100 metres freestyle

The switch to mid-race in a 100 m freestyle.

The 100 metres freestyle is the often considered to be the highlight of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics.

The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1922.^[1] The current men's world record holder is César Cielo Filho and the current women's world record holder is Britta Steffen. Both set their record during the 2009 World Aquatics Championships.

American Duke Kahanamoku, Weissmuller, Russian Alexander Popov, and Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband are the only swimmers to have won the event at the Olympics twice. Popov was also world champion three times.

Men's champions

Edition	Winner	Time	Notes
Athens 1896	Alfréd Hajós (HUN)	1:22.2
Paris 1900	not held
St. Louis 1904	the race was 100 yards, not 100 meters
London 1908	Charles Daniels (USA)	1:05.6
Stockholm 1912	Duke Kahanamoku (USA)	1:03.4
Antwerp 1920	Duke Kahanamoku (USA)	1:00.4
Paris 1924	Johnny Weissmuller (USA)	59.0
Amsterdam 1928	Johnny Weissmuller (USA)	58.6
Los Angeles 1932	Yasuji Miyazaki (JPN)	58.2	^[2]
Berlin 1936	Ferenc Csik (HUN)	57.6	^[2]
London 1948	Wally Ris (USA)	57.3
Helsinki 1952	Clarke Scholes (USA)	57.4	^[2]
Melbourne 1956	Jon Henricks (AUS)	55.4
Rome 1960	John Devitt (AUS)	55.2
Tokyo 1964	Don Schollander (USA)	53.4
Mexico City 1968	Mike Wenden (AUS)	52.2
Munich 1972	Mark Spitz (USA)	51.22
Montreal 1976	Jim Montgomery (USA)	49.99
Moskow 1980	Jörg Woithe (GDR)	50.40
Los Angeles 1984	Rowdy Gaines (USA)	49.80
Seoul 1988	Matt Biondi (USA)	48.63
Barcelona 1992	Alexander Popov (EUN)	49.02
Atlanta 1996	Alexander Popov (RUS)	48.74
Sydney 2000	Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED)	48.30	^[2]
Athens 2004	Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED)	48.17
Beijing 2008	Alain Bernard (FRA)	47.21	^[2]
London 2012	Nathan Adrian (USA)	47.52

Edition	Winner	Time	Notes
Belgrade 1973	Jim Montgomery (USA)	51.70	^[3]
Cali 1975	Andy Coan (USA)	51.25
Berlin 1978	David McCagg (USA)	50.24
Guayaquil 1982	Jörg Woithe (GDR)	50.18
Madrid 1986	Matt Biondi (USA)	48.94
Perth 1991	Matt Biondi (USA)	49.18
Roma 1994	Alexander Popov (RUS)	49.12
Perth 1998	Alexander Popov (RUS)	48.93
Fukuoka 2001	Anthony Ervin (USA)	48.33
Barcelona 2003	Alexander Popov (RUS)	48.42
Montreal 2005	Filippo Magnini (ITA)	48.12
Melbourne 2007	Filippo Magnini (ITA) Brent Hayden (CAN)	48.43
Rome 2009	César Cielo Filho (BRA)	46.91
Shanghai 2011	James Magnussen (AUS)	47.63
Barcelona 2013	James Magnussen (AUS)	47.71
Kazan 2015	Ning Zetao (CHN)	47.84