| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	21 – 22 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez, Ciudad de México
Participants	37 from 26 countries

The top American was Charlie Hickcox who had set two world records in the event in 1967. But the favorite was East German Roland Matthes who had lowered the world record to 58.4 in September 1967. Matthes was not to be beaten. He took the lead early and defeated Hickcox by 1.5 seconds. Behind Hickcox, Americans Ronnie Mills and Larry Barbiere placed 3-4. Three days later Matthews would add the 200 backstroke gold medal. In 1972 he returned to win the Olympic backstroke double-double, winning both the 100 and 200 again in Munich. He tried to make it a triple in the 100 in 1976, but placed third behind John Naber in Montréal. During his career Matthews set 16 long-course world records in the 100 and 200 backstrokes.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.0 (1 h2)	1:01.3 (1 h2)	58.7 (1)	Gold
2	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.1 (1 h4)	1:01.6 (1 h1)	1:00.2 (2)	Silver
3	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8 (1 h6)	1:01.8 (3 h2)	1:00.5 (3)	Bronze
4	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.9 (1 h1)	1:01.6 (2 h2)	1:01.1 (4)
5	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.8 (1 h3)	1:01.9 (2 h1)	1:01.4 (5)
6	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.8 (2 h6)	1:02.1 (5 h2)	1:01.8 (6)
7	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.7 (3 h1)	1:02.2 (3 h1)	1:01.9 (7)
8	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.3 (2 h4)	1:02.1 (4 h2)	1:02.0 (8)
9	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:03.2 (3 h6)	1:02.3 (6 h2)	–
=10	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:03.0 (2 h2)	1:02.4 (7 h2)	–
=10	Yury Gromak	URS	1:03.2 (1 h5)	1:02.4 (4 h1)	–
12	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:03.1 (2 h3)	1:02.5 (8 h2)	–
=13	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.0 (2 h1)	1:02.7 (5 h1)	–
=13	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.9 (3 h4)	1:02.7 (6 h1)	–
15	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:03.0 (4 h4)	1:02.8 (7 h1)	–
16	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.5 (3 h2)	1:03.6 (8 h1)	–
=17	Leonardo Barenboim	ARG	1:04.0 (2 h5)	–	–
=17	Kishio Tanaka	JPN	1:04.0 (4 h6)	–	–
19	Roddy Jones	GBR	1:04.1 (3 h3)	–	–
=20	José Joaquín Santibáñez	MEX	1:04.2 (4 h3)	–	–
=20	Yevgeny Spiridonov	URS	1:04.2 (4 h2)	–	–
=22	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	1:04.6 (5 h3)	–	–
=22	César Filardi	BRA	1:04.6 (5 h6)	–	–
=22	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	1:04.6 (3 h5)	–	–
25	Jesús Cabrera	ESP	1:04.8 (5 h2)	–	–
=26	Jaime Rivera	MEX	1:05.1 (5 h5)	–	–
=26	Hans Tegeback	SWE	1:05.1 (4 h5)	–	–
28	Gerald Evard	SUI	1:05.8 (5 h4)	–	–
29	Gary Goodner	PUR	1:06.3 (6 h3)	–	–
30	Eliseo Vidal	CUB	1:06.4 (6 h2)	–	–
31	Luis Ángel Acosta	MEX	1:06.5 (4 h1)	–	–
32	Francisco Ramis	PUR	1:07.2 (6 h5)	–	–
33	Ronnie Wong	HKG	1:11.3 (7 h2)	–	–
34	Yacoub Masboungi	LBN	1:11.6 (7 h3)	–	–
35	Antonio Cruz	GUA	1:11.8 (6 h6)	–	–
36	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	1:13.7 (5 h1)	–	–
37	Arturo Carranza	ESA	1:17.4 (6 h4)	–	–
DNS	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Paul Nash	JAM	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (21 October 1968 — 10:00)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Larry Barbiere	USA	– (–) –	1:01.9	Q
2	3	Franco Chino	ITA	– (–) –	1:02.0	Q
3	4	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	– (–) –	1:02.7	Q
4	2	Luis Ángel Acosta	MEX	– (–) –	1:06.5
5	5	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	– (–) –	1:13.7
DNS	–	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Roland Matthes	GDR	– (–) –	1:01.0	QOR
2	7	Santiago Esteva	ESP	– (–) –	1:03.0	Q
3	1	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:03.5	Q
4	6	Yevgeny Spiridonov	URS	– (–) –	1:04.2
5	2	Jesús Cabrera	ESP	– (–) –	1:04.8
6	5	Eliseo Vidal	CUB	– (–) –	1:06.4
7	3	Ronnie Wong	HKG	– (–) –	1:11.3

