# 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) was held on 10 and 11 April 2008 at the Manchester Arena.
The event was won by the defending champion Croatian Duje Draganja in a new world record time of 20.81 seconds, breaking the previous mark set by Sweden's Stefan Nystrand six months earlier by 0.12 seconds. Swimming in lane 1 in the final, Draganja also broke the championship record of 21.31 set by Cullen Jones of the United States in Shanghai in 2006.
Great Britain's Mark Foster won the silver medal, finishing a half a second behind Draganja while Gerhard Zandberg of South Africa finished third in 21.33.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 20.93 | Berlin | 18 November 2007 |
| Championship record | Cullen Jones | United States | 21.31 | Shanghai | 6 April 2006 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 12 | 8 | Bryan Lundquist | United States | 21.44 | Q |
| 2 | 13 | 4 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 21.60 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 1 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 21.61 | Q |
| 4 | 14 | 4 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 21.67 | Q |
| =5 | 12 | 6 | Grant Brits | Australia | 21.77 | Q |
| =5 | 14 | 1 | Nabil Kebbab | Algeria | 21.77 | Q |
| 7 | 14 | 8 | Jernej Godec | Slovenia | 21.81 | Q |
| 8 | 12 | 1 | Eduardo Lorente | Spain | 21.88 | Q |
| 9 | 9 | 5 | David Dunford | Kenya | 21.89 | Q |
| =10 | 11 | 3 | Jason Dunford | Kenya | 21.92 | Q |
| =10 | 13 | 5 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 21.92 | Q |
| 12 | 12 | 4 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 21.98 | Q |
| 13 | 14 | 2 | José Meolans | Argentina | 22.00 | Q |
| 14 | 10 | 2 | Matthew Tutty | Great Britain | 22.03 | Q |
| =15 | 12 | 5 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 22.06 | Q |
| =15 | 14 | 5 | Fernando Silva | Brazil | 22.06 | Q |
| 17 | 12 | 2 | Robert Lijesen | Netherlands | 22.11 | |
| 18 | 12 | 3 | Mario Todorović | Croatia | 22.20 | |
| 19 | 13 | 2 | Kaan Tayla | Turkey | 22.21 | |
| 20 | 13 | 7 | Johannes Dietrich | Germany | 22.23 | |
| 21 | 14 | 7 | Flori Lang | Switzerland | 22.24 | |
| 22 | 13 | 3 | Shaun Harris | South Africa | 22.25 | |
| =23 | 13 | 6 | Cameron Gibson | New Zealand | 22.32 | |
| =23 | 14 | 3 | Matti Rajakylä | Finland | 22.32 | |
| 25 | 10 | 3 | Eduardo Deboni | Brazil | 22.34 | |
| 26 | 11 | 8 | Kenrick Monk | Australia | 22.37 | |
| 27 | 9 | 4 | Ľuboš Križko | Slovakia | 22.38 | |
| 28 | 14 | 6 | Andrey Grechin | Russia | 22.44 | |
| 29 | 9 | 1 | Daisuke Abe | Japan | 22.56 | |
| 30 | 10 | 8 | Andrey Kapralov | Russia | 22.61 | |
| 31 | 11 | 7 | Alexandre Agostinho | Portugal | 22.64 | |
| 32 | 10 | 4 | Matías Aguilera | Argentina | 22.70 | |
| 33 | 11 | 1 | Paulo Santos | Portugal | 22.79 | |
| =34 | 9 | 3 | Markus Deibler | Germany | 22.87 | |
