Ukraine | 22.41 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | Dominik Kozma | Hungary | 22.43 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 2 | Norbert Trandafir | Romania | 22.45 | Q, =NR |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | Lucio Spadaro | Italy | 22.50 | |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | Kristian Golomeev | Greece | 22.54 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 4 | Amaury Leveaux | France | 22.61 | |
| 14 | 7 | 6 | Marco di Carli | Germany | 22.66 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 8 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 22.70 | Q |
| 16 | 6 | 8 | Filip Wypych | Poland | 22.70 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 7 | Jasper Aerents | Belgium | 22.75 | Q |
| 18 | 6 | 2 | Oleg Tikhobaev | Russia | 22.79 | Q |
| 19 | 7 | 1 | Petter Stymne | Sweden | 22.81 | |
| 20 | 5 | 3 | Vitaly Syrnikov | Russia | 22.82 | |
| 21 | 3 | 8 | Ivan Levaj | Croatia | 22.87 | |
| 22 | 4 | 3 | Mario Todorović | Croatia | 22.89 | |
| 23 | 7 | 2 | Steffen Deibler | Germany | 22.89 | |
| 24 | 4 | 7 | Árni Már Árnason | Iceland | 22.91 | |
| 25 | 5 | 7 | Yoris Grandjean | Belgium | 22.91 | |
| 26 | 4 | 8 | Fotios Koliopoulos | Greece | 22.93 | |
| 27 | 7 | 8 | Christoph Fildebrandt | Germany | 22.93 | |
| 28 | 3 | 3 | Boris Stojanović | Serbia | 22.98 | |
| 29 | 5 | 1 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 23.00 | |
| 30 | 4 | 5 | Alexandre Escudier Agostinho | Portugal | 23.08 | |
| 31 | 3 | 4 | Aurelien Künzi | Switzerland | 23.11 | |
| 32 | 3 | 6 | Roman Kucik | Slovakia | 23.13 | |
| 33 | 4 | 1 | Pjotr Degtjarjov | Estonia | 23.13 | |
| 34 | 4 | 2 | Mindaugas Sadauskas | Lithuania | 23.21 | |
| 35 | 3 | 1 | Uvis Kalnins | Latvia | 23.26 | |
| 36 | 1 | 2 | Alon Mandel | Israel | 23.31 | |
| 37 | 3 | 5 | Martin Spitzer | Austria | 23.32 | |
| 38 | 3 | 7 | Simonas Bilis | Lithuania | 23.33 | |
| 39 | 2 | 6 | Richárd Bohus | Hungary | 23.33 | |
| 40 | 2 | 8 | Viktar Vabishchevich | Belarus | 23.42 | |
| 41 | 2 | 3 | Arseni Kukharau | Belarus | 23.47 | |
| 42 | 1 | 6 | Viacheslav Andrusenko | Russia | 23.67 | |
| 43 | 2 | 2 | Justinas Bilis | Lithuania | 23.68 | |
| 44 | 2 | 7 | Tadas Duškinas | Lithuania | 23.75 | |
| 45 | 1 | 5 | Evgheni Coroliuc | Moldova | 23.77 | |
| 46 | 1 | 4 | Hedin Olsen | Faroe Islands | 24.18 | |
| 47 | 2 | 1 | Matej Kuchar | Slovakia | 24.41 | |
| 48 | 1 | 3 | Matti Mattsson | Finland | 24.87 | |
| | 2 | 4 | Martin Verner | Czech Republic | DNS | |
| | 2 | 5 | Aleksander Hetland | Norway | DNS | |
| | 3 | 2 | Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or | Israel | DNS | |
| | 4 | 6 | Tiago Venâncio | Portugal | DNS | |
| | 6 | 3 | Ioannis Kalargaris | Greece | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The eight fasters swimmers advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.06 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Andriy Govorov | Ukraine | 22.20 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Marco Orsi | Italy | 22.22 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Norbert Trandafir | Romania | 22.33 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 7 | Marco di Carli | Germany | 22.43 | |
| 6 | 3 | Andrea Rolla | Italy | 22.44 | |
| 7 | 8 | Oleg Tikhobaev | Russia | 22.53 | |
| 8 | 1 | Filip Wypych | Poland | 22.55 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 22.22 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | Finland | 22.24 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 5 | Alain Bernard | France | 22.26 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Kristian Golomeev | Greece | 22.37 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 22.40 | |
| 6 | 8 | Jasper Aerents | Belgium | 22.49 | |
| 7 | 2 | Dominik Kozma | Hungary | 22.51 | |
| 8 | 1 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 22.59 | |

### Final

The final was held at 17:05.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 21.80 | |
| | 4 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.04 | |
| | 5 | Andriy Govorov | Ukraine | 22.18 | |
| 4 | 2 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | Finland | 22.22 | NR |
| 4 | 3 | Marco Orsi | Italy | 22.22 | |
| 4 | 8 | Kristian Golomeev | Greece | 22.22 | |
| 7 | 7 | Alain Bernard | France | 22.24 | |
| 8 | 1 | Norbert Trandafir | Romania | 22.65 | |