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	2	Jim Shaw	CAN	– (–) –	1:01.8	Q
2	6	Viktor Mazanov	URS	– (–) –	1:03.1	Q
3	4	Roddy Jones	GBR	– (–) –	1:04.1
4	1	José Joaquín Santibáñez	MEX	– (–) –	1:04.2
5	7	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	– (–) –	1:04.6
6	5	Gary Goodner	PUR	– (–) –	1:06.3
7	3	Yacoub Masboungi	LBN	– (–) –	1:11.6

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	2	Charlie Hickcox	USA	– (–) –	1:01.1	Q
2	3	Franco Del Campo	ITA	– (–) –	1:02.3	Q
3	5	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	– (–) –	1:02.9	Q
4	4	Neil Jackson	GBR	– (–) –	1:03.0	Q
5	7	Gerald Evard	SUI	– (–) –	1:05.8
6	6	Arturo Carranza	ESA	– (–) –	1:17.4
DNS	–	Paul Nash	JAM	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Yury Gromak	URS	– (–) –	1:03.2	Q
2	3	Leonardo Barenboim	ARG	– (–) –	1:04.0
3	2	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	– (–) –	1:04.6
4	6	Hans Tegeback	SWE	– (–) –	1:05.1
5	5	Jaime Rivera	MEX	– (–) –	1:05.1
6	7	Francisco Ramis	PUR	– (–) –	1:07.2

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Ronnie Mills	USA	– (–) –	1:01.8	Q
2	7	Bob Schoutsen	NED	– (–) –	1:02.8	Q
3	4	Karl Byrom	AUS	– (–) –	1:03.2	Q
4	3	Kishio Tanaka	JPN	– (–) –	1:04.0
5	2	César Filardi	BRA	– (–) –	1:04.6
6	5	Antonio Cruz	GUA	– (–) –	1:11.8

Semi-Finals (21 October 1968 — 17:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Charlie Hickcox	USA	– (–) –	1:01.6	Q
2	5	Jim Shaw	CAN	– (–) –	1:01.9	Q
3	6	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	– (–) –	1:02.2	Q
4	1	Yury Gromak	URS	– (–) –	1:02.4
5	3	Franco Chino	ITA	– (–) –	1:02.7
6	2	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	– (–) –	1:02.7
7	7	Neil Jackson	GBR	– (–) –	1:02.8
8	8	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:03.6

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Roland Matthes	GDR	– (–) –	1:01.3	Q
2	3	Larry Barbiere	USA	– (–) –	1:01.6	Q
3	5	Ronnie Mills	USA	– (–) –	1:01.8	Q
4	6	Franco Del Campo	ITA	– (–) –	1:02.1	Q
5	2	Bob Schoutsen	NED	– (–) –	1:02.1	Q
6	8	Karl Byrom	AUS	– (–) –	1:02.3
7	7	Santiago Esteva	ESP	– (–) –	1:02.4
8	1	Viktor Mazanov	URS	– (–) –	1:02.5

Final (22 October 1968 — 17:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Roland Matthes	GDR	– (–) –	58.7	OR
2	5	Charlie Hickcox	USA	– (–) –	1:00.2
3	6	Ronnie Mills	USA	– (–) –	1:00.5
4	3	Larry Barbiere	USA	– (–) –	1:01.1
5	2	Jim Shaw	CAN	– (–) –	1:01.4
6	1	Bob Schoutsen	NED	– (–) –	1:01.8
7	8	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	– (–) –	1:01.9
8	7	Franco Del Campo	ITA	– (–) –	1:02.0