The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

Lenny Krayzelburg, a Ukrainian-born American whose swimming career began in the old Soviet system, shattered a new Olympic record to claim a gold medal in the event, slashing 0.14 seconds off an eight-year-old standard set by Jeff Rouse in Barcelona. He seized the lead on the first length, and held off a challenge from Australia's overwhelming favorite Matt Welsh down the final lap to touch the wall first in 53.72. Delighted by the frenzied home crowd, Welsh took home with a silver medal in an Oceanian record of 54.07. Meanwhile, Germany's Stev Theloke stormed home from behind to wrest a bronze in 54.82, edging out another Aussie Josh Watson (55.01) by almost two-tenths of a second (0.20).

Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski finished fifth with a time of 55.04, and was followed in the sixth spot by U.S. swimmer Neil Walker in 55.14. Theloke's teammate Steffen Driesen (55.27) and Israel's Eithan Urbach (55.74) closed out the field.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition. Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 18 September Final Lenny Krayzelburg 53.72

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 7 4 Lenny Krayzelburg 54.38 Q 2 6 4 Matt Welsh 54.70 Q 3 5 5 Stev Theloke 55.00 Q 4 7 5 Josh Watson 55.09 Q 5 5 1 Bartosz Kizierowski 55.14 Q 6 5 4 Neil Walker 55.34 Q 7 6 3 Steffen Driesen 55.39 Q 8 5 3 Gordan Kožulj 55.43 Q 9 5 2 Eithan Urbach 55.44 Q, NR 10 7 3 Alexandre Massura 55.58 Q 11 6 5 Rodolfo Falcón 55.61 Q 12 6 6 David Ortega 55.80 Q 13 7 2 Péter Horváth 55.81 Q 14 7 8 Chris Renaud 55.85 Q 15 4 5 Simon Dufour 56.01 Q 16 7 1 Adam Ruckwood 56.19 Q 17 6 1 Derya Büyükuncu 56.21 18 6 7 Marko Strahija 56.26 19 4 2 Sergey Ostapchuk 56.26 20 5 7 Mariusz Siembida 56.27 21 5 8 Emanuele Merisi 56.35 4 7 Răzvan Florea NR 23 5 6 Rogério Romero 56.44 24 6 2 Darius Grigalionis 56.47 25 7 6 Mark Versfeld 56.50 26 7 7 Volodymyr Nikolaychuk 56.71 27 4 4 Alex Lim 56.81 28 4 1 Miroslav Machovič 56.95 4 8 Nuno Laurentino 30 6 8 Simon Thirsk 57.06 31 2 3 Sung Min 57.12 32 3 2 Blaž Medvešek 57.26 33 3 7 Markus Rogan 57.35 34 4 6 Ouyang Kunpeng 57.47 35 3 4 Philipp Gilgen 57.50 36 3 3 Mattias Ohlin 57.51 37 3 5 Scott Talbot-Cameron 57.86 38 1 2 Alexandru Ivlev 57.91 39 3 8 Ivan Angelov 58.03 40 4 3 Eduardo Germán Otero 58.09 41 2 1 Diego Gallo 58.18 NR 42 3 6 Milorad Čavić 58.25 43 2 8 Dulyarit Phuangthong 58.48 44 3 1 Haitham Hassan 58.67 45 2 4 Gary Tan 58.69 46 2 2 Mehdi Addadi 58.74 47 1 3 Benjamin Lo-Pinto 58.90 48 2 7 Mike Fung-A-Wing 59.06 49 2 5 Konstantin Priahin 59.86 50 1 4 Germán Martínez 59.94 51 2 6 Nicholas Neckles 1:00.19 52 1 6 Pavel Sidorov 1:01.02 53 1 7 Mauricio Prudencio 1:01.15 54 1 5 Faisal Al-Mahmeed 1:05.17 55 1 1 Welbert Samuel 1:12.38

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Matt Welsh 54.52 Q 2 5 Josh Watson 54.93 Q 3 3 Neil Walker 55.20 Q 4 1 Chris Renaud 55.70 5 2 Alexandre Massura 56.07 6 6 Gordan Kožulj 56.26 7 7 David Ortega 56.33 8 8 Adam Ruckwood 56.34

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Lenny Krayzelburg 54.32 Q 2 5 Stev Theloke 54.95 Q 3 2 Eithan Urbach 55.31 Q, NR 4 3 Bartosz Kizierowski 55.34 Q 5 6 Steffen Driesen 55.41 Q 6 7 Rodolfo Falcón 55.59 7 1 Péter Horváth 55.65 8 8 Simon Dufour 55.79

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Lenny Krayzelburg 53.72 5 Matt Welsh 54.07 OC 6 Stev Theloke 54.82 4 3 Josh Watson 55.01 5 1 Bartosz Kizierowski 55.04 6 2 Neil Walker 55.14 7 8 Steffen Driesen 55.27 8 7 Eithan Urbach 55.74

References

External links Official Olympic Report