Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle
The men's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 29 with the heats and the semifinals and July 30 with the final.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.| Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date | |
| World record | César Cielo | 20.91 | São Paulo | December 18, 2009 | |
| Championship record | César Cielo | 21.08 | Rome | August 1, 2009 |
Results
Heats
117 swimmers participated in 16 heats.| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 14 | 4 | César Cielo | 22.03 | Q | |
| 1 | 15 | 4 | Nathan Adrian | 22.03 | Q | |
| 1 | 15 | 8 | George Bovell | 22.03 | Q | |
| 4 | 16 | 8 | Adam Brown | 22.08 | Q | |
| 5 | 15 | 2 | Krisztián Takács | 22.15 | Q | |
| 5 | 16 | 5 | Stefan Nystrand | 22.15 | Q | |
| 7 | 15 | 1 | Sergey Fesikov | 22.16 | Q | |
| 7 | 16 | 1 | Marco Orsi | 22.16 | Q | |
| 9 | 16 | 6 | Matthew Abood | 22.17 | Q | |
| 10 | 15 | 3 | Alain Bernard | 22.19 | Q | |
| 11 | 16 | 2 | Gideon Louw | 22.21 | Q | |
| 12 | 15 | 6 | Luca Dotto | 22.25 | Q | |
| 13 | 14 | 5 | Bruno Fratus | 22.26 | Q | |
| 14 | 15 | 7 | Matt Targett | 22.31 | Q | |
| 15 | 16 | 7 | Roland Schoeman | 22.32 | Q | |
| 16 | 14 | 3 | Andrey Grechin | 22.33 | Q | |
| 17 | 15 | 5 | Brent Hayden | 22.34 | ||
| 17 | 13 | 1 | David Dunford | 22.34 | ||
| 19 | 14 | 8 | Dominik Kozma | 22.36 | ||
| 20 | 16 | 3 | Cullen Jones | 22.37 | ||
| 21 | 16 | 4 | Frédérick Bousquet | 22.38 | ||
| 22 | 14 | 6 | Andriy Govorov | 22.51 | ||
| 23 | 14 | 7 | Simon Burnett | 22.54 | ||
| 24 | 13 | 4 | Lü Zhiwu | 22.55 | ||
| 25 | 11 | 5 | Brett Fraser | 22.65 | ||
| 25 | 14 | 2 | Marco di Carli | 22.65 | ||
| 27 | 13 | 3 | Ari-Pekka Liukkonen | 22.67 | ||
| 28 | 12 | 8 | Roy-Allan Burch | 22.69 | NR | |
| 29 | 12 | 4 | Hanser García | 22.72 | ||
| 30 | 13 | 2 | Jasper Aerents | 22.73 | ||
| 31 | 13 | 8 | Flori Lang | 22.80 | ||
| 32 | 13 | 6 | Alexandre Agosthino | 22.81 | ||
| 33 | 13 | 7 | Odysseas Meladinis | 22.90 | ||
| 34 | 12 | 3 | Mindaugas Sadauskas | 22.95 | ||
| 35 | 12 | 1 | Barry Murphy | 22.96 | ||
| 36 | 14 | 1 | Filip Rypych | 22.99 | ||
| 37 | 13 | 5 | Elvis Burrows | 23.14 | ||
| 38 | 12 | 7 | Shehab Younis | 23.17 | ||
| 39 | 11 | 4 | Sidni Hoxha | 23.18 | NR | |
| 40 | 12 | 6 | Virdhawal Khade | 23.21 | ||
| 41 | 12 | 5 | Juan Manuel Cambindo | 23.31 | ||
| 42 | 11 | 3 | Ivars Akmentiņš | 23.57 | ||
| 43 | 10 | 4 | Andrew Chetcuti | 23.65 | ||
| 44 | 10 | 2 | Amine Kouame | 23.83 | ||
| 45 | 9 | 4 | Luke Hall | 23.92 | ||
| 46 | 10 | 3 | Yellow Yeiyah | 24.01 | ||
| 46 | 11 | 2 | Oliver Elliot | 24.01 | ||
| 48 | 10 | 6 | José Montoya | 24.12 | ||
| 49 | 11 | 8 | Anthony Clark | 24.15 | ||
| 50 | 11 | 6 | Serghei Golban | 24.23 | ||
| 51 | 11 | 1 | Mohammad Bidaryan | 24.33 | ||
| 52 | 11 | 7 | Kareem Ennab | 24.35 | ||
| 53 | 9 | 7 | Chakyl Camal | 24.40 | ||
| 54 | 9 | 5 | Christopher Duenas | 24.41 | ||
| 55 | 10 | 5 | Mikael Koloyan | 24.45 | ||
| 56 | 9 | 2 | Julien Brice | 24.59 | ||
| 57 | 8 | 3 | Heshan Unamboowe | 24.64 | ||
| 57 | 9 | 3 | Gerard Baldrich Pujol | 24.64 | ||
| 59 | 10 | 1 | Kevin Avila | 24.66 | ||
| 60 | 8 | 6 | Esau Simpson | 24.72 | ||
| 61 | 9 | 6 | Nicholas Coard | 24.78 | ||
| 62 | 9 | 8 | Niall Roberts | 24.80 | ||
| 63 | 8 | 4 | Mahfizur Rahman Sagor | 24.82 | ||
