When Will the Men’s World Record in the 100 Freestyle Dip Below 46 Seconds?
At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, American Jim Montgomery took the world record in the 100-meter freestyle below the 50-second barrier for the first time. Montgomery clocked 49.99 en route to the gold medal, with the standard taken to 49.44 by South African Jonty Skinner less than a month later.
In the Summer of 1985, the United States’ Matt Biondi brought the event into the 48-second realm, when he went 48.95 at Nationals. It then took 15 years for the record to go into the 47s, Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband accomplishing the feat with a 47.84 effort in the semifinals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
The record went sub-47 in 2009, when Alain Bernard posted a swim of 46.94. That performance was produced at the height of the super-suit era, which was relegated to history on Jan. 1, 2010. The current world record sits at 46.40, set by China’s Pan Zhanle at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, but Romania’s David Popovici (46.51) gave it a scare at the recent World Championships in Singapore.
So, when will the world record in the 100 freestyle drop into the 45-second range? Is it a feat just around the corner? Are we still a few years away? Is it a distant accomplishment? Vote in this Swimming World poll and let us know when a 45-second 100 freestyle will be recorded.
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