The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 29 to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's fourteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1968.
The medals for the competition were presented by Ng Ser Miang, IOC Vice-President, Singapore; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Dale Neuburger, FINA Treasurer; United States.
Summary
U.S. megastar Caeleb Dressel fended off a late charge by Kristóf Milák to win his second individual Olympic title in a world record of 49.45. Dressel used his signature explosive start and breakout to establish an early lead, turning first at the 50 m mark 0.65 seconds clear of the field. Though Milák closed strongly, Dressel held on for the victory and lower his world record by 5-hundredths of a second. Meanwhile Milák, the 200 m butterfly champion from earlier in the week, could not overtake Dressel but touched in a European record of 49.68 to win silver and pass Michael Phelps and Milorad Čavić to become the second fastest performer in history.
Switzerland's Noè Ponti (50.74) eclipsed his national record from the semi-finals by 0.02 seconds to claim the final spot on the podium. Tied second at the turn alongside Milák, ROC's Andrey Minakov (50.88) fell off the podium to take fourth. Matching his Polish record from the heats, Poland's Jakub Majerski (50.92) tied for fifth with Australia's Matthew Temple who could not replicate his stunning 50.45 trials performance. Guatemala's Luis Martínez touched in a national record of 51.09 to take seventh, while Bulgaria's Josif Miladinov (51.49) was a shade off his times in the earlier rounds to finish in eighth.
Singapore's Joseph Schooling, the gold medalist from Rio de Janeiro five years ago, did not qualify in the semifinal stage, with a time of 53.12.
The medals for the competition were presented by Singapore's IOC Vice-President Ng Ser Miang, and the gifts were presented by the U.S.' FINA Treasurer Dale Neuburger.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record 29 July Heat 8 Caeleb Dressel 50.39 = 30 July Semifinal 1 Kristóf Milák 50.31 30 July Semifinal 2 Caeleb Dressel 49.71 31 July Final Caeleb Dressel 49.45
Qualification
The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 51.96 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 53.52 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.
Competition format
The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.
Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
DateTimeRound 29 July 2021 19:43 Heats 30 July 2021 10:30 Semifinals 31 July 2021 10:30 Final
Results Heats The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.
Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 8 4 Caeleb Dressel 50.39 , = 2 7 4 Kristóf Milák 50.62 3 8 6 Jakub Majerski 50.97 , NR 4 8 5 Andrey Minakov 51.00 5 7 6 Noè Ponti 51.24 6 6 5 Josif Miladinov 51.28 7 6 7 Luis Martínez 51.29 , NR 8 6 4 Matthew Temple 51.39 9 7 7 Joshua Liendo 51.52 10 7 5 Mehdy Metella 51.53 11 5 1 Nyls Korstanje 51.54 , NR12 6 3 Naoki Mizunuma 51.57 8 2 Tom Shields 14 5 2 Youssef Ramadan 51.67 , NR 7 2 Szebasztián Szabó 16 5 6 Sun Jiajun 51.74 17 6 2 Federico Burdisso 51.82 18 6 6 Chad le Clos 51.89 8 7 Mikhail Vekovishchev 20 7 3 Takeshi Kawamoto 51.93 21 5 3 Tomer Frankel 51.99 22 6 8 Paweł Korzeniowski 52.00 23 7 1 Marius Kusch 52.05 24 4 6 Santiago Grassi 52.07 8 8 Jacob Peters 26 7 8 Vinicius Lanza 52.08 27 3 2 Tomoe Zenimoto Hvas 52.22 NR 28 4 8 Louis Croenen 52.23 29 4 7 Antani Ivanov 52.25 30 8 1 David Morgan 52.31 31 6 1 Santo Condorelli 52.32 32 5 7 Matthew Sates 52.34 33 3 7 Dylan Carter 52.36 NR 34 4 4 Quah Zheng Wen 52.39 35 3 4 Wang Kuan-hung 52.44 4 3 Ümitcan Güreş 37 3 8 Shane Ryan 52.52 NR 4 5 Jan Šefl 5 5 Simon Bucher 40 3 6 Nikola Miljenić 52.68 41 3 1 Kregor Zirk 52.82 42 5 4 Yauhen Tsurkin 52.90 43 4 1 Matheus Gonche 53.02 44 5 8 Joseph Schooling 53.12 45 2 2 Abeku Jackson 53.39 NR 46 2 5 Sajan Prakash 53.45 47 2 4 Moon Seung-woo 53.59 48 2 3 Abbas Qali 53.62 49 2 1 Steven Aimable 53.64 50 2 7 Navaphat Wongcharoen 54.36 51 2 6 Benjamin Hockin 54.81 2 8 Davidson Vincent 53 3 5 Daniel Martin 55.09 54 1 4 Salvador Gordo 55.96 55 1 5 Yousif Bu Arish 56.29 NR 1 3 Abdulla Ahmed 3 3 Ihor Troianovskyi 4 2 Gal Cohen Groumi 8 3 James Guy
Semifinals The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of semis, advanced to the final.
Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 2 4 Caeleb Dressel 49.71 , 2 1 4 Kristóf Milák 50.31 3 2 3 Noè Ponti 50.76 , NR 4 1 3 Josif Miladinov 51.06 5 1 5 Andrey Minakov 51.11 6 1 6 Matthew Temple 51.12 7 2 5 Jakub Majerski 51.24 8 2 6 Luis Martínez 51.30 9 1 2 Mehdy Metella 51.32 10 1 7 Naoki Mizunuma 51.46 11 2 2 Joshua Liendo 51.50 12 2 7 Nyls Korstanje 51.80 13 1 8 Sun Jiajun 51.82 14 2 8 Szebasztián Szabó 51.89 15 2 1 Tom Shields 51.99 16 1 1 Youssef Ramadan 52.27
Final
Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Caeleb Dressel 49.45 WR 5 Kristóf Milák 49.68 ER 3 Noè Ponti 50.74 NR 4 2 Andrey Minakov 50.88 5 1 Jakub Majerski 50.92 NR 7 Matthew Temple 7 8 Luis Martínez 51.09 NR 8 6 Josif Miladinov 51.49
References