| 64 | 10 | 8 | Abbas Raad | 24.95 | ||
| 65 | 8 | 7 | Sergey Krovyakov | 25.11 | ||
| 66 | 4 | 8 | Adama Ouedraogo | 25.33 | ||
| 67 | 9 | 1 | Emile Bakale | 25.38 | ||
| 68 | 7 | 7 | Mark Thompson | 25.70 | ||
| 69 | 7 | 1 | Indra Rakotondrazanaka | 25.72 | ||
| 69 | 8 | 5 | Kerson Hadley | 25.72 | ||
| 71 | 7 | 5 | Kouassi Brou | 25.81 | ||
| 72 | 7 | 2 | Christian Nikles | 25.86 | ||
| 73 | 6 | 3 | Tolga Akcayli | 25.96 | ||
| 74 | 7 | 8 | Mamadou Soumare | 26.05 | ||
| 75 | 10 | 7 | Tamir Andryei | 26.26 | ||
| 76 | 8 | 1 | John Kamyuka | 26.30 | ||
| 77 | 8 | 2 | Shane Mangroo | 26.32 | ||
| 78 | 7 | 3 | Zachary Payne | 26.50 | ||
| 79 | 6 | 4 | Tawil Majd | 26.65 | ||
| 80 | 6 | 5 | Israr Hussain | 27.03 | ||
| 81 | 6 | 8 | Hemthon Ponloeu | 27.22 | ||
| 82 | 6 | 7 | Prasiddha Jung Shah | 27.30 | ||
| 83 | 5 | 7 | Chamraen Youri Maximov | 27.48 | ||
| 84 | 6 | 1 | Ganzi Mugula | 27.58 | ||
| 84 | 4 | 3 | Paul Edingue Ekane | 27.58 | ||
| 84 | 6 | 6 | Shailesh Shumsher Rana | 27.58 | ||
| 87 | 3 | 2 | Mohamed Abd Elrawf Mahmoud | 27.67 | ||
| 88 | 4 | 4 | Abdourahman Osman | 27.69 | ||
| 89 | 4 | 5 | Farhan Sultan | 27.70 | ||
| 90 | 4 | 2 | Giordan Harris | 27.71 | ||
| 91 | 2 | 2 | Jackson Niyomugabo | 27.73 | ||
| 91 | 3 | 6 | Ching Maou Wei | 27.73 | ||
| 93 | 2 | 7 | Patrick Rukundo | 28.08 | ||
| 94 | 5 | 6 | Zandan Gunsennorou | 28.14 | ||
| 95 | 3 | 4 | Shawn Wallace | 28.21 | ||
| 96 | 8 | 8 | Athoumani Youssouf | 28.52 | ||
| 97 | 4 | 6 | Jeffrey Orel | 28.57 | ||
| 98 | 5 | 3 | Conrad Gaira | 28.65 | ||
| 99 | 5 | 8 | Mulualem Girma Teshale | 28.81 | ||
| 100 | 7 | 4 | Ahmed Chawali | 28.82 | ||
| 101 | 3 | 8 | Phathana Inthavong | 28.94 | ||
| 102 | 5 | 2 | Alisher Chingizov | 29.05 | ||
| 103 | 4 | 7 | Ammaar Ghadiyali | 29.23 | ||
| 104 | 4 | 1 | Anauska Ndinga | 29.24 | ||
| 105 | 2 | 4 | Mohamed Eltayeb | 29.49 | ||
| 106 | 1 | 4 | Christian Nassif | 29.71 | ||
| 107 | 5 | 4 | Amadou Camara | 29.72 | ||
| 108 | 3 | 3 | Wilfrid Tevoedjre | 31.49 | ||
| 109 | 2 | 5 | Daniel Langinbelik | 31.73 | ||
| 110 | 3 | 1 | Iourhanta Mohamed Osman | 31.79 | ||
| 111 | 7 | 6 | Seele Benjamin Ntai | 32.74 | ||
| 112 | 3 | 7 | Mohamed Mamaiv Sani | 33.37 | ||
| 113 | 3 | 5 | Razak Marafa | 33.83 | ||
| 114 | 5 | 5 | Tsepo Mafa | 34.54 | ||
| 115 | 1 | 5 | Gailloty Croyeb | 35.11 | ||
| 116 | 2 | 3 | Eycub Leebeid | 45.18 | ||
| – | 1 | 3 | Yau Mutas | DNS | ||
| – | 2 | 6 | Hamza Labeid | DSQ | ||
| – | 5 | 1 | Mamot Faye | DNS | ||
| – | 6 | 2 | Folarin Ogunsola | DNS | ||
| – | 12 | 2 | Nabil Kebbab | DNS |
Semifinals
The semifinals were held at 18:35.Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
Swimoff
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Matt Targett | 22.15 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Sergey Fesikov | 22.32 |
Final
The final was held at 18:09.| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 5 | César Cielo | 21.52 | |||
| 6 | Luca Dotto | 21.90 | |||
| 8 | Alain Bernard | 21.92 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Nathan Adrian | 21.93 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Bruno Fratus | 21.96 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Krisztián Takács | 21.99 | ||
| 7 | 1 | George Bovell | 22.04 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Gideon Louw | 22.11 |