| | Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	30 – 31 July 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Participants	41 from 19 countries

Although the American Alan Ford was the world record holder, the acknowledged favourite was the teenaged French colossus Alex Jany. Jany moved to the final without alarm but was joined by a powerful trio of Americans. The Frenchman made a fast start and led at the 50m mark but he had mistimed his effort and faded back into the chasing pack. Ford took the lead but twenty metres from the wall he was passed by his compatriot, Wally Ris, who edged clear to win by half a second. Ford held on for silver although he was helped by the Hungarian Géza Kádas’ collision with a lane divider a stroke from the end. Jany’s sister, Ginette, was so overwhelmed by the events of the race that she collapsed and had to be stretchered away from the arena. Ari Guðmundsson of Iceland failed to make the semi-finals but was to return to Olympic competition in 1952 as a ski-jumper in the Oslo Winter Games.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Wally Ris	USA	58.1 (1 h5)	57.5 (1 h2)	57.3 (1)	Gold
2	Alan Ford	USA	59.2 (1 h6)	57.8 (2 h2)	57.8 (2)	Silver
3	Géza Kádas	HUN	58.2 (1 h3)	58.0 (3 h2)	58.1 (3)	Bronze
4	Keith Carter	USA	58.7 (1 h2)	57.6 (1 h1)	58.3 (4)
5	Alex Jany	FRA	58.1 (1 h1)	57.9 (2 h1)	58.3 (5)
6	Per-Olof Olsson	SWE	59.0 (2 h2)	59.1 (4 h2)	59.3 (6)
7	Zoltán Szilárd	HUN	59.8 (3 h2)	59.6 (3 h1)	59.6 (7)
8	Taha El-Gamal	EGY	59.7 (2 h6)	59.9 (4 h1)	1:00.5 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	Bruce Bourke	AUS	59.1 (2 h1)	1:00.0 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	Horacio White	ARG	1:00.2 (1 h4)	1:00.4 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	Martin Lundén	SWE	1:00.2 (3 h6)	1:00.2 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	Elemér Szathmáry	HUN	59.7 (3 h1)	1:00.5 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	Alberto Isaac	MEX	1:00.1 (2 h3)	1:00.4 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	Ron Stedman	GBR	1:01.3 (2 h5)	1:01.0 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	Aram Boghossian	BRA	1:00.9 (2 h4)	1:01.0 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	Warren Boyd	AUS	1:00.4 (3 h3)	1:01.1 (8 h2)	–
3 h4 r1/3	Jesús Domínguez	ESP	1:01.3 (3 h4)	–	–
3 h5 r1/3	Henri Padou, Jr.	FRA	1:01.5 (3 h5)	–	–
4 h1 r1/3	Olle Johansson	SWE	1:01.0 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	Manuel Guerra	ESP	1:00.7 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	Ali Bagdadi	EGY	1:02.4 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	Dorri Abdel Kader	EGY	1:02.5 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	Sérgio Rodrígues	BRA	1:01.6 (4 h5)	–	–
4 h6 r1/3	Peter Salmon	CAN	1:01.0 (4 h6)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	Plauto Guimarães	BRA	1:03.7 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	Augusto Cantón	ARG	1:01.8 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	Eric Jubb	CAN	1:02.8 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	Fernand Martinaux	FRA	1:04.2 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	Wu Chuanyu	CHN	1:03.5 (5 h5)	–	–
5 h6 r1/3	Ari Guðmundsson	ISL	1:01.6 (5 h6)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	Isidoro Pérez	ESP	1:04.0 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	Nicasio Silverio	CUB	1:02.0 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	Sachin Nag	IND	1:03.8 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	Panagiotis Chatzikyriakakis	GRE	1:07.4 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	Derek Oatway	BER	1:08.6 (6 h5)	–	–
6 h6 r1/3	Trevor Harrop	GBR	1:02.3 (6 h6)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	Isaac Mansoor	IND	1:06.4 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	Pat Kendall	GBR	1:02.1 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h6 r1/3	Raúl García	CUB	1:02.5 (7 h6)	–	–
8 h2 r1/3	Dilip Mitra	IND	1:06.9 (8 h2)	–	–
8 h6 r1/3	Walter Schneider	SUI	1:05.1 (8 h6)	–	–
DNS	Ernest McCartney	IRL	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	Paddy Kavanagh	IRL	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	Stuart Kramm	IRL	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	Sultan Karim Ali	PAK	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Bryan O'Connell	PAK	– (DNS h5)	–	–

Round One (30 July 1948 — 14:00)