| =34 | 10 | 6 | Raichin Antonov | Bulgaria | 22.87 | |
| 36 | 11 | 2 | Basil Kaaki | Lebanon | 22.93 | |
| 37 | 12 | 7 | Huang Shaohua | China | 22.94 | |
| 38 | 11 | 6 | Bryan Tay | Singapore | 22.97 | |
| 39 | 5 | 1 | Brett Fraser | Cayman Islands | 23.08 | |
| 40 | 9 | 8 | Ankur Poseria | India | 23.12 | |
| 41 | 10 | 1 | Mohammad Bidarian | Iran | 23.14 | |
| 42 | 8 | 1 | Mohamed Mamdouh | Egypt | 23.19 | |
| 43 | 10 | 7 | Abdel El-Badrawy | Egypt | 23.25 | |
| 44 | 8 | 6 | Charles Walker | Philippines | 23.30 | |
| 45 | 10 | 5 | Lao Kuan Fong | Macau | 23.31 | |
| 46 | 9 | 7 | Eren Onurlu | Turkey | 23.59 | |
| 47 | 9 | 6 | Mikael Koloyan | Armenia | 23.62 | |
| 48 | 13 | 1 | Lü Zhiwu | China | 23.89 | |
| 49 | 9 | 2 | Yuan Ping | Chinese Taipei | 23.90 | |
| 50 | 8 | 3 | Kaspar Raigla | Estonia | 23.93 | |
| 51 | 7 | 3 | Joao Matias | Angola | 23.94 | |
| 52 | 1 | 4 | Nicko Biondi Ricardo | Indonesia | 23.96 | |
| 53 | 8 | 8 | Harutyun Harutyunyan | Armenia | 24.00 | |
| =54 | 7 | 2 | Kieran Locke | United States Virgin Islands | 24.03 | |
| =54 | 8 | 5 | Emin Noshadi | Iran | 24.03 | |
| 56 | 7 | 5 | Emile Bakale | Republic of the Congo | 24.16 | |
| 57 | 6 | 5 | Zane Jordan | Zambia | 24.35 | |
| 58 | 8 | 4 | Chakyl Camal | Mozambique | 24.41 | |
| 59 | 8 | 7 | Gael Adam | Mauritius | 24.45 | |
| 60 | 7 | 8 | Fernando Medrano | Nicaragua | 24.50 | |
| 61 | 7 | 6 | Luke Hall | Eswatini | 24.59 | |
| 62 | 7 | 1 | Teymur Guliyev | Azerbaijan | 24.77 | |
| 63 | 4 | 6 | Naji Ferguson | Grenada | 24.80 | |
| 64 | 5 | 5 | Sidni Hoxha | Albania | 24.86 | |
| 65 | 6 | 4 | Heshan Unamboowe | Sri Lanka | 24.88 | |
| 66 | 6 | 6 | Radhames Kalaf | Dominican Republic | 24.90 | |
| 67 | 5 | 3 | Daryl Harford | Grenada | 24.95 | |
| 68 | 6 | 7 | Julien Brice | Saint Lucia | 24.96 | |
| 69 | 6 | 2 | Loai Tashkandi | Saudi Arabia | 24.98 | |
| 70 | 4 | 5 | Sikandar Khan | Pakistan | 25.03 | |
| 71 | 4 | 7 | Bilal Achelhi | Morocco | 25.05 | |
| 72 | 6 | 3 | Jonathan Wong | Jamaica | 25.07 | |
| =73 | 5 | 2 | Hazem Tashkandi | Saudi Arabia | 25.14 | |
| =73 | 6 | 8 | Aldi Gugushka | Albania | 25.14 | |
| 75 | 4 | 4 | Andreý Molçanow | Turkmenistan | 25.23 | |
| 76 | 5 | 4 | Jean-Luc Augier | Saint Lucia | 25.29 | |
| 77 | 4 | 1 | Andryein Tamir | Mongolia | 25.32 | |
| 78 | 4 | 3 | Chong Cheok Kuan | Macau | 25.43 | |
| 79 | 4 | 2 | Shahbaz Khan | Pakistan | 25.50 | |
| 80 | 5 | 8 | Mduduzi Xaba | Eswatini | 25.60 | |
| 81 | 5 | 6 | Jamie Zammitt | Gibraltar | 25.67 | |
| 82 | 3 | 7 | Sergeý Krowýakow | Turkmenistan | 25.75 | |
| 83 | 2 | 6 | Kerson Hadley | Federated States of Micronesia | 25.80 | |
| 84 | 5 | 7 | Peter Lynch | Zambia | 26.03 | |
| 85 | 3 | 4 | Boldbaatar Butekhuils | Mongolia | 26.34 | |
| 86 | 7 | 7 | Tural Abbasov | Azerbaijan | 26.39 | |
| 87 | 3 | 6 | John Kamyuka | Botswana | 26.40 | |
