The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships was held on 7 August with the heats and the semifinals and 8 August with the final.[1]
| Men's 50 metre freestyle at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Victory Ceremony | ||||||||||
| Dates | 7 August (heats and semifinals) 8 August (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 115 from 105 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 21.19 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Despite losing lane four to American Nathan Adrian, France's Florent Manaudou threw down a personal and textile best of 21.19 to win his first World Championship in the event, holding off Adrian and Brazilian Bruno Fratus by over three-tenths of a second, an enormous margin in swimming's shortest race. Adrian grabbed the silver in 21.52, following up a new American Record of 21.37 achieved earlier in the semifinals. Fratus took home the bronze, his first World Championship medal ever, in 21.55. Vladimir Morozov, the defending silver medalist from Barcelona, missed the podium in fourth place by a fingertip in 21.56. Ukraine's Andriy Hovorov and Italy's Marco Orsi tied for fifth in 21.86, while Greece's Kristian Golomeev, the defending NCAA 100 freestyle champion, took seventh in 21.98. Great Britain's Benjamin Proud finished eight in 22.04 to round out the championship final.
Plagued by injury, Brazil's defending World Champion César Cielo scratched the event. Other notable swimmers included China's Ning Zetao (22.18) and American Anthony Ervin (22.02), who both missed the championship final.
Records edit
Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| World record |  César Cielo (BRA) |
20.91 | São Paulo, Brazil | 18 December 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competition record | César Cielo (BRA) |
21.08 | Rome, Italy | 1 August 2009 |
Results edit
Heats edit
The heats were held at 09:30.[2]
Semifinals edit
The semifinals were held at 18.09.[3]
Semifinal 1 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Nathan Adrian |  United States |
21.37 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 3 | Marco Orsi |  Italy |
21.86 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Vladimir Morozov |  Russia |
22.02 | QSO |
| 4 | 6 | Krisztián Takács |  Hungary |
22.07 | |
| 5 | 7 | Shinri Shioura |  Japan |
22.08 | |
| 6 | 8 | Odysseus Meladinis |  Greece |
22.14 | |
| 7 | 2 | Katsumi Nakamura | Japan |
22.15 | |
| 8 | 1 | Ning Zetao |  China |
22.28 |
Semifinal 2 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Florent Manaudou |  France |
21.41 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil |
21.60 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Benjamin Proud |  Great Britain |
21.88 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Kristian Golomeev | Greece |
21.89 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Andriy Hovorov |  Ukraine |
21.93 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | Anthony Ervin | United States |
22.02 | QSO |
| 7 | 7 | Matthew Abood |  Australia |
22.16 | |
| 8 | 1 | Andrey Grechin | Russia |
22.66 |
Swim-off edit
The swim-off was held at 19:38.[4]
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Vladimir Morozov | Russia |
21.90 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Anthony Ervin | United States |
21.98 |
Final edit
The final was held on 8 August at 17:39.[5]
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
5 | Florent Manaudou | France |
21.19 | |
 |
4 | Nathan Adrian | United States |
21.52 | |
 |
3 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil |
21.55 | |
| 4 | 8 | Vladimir Morozov | Russia |
21.56 | |
| 5 | 1 | Andriy Hovorov | Ukraine |
21.86 | |
| 5 | 6 | Marco Orsi | Italy |
21.86 | |
| 7 | 7 | Kristian Golomeev | Greece |
21.98 | |
| 8 | 2 | Benjamin Proud | Great Britain |
22.04 |