Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle


The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event, which had not been featured only at the 1900 Games. The competition was held on Saturday and Sunday, 8 and 9 August 1936.
Forty-five swimmers from 23 nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.
World Record56.4 Peter FickNew Haven 11 February 1936
Olympic Record58.0 Yasuji MiyazakiLos Angeles 6 August 1932

Peter Fick set a new Olympic record in the first heat with 57.6 seconds. In the fifth heat Masaharu Taguchi bettered the Olympic record with 57.5 seconds. Masanori Yusa equalized this record in the second semi-final with 57.5 seconds.

Competition format

The competition used a three-round format. The advancement rule was a modification of the one used since 1912, allowing the top swimmers in each race plus one or more wild cards to advance. For this event, the top two in each preliminary heat plus the next two fastest swimmers would advance to the semifinals; the top three in each semifinal plus the fastest fourth-place swimmer would move on to the final. There were 7 heats of between 6 and 8 swimmers, allowing 16 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. The 2 semifinals had 8 swimmers each; 7 advanced to the final.
Each race involved two lengths of the 50-metre pool.

Results

Heats

Saturday 8 August 1936: The fastest two in each heat and the next two fastest from across the heats advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat 1

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.6,
258.3
31:01.2
41:02.1
51:02.6
61:03.8
71:04.9
81:06.5

Heat 2

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.8
259.9
31:01.0
41:01.5
51:02.2
61:03.4
71:17.5

Heat 3

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
11:00.7
21:01.0
31:01.8
41:02.4
51:03.5
61:03.9

Heat 4

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.7
257.9
31:01.3
41:01.9
51:07.2
61:07.5

Heat 5

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.5,
21:01.1
31:01.5
41:03.7
51:05.6
61:08.2

Heat 6

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
11:00.5
21:01.4
31:01.6
41:01.7
51:03.3
61:07.8

Heat 7

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
158.3
21:00.2
31:01.0
41:01.3
51:01.6
61:04.1

Semifinals

Saturday 8 August 1936: The fastest three in each semi-final and the fastest fourth-placed from across the heats advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.9
258.1
358.2
458.7
51:00.5
51:00.5
51:00.5
81:01.0

Semifinal 2

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
157.5, =
257.9
358.7
459.4
559.9
61:00.3
71:01.1
81:01.6

Final

Sunday 9 August 1936:
RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
57.6
57.9
58.0
458.1
559.3
659.7
759.9