Swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] It was the second appearance of the event, which had been introduced in 1908. In 1904 a 100-yard event was held. The competition was held from Tuesday July 9, 1912 to Saturday July 13, 1912.

Men's 100 metre backstroke at the Games of the V Olympiad
Venue	Djurgårdsbrunnsviken
Dates	July 9–13
Competitors	18 from 7 nations
Medalists
Harry Hebner  United States Otto Fahr  Germany Paul Kellner  Germany
← 1908 1920 →

Eighteen swimmers from seven nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:15.6	Otto Fahr	Magdeburg (GER)	April 29, 1912
Olympic Record	1:24.6	Arno Bieberstein	London (GBR)	July 17, 1908

The Olympic record fell during the very first heat. Harry Hebner's 1:21.0 in the first heat stood until Hebner raced again. In the first semifinal, he bettered his own new record with a 1:20.8. He was unable to match that pace in the final, but still took the win with a finish that was over 1 second faster than the second-place swimmer.

Results

Quarterfinals

The top two in each heat advanced along with the fastest loser overall.

Quarterfinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harry Hebner (USA)	1:21.0	QS OR
2	Otto Groß (GER)	1:24.0	QS
3	Åke Bergman (SWE)	1:33.8
—	Oscar Schiele (GER)	DQ

Quarterfinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Otto Fahr (GER)	1:22.0	QS
2	George Webster (GBR)	1:29.4	QS
3	Hugo Lundevall (SWE)	1:46.8
—	János Wenk (HUN)	DQ

Quarterfinal 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	András Baronyi (HUN)	1:22.0	QS
2	Paul Kellner (GER)	1:26.0	QS
3	Harry Svendsen (NOR)	1:47.2
—	Oscar Grégoire (BEL)	DQ

Quarterfinal 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Herbert Haresnape (GBR)	1:27.0	QS
2	Erich Schultze (GER)	1:27.2	QS
3	Gunnar Sundman (SWE)	1:31.2	qs
4	John Johnsen (NOR)	1:34.2

Quarterfinal 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	László Szentgróthy (HUN)	1:26.6	QS
2	Frank Sandon (GBR)	1:31.8	QS

Semifinals

The top two from each heat and the faster of the two third place swimmers advanced.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harry Hebner (USA)	1:20.8	QF OR
2	Otto Fahr (GER)	1:21.8	QF
3	András Baronyi (HUN)	1:26.2	qf
4	László Szentgróthy (HUN)	1:26.4
5	Erich Schultze (GER)
6	George Webster (GBR)

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Otto Groß (GER)	1:26.0	QF
2	Paul Kellner (GER)	1:26.2	QF
3	Herbert Haresnape (GBR)	1:26.8
4	Frank Sandon (GBR)	1:32.2
—	Gunnar Sundman (SWE)	1:35.0

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Harry Hebner (USA)	1:21.2
2	Otto Fahr (GER)	1:22.4
3	Paul Kellner (GER)	1:24.0
4	András Baronyi (HUN)	1:25.2
5	Otto Groß (GER)	1:25.8