1972 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 100m Freestyle (Men)

sport	swim
discipline	100 m freestyle
gender	Men
Attendees	48 athletes from 28 countries
Competition location	Olympic swimming pool
Competition phase	September 2nd, 1972 (preliminary) September 3rd, 1972 (final)
Winning time	51.22 s
Medalist  Mark Spitz ( USA )  Jerry Heidenreich ( USA )  Vladimir Bure ( URS )

Swimming competitions at the 1972 Olympic Games
100 m freestyle	Men	Women
200 m freestyle	Men	Women
400 m freestyle	Men	Women
800 m freestyle		Women
1500 m freestyle	Men
100 m back	Men	Women
200 m back	Men	Women
100 m chest	Men	Women
200 m chest	Men	Women
100 m butterfly	Men	Women
200 m butterfly	Men	Women
200 m layers	Men	Women
400 m layers	Men	Women
4 × 100 m freestyle	Men	Women
4 × 200 m freestyle	Men
4 × 100 m layers	Men	Women

The men's 100 meter freestyle swimming competition at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was held on September 2nd and 3rd. The American Mark Spitz started the race quickly and was already in the lead after 50 meters. With a new world record, he finally won his sixth gold medal at the Games. Silver went to his compatriot Jerry Heidenreich and bronze to Wladimir Bure from the Soviet Union.

Results

Prelims

The 16 fastest athletes of the seven runs qualified for the semi-finals.

Run 1

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Ruy de Oliveira	Brazil	54.26 s
2	Gilles Vigne	France	54.34 s
3	Wilfried Hartung	GDR	54.37 s
4th	Malcolm Windeatt	Great Britain	54.70 s
5	Geoffrey Ferreira	Trinidad and Tobago	56.27 s
6th	Roberto Strauss	Mexico	56.78 s

Run 2

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Igor Grivennikov	Soviet Union	53.64 s	Q
2	Colin Herring	New Zealand	54.41 s
3	Alain Hermitte	France	54.57 s
4th	István Szentirmay	Hungary	54.71 s
5	Antonio Ferracuti	El Salvador	56.69 s
6th	Sandro Rudan	Yugoslavia	56.91 s
7th	Bruno Bassoul	Lebanon	1: 00.8 min

Run 3

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Vladimir Bure	Soviet Union	52.87 s	Q
2	Jorge Comas	Spain	53.70 s	Q
3	José Aranha	Brazil	54.06 s	Q
4th	Hanspeter Würmli	Switzerland	55.08 s
5	Neil Rogers	Australia	55.32 s
6th	Samnang Prak	Cambodia	59.18 s

Run 4

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Michel Rousseau	France	52.93 s	Q
2	Kersten Meier	BR Germany	53.96 s	Q
3	Greg Rogers	Australia	53.98 s	Q
4th	Hartmut Flöckner	GDR	54.36 s
5	Bruce Robertson	Canada	54.76 s
6th	Feridun Aybars	Turkey	59.32 s

Run 5

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	John Murphy	United States	53.07 s	Q
2	Georgijs Kuļikovs	Soviet Union	53.78 s	Q
3	Peter Bruch	GDR	54.25 s	Q
4th	Paulo Zanetti	Brazil	54.97 s
5	Brian Brinkley	Great Britain	55.06 s
6th	Zbigniew Pacelt	Poland	55.97 s
7th	Andrew Hunter	Ireland	56.09 s
8th	Abdullah Abdulrahman	Kuwait	1: 03.94 min

Run 6

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Jerry Heidenreich	United States	52.38 s	Q
2	Brian Phillips	Canada	53.75 s	Q
3	Bob Kasting	Canada	54.07 s	Q
4th	Gerhard Schiller	BR Germany	54.28 s
5	Attila Császári	Hungary	55.37 s
6th	Finnur Garðarsson	Iceland	55.97 s
7th	Salvador Vilanova	El Salvador	56.57 s
8th	Wong Ronnie	Hong Kong	57.53 s

Run 7

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Mike Wenden	Australia	52.34 s	Q
2	Mark Spitz	United States	52.46 s	Q
3	Klaus Steinbach	BR Germany	52.91 s	Q
4th	Fritz Warncke	Norway	54.41 s
5	Roberto Pangaro	Italy	54.74 s
6th	Marian Slavic	Romania	55.35 s
7th	Jorge van Balen	Venezuela	57.20 s

Semifinals

The first three athletes of the two races and the two fastest athletes qualified for the final.

Run 1

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Jerry Heidenreich	United States	52.31 s	Q
2	Igor Grivennikov	Soviet Union	52.55 s	Q
3	Vladimir Bure	Soviet Union	52.60 s	Q
4th	Michel Rousseau	France	52.82 s	q
5	José Aranha	Brazil	53.47 s
6th	Brian Phillips	Canada	53.73 s
7th	Peter Bruch	GDR	53.97 s
8th	Kersten Meier	BR Germany	54.35 s

Run 2

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Mike Wenden	Australia	52.32 s	Q
2	Mark Spitz	United States	52.43 s	Q
3	Klaus Steinbach	BR Germany	52.87 s	Q
4th	John Murphy	United States	53.17 s	q
5	Bob Kasting	Canada	53.62 s
6th	Georgijs Kuļikovs	Soviet Union	53.68 s
7th	Jorge Comas	Spain	53.92 s
8th	Greg Rogers	Australia	54.26 s

final

rank	athlete	nation	time	Note
1	Mark Spitz	United States	51.22 s	WR
2	Jerry Heidenreich	United States	51.65 s
3	Vladimir Bure	Soviet Union	51.77 s
4th	John Murphy	United States	52.08 s
5	Mike Wenden	Australia	52.41 s
6th	Igor Grivennikov	Soviet Union	52.44 s
7th	Michel Rousseau	France	52.90 s
8th	Klaus Steinbach	BR Germany	52.92 s

Web links

• Results