| 88 | 3 | 3 | Sofyan El Gadi | Libya | 26.59 | |
| 89 | 3 | 5 | Majed Tawil | Palestine | 26.72 | |
| 90 | 3 | 2 | Abdel Adams Ouattara Tegue | Ivory Coast | 26.74 | |
| 91 | 4 | 8 | Kouassi Brou | Ivory Coast | 26.99 | |
| 92 | 2 | 2 | Ashraf Hassan | Maldives | 27.70 | |
| 93 | 3 | 8 | Fouad Alatrash | Palestine | 28.10 | |
| 94 | 3 | 1 | Gilbert Kaburu | Uganda | 28.49 | |
| 95 | 2 | 1 | Biko Molteni | Tanzania | 30.92 | |
| 96 | 1 | 6 | Jacob Yohana | Tanzania | 34.21 | |
| | 1 | 3 | Yellow Yeiyah | Nigeria | | DNS |
| | 1 | 5 | Abib Sereme | Mali | | DNS |
| | 2 | 3 | Rene Jacob Yougbara | Burkina Faso | | DNS |
| | 2 | 5 | Modou Gaye | Mauritania | | DNS |
| | 2 | 7 | Abu Bakarr Jalloh | Sierra Leone | | DNS |
| | 2 | 8 | Adama Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | | DNS |
| | 7 | 4 | Artiom Gladun | Moldova | | DNS |
| | 8 | 2 | Gleb Cocorin | Moldova | | DNS |
| | 11 | 4 | Alessandro Calvi | Italy | | DNS |
| | 13 | 8 | Michele Santucci | Italy | | DNS |
| | 2 | 4 | Petero Okotai | Cook Islands | | DSQ |
| | 11 | 5 | Danil Bugakov | Uzbekistan | | DSQ |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held at 19:53.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 21.32 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | José Meolans | Argentina | 21.43 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 21.46 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 4 | Bryan Lundquist | United States | 21.55 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | Grant Brits | Australia | 21.57 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Jernej Godec | Slovenia | 21.58 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 5 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 21.63 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 7 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 21.72 | Q |
| =9 | 1 | 3 | Nabil Kebbab | Algeria | 21.77 | |
| =9 | 2 | 7 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | 21.77 | |
| 11 | 2 | 8 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 21.80 | |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | David Dunford | Kenya | 21.85 | |
| 13 | 1 | 1 | Matthew Tutty | Great Britain | 21.90 | |
| =14 | 1 | 8 | Fernando Silva | Brazil | 21.97 | |
| =14 | 1 | 6 | Eduardo Lorente | Spain | 21.97 | |
| =14 | 1 | 2 | Jason Dunford | Kenya | 21.97 | |

### Finals

The final was held at 20:50.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 1 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 20.81 | WR |
| | 4 | Mark Foster | Great Britain | 21.31 | |
| | 8 | Gerhard Zandberg | South Africa | 21.33 | |
| 4 | 3 | Ryan Lochte | United States | 21.44 | |
| 5 | 5 | José Meolans | Argentina | 21.48 | |
| 6 | 2 | Grant Brits | Australia | 21.68 | |
| 7 | 7 | Jernej Godec | Slovenia | 21.74 | |
| 8 | 6 | Bryan Lundquist | United States | 21.77 | |