Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

Men's 100 metre freestyle at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Stade Nautique d'Antwerp
Dates	August 22–29
Competitors	31 from 15 nations
Medalists
Duke Kahanamoku  United States Pua Kealoha  United States Bill Harris  United States

Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men		women
300 m			women
400 m	men
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men
Breaststroke
200 m	men
400 m	men
Freestyle relay
4×100 m			women
4×200 m	men

The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event.

A total of 31 swimmers from 15 nations competed in the event, which was held from August 22 to August 29, 1920. The United States swept the medals, and Duke Kahanamoku broke his own Olympic record in the semifinals and bettered his time again in the final to successfully defend his championship from 1912.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:01.4	Duke Kahanamoku	New York City (USA)	August 9, 1918
Olympic Record	1:02.4	Duke Kahanamoku	Stockholm (SWE)	July 7, 1912

In the first heat Duke Kahanamoku set a new Olympic record with 1:01.8 minutes. In the semi-final he equalled the standing world record with 1:01.4 minutes. In the final which was later re-swum Kahanamoku set a new world record with 1:00.4 minutes, in the second final he equalled his record of 1:01.4 minutes again.

Results

Quarterfinals

The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Duke Kahanamoku (USA)	1:01.8	Q OR
2	Keith Kirkland (AUS)	1:08.0	Q
3	Jean van Silfhout (NED)	1:09.0
4	Georges Pouilley (FRA)
5	Albert Dickin (GBR)

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Agostino Frassinetti (ITA)	1:11.8	Q
2	Václav Bucháček (TCH)	1:19.2	Q
3	Ângelo Gammaro (BRA)	1:22.0
4	Harold Annison (GBR)

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Pua Kealoha (USA)	1:02.0	Q
2	Ivan Stedman (AUS)	1:04.2	Q
3	Henri Padou (FRA)	1:08.4
4	Martial van Schelle (BEL)
5	Jean Jenni (SUI)
6	Kenkichi Saito (JPN)

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	22x20px George Vernot (CAN)	1:05.2	Q
2	Henry Hay (AUS)	1:06.8	Q
3	Orvar Trolle (SWE)	1:07.8	q
4	Léon Pesch (LUX)
5	Leslie Savage (GBR)
6	Orlando Amêndola (BRA)
7	Gérard Blitz (BEL)

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Norman Ross (USA)	1:04.2	Q
2	William Herald (AUS)	1:08.8	Q
3	Mario Massa (ITA)	1:10.4
4	Rémy Weil (FRA)
5	Masaren Uchida (JPN)

Heat 6

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Bill Harris (USA)	1:04.4	Q
2	Ko Korsten (NED)	1:05.6	Q
3	John Dickin (GBR)	1:10.0
4	Alfred Steen (NOR)

Semifinals

The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Duke Kahanamoku (USA)	1:01.4	Q =WR
2	Bill Harris (USA)	1:04.2	Q
3	22x20px George Vernot (CAN)	1:05.8
4	Agostino Frassinetti (ITA)
5	Václav Bucháček (TCH)
6	Henry Hay (AUS)

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Pua Kealoha (USA)	1:02.4	Q
2	Norman Ross (USA)	1:04.8	Q
3	William Herald (AUS)	1:05.8	q
4	Ivan Stedman (AUS)
5	Orvar Trolle (SWE)
6	Keith Kirkland (AUS)
7	Ko Korsten (NED)

Final

In the first final Norman Ross finished fourth and William Herald finished fifth, but a second final was run after a protest by Herald, claiming that Ross had fouled him. For the second run Ross was disqualified. None of the medal ranks changed.

Place	Swimmer	Time (1st)	Time (2nd)
1	Duke Kahanamoku (USA)	1:00.4 WR	1:01.4 =WR
2	Pua Kealoha (USA)	1:02.2	1:02.6
3	Bill Harris (USA)	1:03.2	1:03.0
4	William Herald (AUS)		1:03.8
—	Norman Ross (USA)	1:03.8 DSQ	—

References

• sports-reference