# Swimming at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The finals and the qualifying heats of the men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships were held on Saturday 17 January 1998 in Perth, Western Australia.

## Heats

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | 11 | Michael Klim | Australia | 22.58 |
| 1 | 11 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 22.58 |
| 3 | 11 | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 22.61 |
| 4 | 9 | Bill Pilczuk | United States | 22.70 |
| 5 | 10 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 22.76 |
| 6 | 11 | Brendon Dedekind | South Africa | 22.77 |
| 7 | 9 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 22.79 |
| 8 | 9 | Neil Walker | United States | 22.82 |
| 9 | 11 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 22.85 |
| 10 | 9 | Alexander Lüderitz | Germany | 22.86 |
| 11 | 5 | Yoav Bruck | Israel | 22.90 |
| 12 | 10 | Julien Sicot | France | 22.98 |
| 12 | 11 | Denis Pimankov | Russia | 22.98 |
| 12 | 9 | Nathan Rickard | Australia | 22.98 |
| 15 | 10 | Ricardo Dornelas | Brazil | 23.08 |
| 16 | 8 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 23.12 |
| 17 | 9 | Torsten Spanneberg | Germany | 23.12 |
| 18 | 10 | Jiang Chengji | China | 23.13 |
| 19 | 10 | José Meolans | Argentina | 23.15 |
| 20 | 7 | Fredrik Letzler | Sweden | 23.18 |
| 21 | 8 | Mike Fibbens | Great Britain | 23.29 |
| 22 | 8 | Lorenzo Vismara | Italy | 23.31 |
| 22 | 10 | Aleh Rukhlevich | Belarus | 23.31 |
| 24 | 7 | Stephen Clarke | Canada | 23.37 |
| 25 | 8 | Craig Hutchison | Canada | 23.40 |
| 26 | 10 | Juan Benavides | Spain | 23.42 |
| 27 | 11 | Nicolae Ivan | Romania | 23.47 |
| 28 | 8 | Indrek Sei | Estonia | 23.50 |
| 29 | 8 | Francisco Sánchez | Venezuela | 23.54 |
| 30 | 7 | Shunsuke Ito | Japan | 23.61 |
| 31 | 7 | Felipe Delgado | Ecuador | 23.64 |
| 32 | 11 | Stavros Michaelides | Cyprus | 23.66 |
| 33 | 8 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 23.74 |
| 34 | 7 | Jonas Åkesson | Sweden | 23.79 |
| 35 | 8 | Alen Lončar | Croatia | 23.83 |
| 35 | 9 | Hans Bylemans | Belgium | 23.83 |
| 37 | 6 | Janko Gojkovic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 23.88 |
| 38 | 7 | Nicholas O'Hare | Ireland | 23.94 |
| 39 | 7 | Ravil Nachaev | Uzbekistan | 24.14 |
| 40 | 7 | Igor Sitnikov | Kazakhstan | 24.17 |
| 41 | 5 | Huang Chih Yung | Chinese Taipei | 24.29 |
| 41 | 6 | Nick Tonge | New Zealand | 24.29 |
| 43 | 5 | Mehdi Addadi | Algeria | 24.43 |
| 44 | 6 | Gentil Offoan | Nigeria | 24.49 |
| 45 | 6 | John Steel | New Zealand | 24.52 |
| 46 | 6 | Leslie Kwok | Singapore | 24.67 |
| 47 | 5 | Carl Probert | Fiji | 24.73 |
| 48 | 4 | Kenneth Goh | Singapore | 24.79 |
| 49 | 5 | Stephen Troake | Bermuda | 24.84 |
| 50 | 6 | Jesus Gonzalez Cisneros | Mexico | 24.86 |
| 51 | 5 | Hung Chien Chih | Chinese Taipei | 24.97 |
| 52 | 4 | Zachary Moffatt | Hong Kong | 25.01 |
| 53 | 6 | Alexey Makhantsev | Uzbekistan | 25.05 |
| 54 | 4 | Christophe Lim | Mauritius | 25.35 |
| 55 | 5 | Kehinde Erewunmi | Nigeria | 25.36 |
| 56 | 4 | Behzad Mehdi Khabazian | Iran | 25.48 |
| 57 | 4 | Gael Duchenne | Mauritius | 25.66 |
| 58 | 4 | Tai Ka Kin | Macau | 25.70 |
| 59 | 3 | Bertrand Hubert | Tahiti | 25.90 |
| 60 | 3 | Diego Mularoni | San Marino | 26.04 |
| 61 | 3 | Sashi Flores | Guam | 26.11 |
| 62 | 3 | Hamidreza Mobarrez | Iran | 26.12 |
| 63 | 6 | Ghefari Dulapandan | Sri Lanka | 26.38 |
| 64 | 5 | Daniel Teriipaia | Tahiti | 26.47 |
| 65 | 3 | Matteo Cesarini | San Marino | 26.55 |
| 66 | 3 | Woo Kim | Kenya | 26.85 |
| 67 | 3 | Felix Valdivia | Nicaragua | 26.94 |
| 68 | 3 | Vladimir Klimushin | Turkmenistan | 27.15 |
| 69 | 4 | Naranbai Nasanbat | Mongolia | 27.16 |
| 70 | 4 | Andrew Lee | Guam | 27.35 |
| 71 | 2 | Michael Watson | Guyana | 27.64 |
| 72 | 9 | Guillaume Lobe Njoh | Cameroon | 27.73 |
| 73 | 2 | John Dagbovi-Senakwami | Togo | 28.79 |
| – | 2 | Mikel Ohan | Iraq | DQ |
| – | 2 | Mohammed Ssebulime | Uganda | DQ |
| – | 2 | Anlloyd Samuel | Palau | DQ |
| – | 1 | Pedro Bonnelly | Dominican Republic | DNS |
| – | 1 | Orgil Nomingoo | Mongolia | DNS |
| – | 1 | Hassan Mosa | Palestine | DNS |
| – | 2 | Dmitri Margaryan | Armenia | DNS |
| – | 10 | Marcos Hernández | Cuba | DNS |

## B Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | Julien Sicot | France | 22.62 |
| 10 | Denis Pimankov | Russia | 22.67 |
| 11 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 22.77 |
| 12 | Nathan Rickard | Australia | 22.82 |
| 12 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 22.82 |
| 14 | Alexander Lüderitz | Germany | 23.01 |
| 15 | Yoav Bruck | Israel | 23.03 |
| 16 | Ricardo Dornelas | Brazil | 23.07 |

## A Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Bill Pilczuk | United States | 22.29 | |
| | Alexander Popov | Russia | 22.43 | |
| | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 22.47 | |
| | Michael Klim | Australia | 22.47 | OC |
| 5 | Neil Walker | United States | 22.50 | |
| 6 | Brendon Dedekind | South Africa | 22.54 | |
| 7 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 22.83 | |
| 8 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 22.84 | |