| Date | 7 – 10 July 1912 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Simstadion, Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, Stockholm |
| Participants | 24 from 11 countries |
International breaststroke competition in this era was dominated by Continental Europeans, notably the Germans. The world record was held by Belgium’s Félicien Courbet, with a mark of 3:00.8 set at Schaerback, on 2 October 1910. Although Courbet was in Stockholm, he did not advance in his semi-final heat. The most recent ASA championships had been won as follows: 1907-09 - Percy Courtman (GBR); 1910 - Harald Julin (SWE); 1911 - Ödön Toldi (HUN); and 1912-13 - Courtman. Thus, the event was wide-open.
None of the above won a medal, although all but Toldi competed. The event was swept by the Germans, led by Walter Bathe, who challenged, but did not break, Courbet’s world record, with a mark of 3:01.8.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | R1 | SF | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe |  GER | 3:03.4 (1 h3) | 3:02.2 (1 h2) | 3:01.8 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Willy Lützow | GER | 3:07.4 (1 h1) | 3:04.4 (2 h2) | 3:05.0 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Paul Malisch | GER | 3:08.8 (1 h2) | 3:09.6 (1 h1) | 3:08.0 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Percy Courtman |  GBR | 3:09.8 (2 h3) | 3:09.4 (3 h2) | 3:08.8 (4) | |||
| AC r3/3 | Thor Henning |  SWE | 3:14.0 (2 h1) | 3:10.4 (2 h1) | – ( | DNF | ||
| 3 h1 r2/3 | Harald Julin | SWE | 3:12.8 (2 h5) | 3:10.6 (3 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h1 r2/3 | Lennart Lindroos |  FIN | 3:16.6 (3 h1) | 3:11.6 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h2 r2/3 | Oszkár Demján |  HUN | 3:07.8 (1 h5) | 3:11.2 (4 h2) | – | |||
| 5 h1 r2/3 | Carlyle Atkinson | GBR | – (DNS h1) | 3:15.2 (5 h1) | – | |||
| 5 h2 r2/3 | Félicien Courbet |  BEL | 3:12.6 (1 h4) | 3:11.6 (5 h2) | – | |||
| 6 h1 r2/3 | Arvo Aaltonen | FIN | 3:13.0 (2 h2) | 3:17.0 (6 h1) | – | |||
| AC h2 r2/3 | Pontus Hanson | SWE | 3:14.2 (2 h4) | – (DNF h2) | – | DNF | ||
| 3 h2 r1/3 | Nils Andersson | SWE | 3:20.6 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 3 h4 r1/3 | Fredrik Löwenadler | SWE | 3:22.2 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 3 h6 r1/3 | Herman Cederberg | FIN | 3:18.6 (3 h5) | – | – | |||
| 4 h1 r1/3 | Frank Schryver |  ANZ | 3:24.0 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 4 h2 r1/3 | Josef Wastl |  AUT | 3:25.6 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 4 h6 r1/3 | Vilhelm Lindgrén | FIN | 3:21.2 (4 h5) | – | – | |||
| 5 h2 r1/3 | Yury Baymakov |  RUS | 3:29.0 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 5 h6 r1/3 | Sven Hanson | SWE | 3:24.4 (5 h5) | – | – | |||
| 6 h6 r1/3 | Oscar Hamrén | SWE | – (6 h5) | – | – | |||
| AC h4 r1/3 | Mike McDermott |  USA | [3:18.2] (DQ h3) | – | – | DQ | ||
| AC h5 r1/3 | George Innocent | GBR | [3:16.0] (DQ h4) | – | – | DQ | ||
| AC h5 r1/3 | Audun Rusten |  NOR | [3:39.8] (DQ h4) | – | – | DQ | ||
| Heinrich Brandstetter | AUT | – (DNS h6) | – | – | ||||
| Rudolf Dlouchy | AUT | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Daniel Lehu |  FRA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Louis Laufray | FRA | – (DNS h6) | – | – | ||||
| Henri Dubois | FRA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Victor Pierre Eggman | FRA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Richard Hallard | FRA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Walter Krohn | GER | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Alfred Stühmer | GER | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Ödön Toldi | HUN | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| János Wenk | HUN | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| András Baronyi | HUN | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Imre Elek | HUN | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Davide Baiardo |  ITA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Mario Massa | ITA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Virgilio Bellezza | ITA | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| Attilio Bellezza | ITA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Aldo Cigheri | ITA | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| Mario Pratolongo | ITA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| John Johnsen | NOR | – (DNS h2) | – | – | ||||
