The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Summary Ryan Murphy continued the streak of American dominance in the sprint backstroke, as he pulled away from the rest of the field to claim his country's sixth straight Olympic title. He fired off a 51.97 to eclipse Matt Grevers' 2012 Olympic record by 0.19 of a second for gold, making him the only second swimmer in the event's history besides Aaron Peirsol to break the 52-second barrier and the fastest of all time in textile. Meanwhile, China's Xu Jiayu put up a brisk effort to take silver with a 52.31, and spoil the 1–2 finish for the Americans. Murphy's fellowman David Plummer, aged 30, finished with bronze in 52.40 at his maiden Games.

Leading the race early on the initial length, Australia's defending world champion Mitch Larkin missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 52.43. France's Camille Lacourt picked up the fifth spot in 52.70, with Russian swimmer and Youth Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov (52.74) trailing him by a 0.04-second margin. Japan's Ryosuke Irie (53.42), the Olympic bronze medalist from London 2012, and Romania's Robert Glință (53.50) rounded out the field.

The medals for the competition were presented by Albert II, Prince of Monaco, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Mustapha Larfaoui, FINA honorary life president.

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nation Time Record8 August Final Ryan Murphy 51.97

Murphy then set a new world record for the 100 m backstroke with a time of 51.85 seconds on August 13 in the lead-off leg as part of the 4 × 100 m medley relay.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 5 Camille Lacourt 52.96 Q 2 3 5 53.01 Q 3 5 4 53.04 Q 4 3 4 53.06 Q 5 4 4 53.19 Q 6 3 3 53.25 Q 7 5 1 53.47 Q 8 5 3 53.49 Q 9 4 2 53.51 Q 10 4 5 53.54 Q 11 4 3 53.65 Q 12 4 6 53.68 Q 13 5 6 53.80 Q 14 3 1 53.85 Q, NR 15 3 2 53.87 Q 16 2 6 53.99 Q 17 4 7 54.11 18 5 2 54.12 19 5 7 54.17 20 2 1 54.18 21 2 5 54.36 22 4 8 Quah Zheng Wen 54.38 23 4 1 54.39 24 2 4 54.40 25 3 8 54.48 26 2 3 54.52 27 3 7 54.66 28 3 6 54.91 29 5 8 54.97 30 2 7 Won Young-jun 55.05 31 2 8 55.44 32 2 2 55.68 33 1 4 56.34 NR 34 1 5 57.20 35 1 3 57.77 36 1 6 58.01 37 1 2 59.58 38 1 1 1:00.28 39 1 7 1:07.47

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 Ryan Murphy 52.49 Q 2 4 Xu Jiayu 52.73 Q 3 3 Evgeny Rylov 52.84 Q 4 6 Irie Ryosuke 53.21 Q 5 7 Christopher Reid 53.70 6 2 Chris Walker-Hebborn 53.75 7 8 Corey Main 54.29 8 1 Shane Ryan 54.40

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 David Plummer 52.50 Q 2 5 Mitch Larkin 52.70 Q 3 4 Camille Lacourt 52.72 Q 4 2 Robert Glință 53.34 Q, NR 5 7 Grigoriy Tarasevich 53.46 6 8 Jan-Philip Glania 53.94 7 6 Joshua Beaver 53.95 8 1 Guilherme Guido 54.16

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 51.97 2 Xu Jiayu 52.31 NR 5 David Plummer 52.40 4 3 Mitch Larkin 52.43 5 6 Camille Lacourt 52.70 6 7 Evgeny Rylov 52.74 7 1 Ryosuke Irie 53.42 8 8 Robert Glință 53.50

References