# Swimming at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships took place 27 July. The heats and semifinals were held on 26 July.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record | Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) | 47.84 | Sydney, Australia | 19 September 2000 |
| Championship record | Alexander Popov (RUS) | 48.74 | Perth, Australia | 15 January 1998 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 26 July | Semifinal 2 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.57 | CR |
| 27 July | Final | Anthony Ervin | United States | 48.33 | CR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.96 | Q |
| 2 | Anthony Ervin | United States | 49.08 | Q |
| 3 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 49.21 | Q |
| 4 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 49.40 | Q |
| 5 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 49.46 | Q |
| 6 | Jason Lezak | United States | 49.51 | Q |
| 7 | José Meolans | Argentina | 49.65 | Q |
| 7 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 49.65 | Q |
| 9 | Attila Zubor | Hungary | 49.65 | Q |
| 10 | Lars Frölander | Sweden | 49.76 | Q |
| 11 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 49.80 | Q |
| 11 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 49.80 | Q |
| 13 | Lars Conrad | Germany | 49.89 | Q |
| 14 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 49.90 | Q |
| 15 | Edvaldo Valério | Brazil | 50.03 | Q |
| 16 | Johan Kenkhuis | Netherlands | 50.08 | Q |
| 17 | Roland Schoeman | South Africa | 50.13 | |
| 17 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 50.13 | |
| 19 | Vyacheslav Shyrshov | Ukraine | 50.22 | |
| 20 | Karel Novy | Switzerland | 50.25 | |
| 21 | Simone Cercato | Italy | 50.41 | |
| 22 | Rolandas Gimbutis | Lithuania | 50.65 | |
| 23 | Nicholas Folker | South Africa | 50.66 | |
| 24 | Ivan Mladina | Croatia | 50.73 | |
| 25 | Jorge Ulibarri | Spain | 50.76 | |
| 26 | Yoshihiro Okumura | Japan | 50.91 | |
| 27 | Riley Janes | Canada | 51.19 | |
| 28 | Shunsuke Ito | Japan | 51.29 | |
| 29 | Maxim Korshunov | Russia | 51.40 | |
| 30 | Oleksandr Volynets | Ukraine | 51.52 | |
| 31 | Oswaldo Quevedo | Venezuela | 51.63 | |
| 32 | Kim Min-Seok | South Korea | 51.71 | |
| 33 | Danil Haustov | Estonia | 51.78 | |
| 34 | Xie Xufeng | China | 51.81 | |
| 35 | Christoph Bühler | Switzerland | 51.87 | |
| 36 | Ouyang Kunpeng | China | 51.88 | |
| 37 | Saulius Binevičius | Lithuania | 51.97 | |
| 38 | Carl Probert | Fiji | 52.15 | |
| 39 | Alejandro Siqueiros | Mexico | 52.30 | |
| 40 | Camilo Becerra | Colombia | 52.41 | |
| 41 | Wu Nien-Pin | Chinese Taipei | 52.70 | |
| 42 | Mark Chay | Singapore | 52.77 | |
| 43 | Ismael Ortiz | Panama | 52.93 | |
| 44 | Brendan Ashby | Zimbabwe | 53.14 | |
| 45 | Gustavo Barrios | Panama | 53.34 | |
| 46 | Ernest Teo | Singapore | 53.39 | |
| 47 | Christophe Lim Wen Ying | Mauritius | 53.64 | |
| 48 | Jacob Fraire | Mexico | 53.76 | |
| 49 | Harbeth Fu Wing | Hong Kong | 53.79 | |
| 50 | Victor Rogut | Moldova | 53.93 | |
| 51 | Chon Kit Alias Joao Tang | Macau | 53.94 | |
| 52 | Gregory Arkhurst | Ivory Coast | 54.01 | |
| 53 | Christophee Backisavs | Dominican Republic | 54.05 | |
| 54 | Ronald Cowen | Bermuda | 54.65 | |