| George Godfrey |  RSA | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Arno Almqvist | RUS | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Nikolay Voronkov | RUS | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Ilarion Borisovsky | RUS | – (DNS h3) | – | – | ||||
| Sven Henning | SWE | – (DNS h4) | – | – |
| Date | 7 July 1912 — 13:50-19:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top two in each heat and the fastest third-place advanced to the semi-finals. |
| Time | 13:50 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willy Lützow | GER | 3:07.4 | ||
| 2 | Thor Henning | SWE | 3:14.0 | ||
| 3 | Lennart Lindroos | FIN | 3:16.6 | ||
| 4 | Frank Schryver | ANZ | 3:24.0 | ||
| Carlyle Atkinson | GBR | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Malisch | GER | 3:08.8 | ||
| 2 | Arvo Aaltonen | FIN | 3:13.0 | ||
| 3 | Nils Andersson | SWE | 3:20.6 | ||
| 4 | Josef Wastl | AUT | 3:25.6 | ||
| 5 | Yury Baymakov | RUS | 3:29.0 | ||
| Victor Pierre Eggman | FRA | – | 1 | ||
| Richard Hallard | FRA | – | 2 | ||
| András Baronyi | HUN | – | 3 | ||
| Imre Elek | HUN | – | 4 | ||
| Davide Baiardo | ITA | – | 5 | ||
| Aldo Cigheri | ITA | – | 6 | ||
| John Johnsen | NOR | – | 7 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 3:03.4 | ||
| 2 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 3:09.8 | ||
| 3 | Fredrik Löwenadler | SWE | 3:22.2 | ||
| Mike McDermott | USA | [3:18.2] | |||
| Virgilio Bellezza | ITA | – | |||
| Ilarion Borisovsky | RUS | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Félicien Courbet | BEL | 3:12.6 | ||
| 2 | Pontus Hanson | SWE | 3:14.2 | ||
| George Innocent | GBR | [3:16.0] | |||
| Audun Rusten | NOR | [3:39.8] | |||
| Rudolf Dlouchy | AUT | – | 8 | ||
| Daniel Lehu | FRA | – | 9 | ||
| Henri Dubois | FRA | – | 10 | ||
| Walter Krohn | GER | – | 11 | ||
| Alfred Stühmer | GER | – | 12 | ||
| Ödön Toldi | HUN | – | 13 | ||
| János Wenk | HUN | – | 14 | ||
| Mario Massa | ITA | – | 15 | ||
| Attilio Bellezza | ITA | – | 16 | ||
| Mario Pratolongo | ITA | – | 17 | ||
| George Godfrey | RSA | – | 18 | ||
| Arno Almqvist | RUS | – | 19 | ||
| Nikolay Voronkov | RUS | – | 20 | ||
| Sven Henning | SWE | – | 21 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oszkár Demján | HUN | 3:07.8 | ||
| 2 | Harald Julin | SWE | 3:12.8 | ||
| 3 | Herman Cederberg | FIN | 3:18.6 | ||
| 4 | Vilhelm Lindgrén | FIN | 3:21.2 | ||
| 5 | Sven Hanson | SWE | 3:24.4 | ||
| 6 | Oscar Hamrén | SWE | – |
| Time | 19:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlyle Atkinson | GBR | 3:12.0 | ||
| Heinrich Brandstetter | AUT | – | |||
| Louis Laufray | FRA | – |
| Date | 9 July 1912 — 20:15 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top two in each heat and the fastest third-place advanced to the final. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Malisch | GER | 3:09.6 | ||
| 2 | Thor Henning | SWE | 3:10.4 | ||
| 3 | Harald Julin | SWE | 3:10.6 | ||
| 4 | Lennart Lindroos | FIN | 3:11.6 | ||
| 5 | Carlyle Atkinson | GBR | 3:15.2 | ||
| 6 | Arvo Aaltonen | FIN | 3:17.0 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 3:02.2 | ||
| 2 | Willy Lützow | GER | 3:04.4 | ||
| 3 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 3:09.4 | ||
| 4 | Oszkár Demján | HUN | 3:11.2 | ||
| 5 | Félicien Courbet | BEL | 3:11.6 | ||
| Pontus Hanson | SWE | – |
| Date | 10 July 1912 — 19:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Bathe | GER | 3:01.8 | ||
| 2 | Willy Lützow | GER | 3:05.0 | ||
| 3 | Paul Malisch | GER | 3:08.0 | ||
| 4 | Percy Courtman | GBR | 3:08.8 | ||
| Thor Henning | SWE | – |
