# Swimming at the 1991 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The Men's 50 metre freestyle competition at the 1991 World Aquatics Championships were held on January 12, 1991.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Tom Jager (USA) | 21.81 | Nashville, United States | 24 March 1990 |
| Competition record | Tom Jager (USA) | 22.49 | Madrid, Spain | 1986 |

## Results
### Heats

The heats will be held on 12 January at 10:21.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Matt Biondi | United States | 22.42 | CR |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Tom Jager | United States | 22.56 | |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Dano Halsall | Switzerland | 22.77 | |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Darren Lange | Australia | 22.90 | |
| 5 | 4 | 6 | Gennadiy Prigoda | Soviet Union | 22.91 | |
| 6 | 6 | 5 | Vladimir Tkachenko | Soviet Union | 22.98 | |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Lars-Ove Jansson | Sweden | 22.99 | |
| 8 | 6 | 3 | Andrew Baildon | Australia | 23.00 | |
| 9 | 5 | 3 | Stéphan Caron | France | 23.01 | |
| 10 | 6 | 3 | Christophe Kalfayan | France | 23.09 | |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | Göran Titus | Sweden | 23.20 | |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Christian Tröger | Germany | 23.28 | |
| 13 | 4 | 1 | Franz Mortensen | Denmark | 23.29 | |
| 13 | 3 | 5 | Ron Dekker | Netherlands | 23.29 | |
| 15 | 5 | 2 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 23.38 | |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Paulo Manuel Trindade | Portugal | 23.47 | |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Stéfan Voléry | Switzerland | 23.51 | |
| 18 | 3 | 7 | Austyn Shortman | Great Britain | 23.53 | |
| 19 | 4 | 6 | Nick Sanders | New Zealand | 23.55 | |
| 20 | 6 | 6 | Dean Kondziolka | Canada | 23.59 | |
| 21 | 6 | 1 | Erd Cabafi | Yugoslavia | 23.61 | |
| 22 | 5 | 1 | Feng Qiangbiao | China | 23.64 | |
| 23 | 6 | 8 | Rodrigo González | Mexico | 23.70 | |
| 24 | 6 | 1 | Shen Jianqiang | China | 23.75 | |
| 25 | 3 | 2 | Richard Granneman | Netherlands | 23.80 | |
| 26 | 3 | 8 | Yoav Bruck | Israel | 23.86 | |
| 27 | 4 | 8 | Michael Wright | Hong Kong | 23.93 | |
| 28 | 2 | 6 | Béla Szabados | Hungary | 24.01 | |
| 29 | 5 | 8 | Jarl Inge Melberg | Norway | 24.20 | |
| 30 | 2 | 5 | Richard Bera | Indonesia | 24.21 | |
| 30 | 3 | 6 | Yves Clausse | Luxembourg | 24.21 | |
| 32 | 3 | 1 | Todd Torres | Puerto Rico | 24.24 | |
| 33 | 2 | 4 | Janne Vermasheinä | Finland | 24.31 | |
| 34 | 2 | 8 | Allan Murray | Bahamas | 24.49 | |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | Gan Kheng Hui | Singapore | 24.51 | |
| 36 | 2 | 3 | José Gutiérrez | Mexico | 24.54 | |
| 37 | 1 | 5 | Patrick Sagisi | Guam | 24.58 | |
| 38 | 2 | 1 | Maciej Soszyński | Poland | 24.67 | |
| 39 | 1 | 6 | Wisnu Wardhana | Indonesia | 25.25 | |
| 40 | 2 | 7 | Sofiane Benchekor | Algeria | 25.43 | |
| 41 | 1 | 4 | Yeo Wie Jin | Singapore | 25.48 | |
| 42 | 1 | 3 | Chen Chun-hung | Chinese Taipei | 25.52 | |
| 43 | 1 | 7 | Ray Flores | Guam | 26.35 | |
| 44 | 1 | 2 | Michele Piva | San Marino | 26.46 | |
| 45 | 1 | 8 | Roberto Pellandra | San Marino | 26.68 | |
| 46 | 1 | 1 | Lok Hei | Macau | 26.76 | |
| | 3 | 4 | Emanuel Nascimento | Brazil | DNS | |
| | 4 | 4 | Nils Rudolph | Germany | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 5 | Christophe Kalfayan | France | 22.94 |
| 10 | 3 | Göran Titus | Sweden | 23.06 |
| 11 | 4 | Stéphan Caron | France | 23.11 |
| 12 | 1 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 23.15 |
| 13 | 6 | Christian Tröger | Germany | 23.18 |
| 14 | 2 | Franz Mortensen | Denmark | 23.29 |
| 15 | 7 | Ron Dekker | Netherlands | 23.39 |
| 16 | 8 | Paulo Manuel Trindade | Portugal | 23.48 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Tom Jager | United States | 22.16 | CR |
| | 4 | Matt Biondi | United States | 22.26 | |
| | 2 | Gennadiy Prigoda | Soviet Union | 22.62 | |
| 4 | 1 | Lars-Ove Jansson | Sweden | 22.75 | |
| 4 | 7 | Vladimir Tkachenko | Soviet Union | 22.75 | |
| 6 | 3 | Dano Halsall | Switzerland | 22.83 | |
| 7 | 8 | Andrew Baildon | Australia | 22.87 | |
| 8 | 6 | Darren Lange | Australia | 22.88 | |