| 55 | Nicholas Diaper | Kenya | 54.71 | |
| 56 | Kenny Roberts | Seychelles | 54.76 | |
| 57 | Cliff Gittens | Barbados | 54.96 | |
| 58 | Vakhtang Beridze | Georgia | 54.99 | |
| 59 | Jiang Bing-Ru | Chinese Taipei | 55.03 | |
| 60 | Obaid Ahmed Al Jassimi | United Arab Emirates | 55.05 | |
| 61 | Saad Khalloqi | Morocco | 55.08 | |
| 62 | Khuwiater Saeed Had Al Dhaheri | United Arab Emirates | 55.15 | |
| 63 | Gael Souci | Mauritius | 55.21 | |
| 64 | Khaly Ciss | Senegal | 55.25 | |
| 65 | Davy Rolando Bisslik | Aruba | 55.32 | |
| 66 | Aleksey Bortnikov | Uzbekistan | 55.56 | |
| 67 | Barnsley Albert | Seychelles | 55.91 | |
| 68 | Arwut Chinnapasaen | Thailand | 55.92 | |
| 69 | Wing Cheung Victor Wong | Macau | 56.24 | |
| 70 | Omar Núñez | Nicaragua | 56.75 | |
| 71 | Yu Lung Lubrey Lim | Malaysia | 57.23 | |
| 72 | Zie Ahmed Oyattara | Ivory Coast | 57.44 | |
| 73 | Onan Thom | Guyana | 57.56 | |
| 74 | Hamid Nassir | Kenya | 57.68 | |
| 75 | Rainui Teriipaia | Tahiti | 57.69 | |
| 76 | João Aguiar | Angola | 57.76 | |
| 77 | Seung Gin Lee | Northern Mariana Islands | 57.83 | |
| 78 | Mark Unpingco | Guam | 58.33 | |
| 79 | William Kang | Guam | 58.36 | |
| 80 | Ganaa Galbadrakh | Mongolia | 58.49 | |
| 81 | Nuno Miguel Cardoso Rola | Angola | 58.51 | |
| 82 | Dean Palacios | Northern Mariana Islands | 58.77 | |
| 83 | Sule Cole Shade | Cameroon | 1:01.70 | |
| 84 | Rony Bakale | Republic of the Congo | 1:02.38 | |
| 85 | Joe Atuhairwe | Uganda | 1:07.71 | |
| 86 | Ibrahim Ismael Mamadou | Niger | 1:11.78 | |
| 87 | Fabrice Ndikumana | Burundi | 1:15.05 | |
| 88 | Joshua Robert Marfleet | Samoa | 1:29.41 | |
| – | Eithan Urbach | Israel | DNS | |
| – | Hesham Shehab | Brunei | DNS | |
| – | Richard Sam Bera | Indonesia | DNS | |
| – | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | DNS | |
| – | Lorenzo Vismara | Italy | DNS | |
| – | Peter Mankoč | Slovenia | DNS | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.57 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 48.96 | Q |
| 3 | Attila Zubor | Hungary | 49.32 | Q |
| 4 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 49.38 | Q |
| 5 | Anthony Ervin | United States | 49.43 | Q |
| 6 | Jason Lezak | United States | 49.49 | Q |
| 7 | Lars Frölander | Sweden | 49.54 | Q |
| 8 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 49.60 | Q |
| 9 | José Meolans | Argentina | 49.69 | |
| 10 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 49.79 | |
| 11 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 49.80 | |
| 12 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 49.89 | |
| 13 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 49.90 | |
| 14 | Lars Conrad | Germany | 49.92 | |
| 15 | Edvaldo Valério | Brazil | 49.93 | |
| 16 | Johan Kenkhuis | Netherlands | 50.05 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Anthony Ervin | United States | 48.33 | CR, AM |
| | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 48.43 | |
| | Lars Frölander | Sweden | 48.79 | |
| 4 | Ian Thorpe | Australia | 48.81 | |
| 5 | Attila Zubor | Hungary | 49.13 | |
| 6 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 49.35 | |
| 7 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 49.39 | |
| 8 | Jason Lezak | United States | 49.51 | |