The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

On the wake of Aaron Peirsol's official retirement in 2011, U.S. swimmer Matt Grevers continued to build an American supremacy in the event by following the former champion's footsteps towards his first individual gold. He held off a challenge from France's Camille Lacourt down the final stretch to touch the wall first in a sterling time of 52.16, eclipsing Peirsol's 2008 Olympic record by 0.38 seconds. Grevers also enjoyed his teammate Nick Thoman taking home the silver in 52.92, as the Americans climbed again on top of the podium for an eleventh time in the event's Olympic history and for a second straight 1–2 finish since 2008. Moving from behind at the final turn, Japan's Ryosuke Irie came up with a stalwart swim to capture the bronze in 52.97.

Leading the race early on the initial length, Lacourt dropped off the podium to a fourth-place time in 53.08. Great Britain's Liam Tancock (53.35), Germany's Helge Meeuw (53.48), Australia's defending bronze medalist Hayden Stoeckel (53.55), and China's Cheng Feiyi (53.77) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the finale.

Other notable swimmers featured Russian duo Arkady Vyatchanin, reigning Olympic bronze medalist, who missed the final roster with a ninth-place effort (53.79); and Vladimir Morozov, who later scratched the semifinals to focus on his freestyle relay duty, allowing Greece's three-time Olympian Aristeidis Grigoriadis to occupy his slot.

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 30 July Final Matt Grevers 52.16

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 4 Matt Grevers 52.92 Q 2 6 2 Cheng Feiyi 53.22 Q, NR 3 4 4 Nick Thoman 53.48 Q 4 5 4 Camille Lacourt 53.51 Q 5 6 5 Ryosuke Irie 53.56 Q 6 6 7 Nick Driebergen 53.62 Q, NR 7 4 5 Helge Meeuw 53.83 Q 8 5 5 Liam Tancock 53.86 Q 9 6 6 Hayden Stoeckel 53.88 Q10 4 2 Vladimir Morozov 54.01 Q, 5 2 Arkady Vyatchanin Q 12 5 3 Jan-Philip Glania 54.07 Q 13 5 8 Charles Francis 54.08 Q 14 6 3 Gareth Kean 54.26 Q 15 6 1 Daniel Arnamnart 54.28 Q 16 4 3 Aschwin Wildeboer 54.36 Q 17 5 6 Aristeidis Grigoriadis 54.52 Q 18 3 1 Pavel Sankovich 54.53 NR 19 3 5 Mirco di Tora 54.70 20 3 7 Chris Walker-Hebborn 54.78 21 3 4 He Jianbin 54.81 22 3 3 Richárd Bohus 54.84 23 4 6 Bastiaan Lijesen 54.88 24 4 1 Yakov-Yan Toumarkin 54.91 25 4 7 Juan Miguel Rando Galvez 54.93 26 3 8 Lavrans Solli 55.00 27 5 1 Marcin Tarczyński 55.06 28 4 8 Daniel Orzechowski 55.16 29 2 8 George Bovell 55.22 NR 30 3 2 Mathias Gydesen 55.31 31 5 7 Benjamin Stasiulis 55.36 32 2 5 Omar Pinzón 55.37 33 6 8 Charl Crous 55.37 34 2 1 Pedro Medel 55.40 NR 35 2 2 Oleksandr Isakov 55.43 36 2 7 Park Seon-kwan 55.51 37 3 6 Daniel Bell 55.53 38 2 4 Alexandr Tarabrin 55.55 39 2 6 I Gede Siman Sudartawa 55.99 40 1 4 Bradley Ally 56.27 41 2 3 Federico Grabich 56.56 42 1 5 Heshan Unamboowe 57.94 43 1 3 Zane Jordan 58.77

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 Camille Lacourt 53.03 Q 2 6 Liam Tancock 53.25 Q 3 4 Cheng Feiyi 53.50 Q 4 2 Arkady Vyatchanin 53.79 5 3 Nick Driebergen 53.81 6 8 Aristeidis Grigoriadis 54.20 7 7 Charles Francis 54.42 8 1 Daniel Arnamnart 54.48

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Matt Grevers 52.66 Q 2 3 Ryosuke Irie 53.29 Q 3 5 Nick Thoman 53.47 Q 4 6 Helge Meeuw 53.52 Q 5 2 Hayden Stoeckel 53.72 Q 6 7 Jan-Philip Glania 53.90 7 8 Aschwin Wildeboer 53.99 8 1 Gareth Kean 54.00

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Matt Grevers 52.16 2 Nick Thoman 52.92 6 Ryosuke Irie 52.97 4 5 Camille Lacourt 53.08 5 3 Liam Tancock 53.35 6 1 Helge Meeuw 53.48 7 8 Hayden Stoeckel 53.55 8 7 Cheng Feiyi 53.77

References

External links