Top two in each heat and the next four fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Alex Jany	FRA	– (–) –	58.1	Q
2	3	Bruce Bourke	AUS	– (–) –	59.1	Q
3	1	Elemér Szathmáry	HUN	– (–) –	59.7	q
4	7	Olle Johansson	SWE	– (–) –	1:01.0
5	5	Plauto Guimarães	BRA	– (–) –	1:03.7
6	6	Isidoro Pérez	ESP	– (–) –	1:04.0
7	8	Isaac Mansoor	IND	– (–) –	1:06.4
DNS	2	Sultan Karim Ali	PAK	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	8	Keith Carter	USA	– (–) –	58.7	Q
2	6	Per-Olof Olsson	SWE	– (–) –	59.0	Q
3	3	Zoltán Szilárd	HUN	– (–) –	59.8	q
4	1	Manuel Guerra	ESP	– (–) –	1:00.7
5	4	Augusto Cantón	ARG	– (–) –	1:01.8
6	5	Nicasio Silverio	CUB	– (–) –	1:02.0
7	2	Pat Kendall	GBR	– (–) –	1:02.1
8	7	Dilip Mitra	IND	– (–) –	1:06.9

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	7	Géza Kádas	HUN	– (–) –	58.2	Q
2	4	Alberto Isaac	MEX	– (–) –	1:00.1	Q
3	3	Warren Boyd	AUS	– (–) –	1:00.4	q
4	5	Ali Bagdadi	EGY	– (–) –	1:02.4
5	1	Eric Jubb	CAN	– (–) –	1:02.8
6	6	Sachin Nag	IND	– (–) –	1:03.8
DNS	2	Stuart Kramm	IRL	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Horacio White	ARG	– (–) –	1:00.2	Q
2	2	Aram Boghossian	BRA	– (–) –	1:00.9	Q
3	6	Jesús Domínguez	ESP	– (–) –	1:01.3
4	4	Dorri Abdel Kader	EGY	– (–) –	1:02.5
5	5	Fernand Martinaux	FRA	– (–) –	1:04.2
6	1	Panagiotis Chatzikyriakakis	GRE	– (–) –	1:07.4
DNS	7	Paddy Kavanagh	IRL	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Wally Ris	USA	– (–) –	58.1	Q
2	3	Ron Stedman	GBR	– (–) –	1:01.3	Q
3	8	Henri Padou, Jr.	FRA	– (–) –	1:01.5
4	7	Sérgio Rodrígues	BRA	– (–) –	1:01.6
5	4	Wu Chuanyu	CHN	– (–) –	1:03.5
6	2	Derek Oatway	BER	– (–) –	1:08.6
DNS	1	Ernest McCartney	IRL	– (–) –	–
DNS	5	Bryan O'Connell	PAK	– (–) –	–

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Alan Ford	USA	– (–) –	59.2	Q
2	2	Taha El-Gamal	EGY	– (–) –	59.7	Q
3	6	Martin Lundén	SWE	– (–) –	1:00.2	q
4	3	Peter Salmon	CAN	– (–) –	1:01.0
5	5	Ari Guðmundsson	ISL	– (–) –	1:01.6
6	7	Trevor Harrop	GBR	– (–) –	1:02.3
7	8	Raúl García	CUB	– (–) –	1:02.5
8	4	Walter Schneider	SUI	– (–) –	1:05.1

Semi-Finals (30 July 1948 — 20:30)

Top three in each heat and the next two fastest advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Keith Carter	USA	– (–) –	57.6	Q
2	–	Alex Jany	FRA	– (–) –	57.9	Q
3	–	Zoltán Szilárd	HUN	– (–) –	59.6	Q
4	–	Taha El-Gamal	EGY	– (–) –	59.9	q
5	–	Bruce Bourke	AUS	– (–) –	1:00.0
6	–	Martin Lundén	SWE	– (–) –	1:00.2
7	–	Alberto Isaac	MEX	– (–) –	1:00.4		1
8	–	Aram Boghossian	BRA	– (–) –	1:01.0

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Wally Ris	USA	– (–) –	57.5	Q=OR
2	–	Alan Ford	USA	– (–) –	57.8	Q
3	–	Géza Kádas	HUN	– (–) –	58.0	Q
4	–	Per-Olof Olsson	SWE	– (–) –	59.1	q
5	–	Horacio White	ARG	– (–) –	1:00.4
6	–	Elemér Szathmáry	HUN	– (–) –	1:00.5
7	–	Ron Stedman	GBR	– (–) –	1:01.0
8	–	Warren Boyd	AUS	– (–) –	1:01.1

Final (31 July 1948 — 15:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Wally Ris	USA	– (–) –	57.3	OR
2	6	Alan Ford	USA	– (–) –	57.8
3	7	Géza Kádas	HUN	– (–) –	58.1
4	4	Keith Carter	USA	– (–) –	58.3
5	3	Alex Jany	FRA	– (–) –	58.3
6	2	Per-Olof Olsson	SWE	– (–) –	59.3
7	8	Zoltán Szilárd	HUN	– (–) –	59.6
8	1	Taha El-Gamal	EGY	– (–) –	1:00.5