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Men's 200 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Swimming pictogram
Venue	Tokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates	28 July 2021 (heats) 29 July 2021 (semifinals) 30 July 2021 (final)
Competitors	29 from 23 nations
Winning time	1:53.27 OR
Medalists
Evgeny Rylov  ROC Ryan Murphy  United States Luke Greenbank  Great Britain
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Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualification
Freestyle
50 m	men		women
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
800 m	men		women
1500 m	men		women
Backstroke
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Breaststroke
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Butterfly
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Individual medley
200 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 m	men		women
4 × 200 m	men		women
Medley relay
4 × 100 m	men	mixed	women
Marathon
10 km	men		women
v t e

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 28 to 30 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. There will be approximately 30 competitors from approximately 20 nations, with the ultimate numbers determined through the ongoing selection process, including universality places.

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the 200 metre backstroke event. It was first held in 1900. The event did not return until 1964; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. From 1904 to 1960, a men's 100 metre backstroke was held instead. In 1964, only the 200 metres was held. Beginning in 1968 and ever since, both the 100 and 200 metre versions have been held.

Of the 2016 finalists, defending Olympic champion Ryan Murphy returned, along with bronze medalist Evgeny Rylov of Russia (competing under the ROC banner), fourth-place finisher Xu Jiayu of China, seventh-place finisher Christian Diener of Germany, and eighth-place finisher (and 2012 silver medalist) Ryosuke Irie of Japan. Rylov had won the 2017 and 2019 World Championships with Murphy finishing second both times.

Summary

After his win in the shorter backstroke event days earlier, Russia's Evgeny Rylov set an Olympic record of 1:53.27 to take gold and complete the backstroke double. While he led wire-to-wire after the first lap, Rylov extended his margin over the field to collect his second individual gold. The U.S.' Ryan Murphy trailed Great Britain's Luke Greenbank at the 50 m mark, but moved through the field to collect silver in 1:54.15 – almost a second behind Rylov. Meanwhile, Greenbank could not maintain his margin over Murphy after the first turn, taking bronze in 1:54.72.

The U.S.' Bryce Mefford could not join his teammate Murphy on the podium, falling to fourth place to 1:55.49. Hungary's Ádám Telegdy touched in 1:56.15, edging out Poland's Radosław Kawęcki (1:56.39) by 0.24 seconds. Competing at his fourth Olympics, Japanese backstroke stalwart and 2012 silver medallist Ryosuke Irie (1:57.32) came seventh while Spain's Nicolás García (1:59.06) rounded out the field.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event was 1:57.50. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) could automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time was 2:01.03. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time was eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events was reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event could also use their universality place.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Aaron Peirsol (USA)	1:51.92	Rome, Italy	31 July 2009
Olympic record	Tyler Clary (USA)	1:53.41	London, United Kingdom	2 August 2012

The following records was established during the competition:

Date	Event	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Record
July 30	Final	Evgeny Rylov	ROC	1:53.27	OR

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advance to the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	2	4	Luke Greenbank	Great Britain	1:54.63	Q
2	4	4	Evgeny Rylov	ROC	1:56.02	Q
3	4	5	Bryce Mefford	United States	1:56.37	Q
4	2	1	Lee Ju-ho	South Korea	1:56.77	Q, NR
5	1	4	Grigory Tarasevich	ROC	1:56.82	Q
6	2	6	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:56.83	Q
7	3	4	Ryan Murphy	United States	1:56.92	Q
8	2	5	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:56.97	Q
9	4	3	Keita Sunama	Japan	1:57.07	Q
10	4	2	Tristan Hollard	Australia	1:57.24	Q
11	3	6	Roman Mityukov	Switzerland	1:57.45	Q
12	4	6	Brodie Williams	Great Britain	1:57.48	Q
13	4	8	Nicolás García	Spain	1:57.62	Q
14	2	3	Ádám Telegdy	Hungary	1:57.70	Q
15	3	5	Xu Jiayu	China	1:57.76	Q, WD
16	2	7	Markus Thormeyer	Canada	1:57.85	Q
17	3	3	Yohann Ndoye-Brouard	France	1:57.96	Q
18	4	7	Jan Čejka	Czech Republic	1:58.02
19	4	1	Christian Diener	Germany	1:58.27
20	3	2	Matteo Restivo	Italy	1:58.36
21	1	5	Martin Binedell	South Africa	1:58.47
22	3	1	Francisco Santos	Portugal	1:58.58
23	2	8	Berke Saka	Turkey	1:58.66
24	2	2	Kaloyan Levterov	Bulgaria	1:58.96
25	3	7	Mewen Tomac	France	1:59.02
26	1	6	Robert Glință	Romania	1:59.18
27	3	8	Jakub Skierka	Poland	1:59.30
28	1	3	Yakov Toumarkin	Israel	1:59.65
29	1	2	Merdan Ataýew	Turkmenistan	2:03.68

Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.

Rank	Heat	Lane	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	1	4	Evgeny Rylov	ROC	1:54.45	Q
2	2	4	Luke Greenbank	Great Britain	1:54.98	Q
3	2	6	Ryan Murphy	United States	1:55.38	Q
4	1	1	Ádám Telegdy	Hungary	1:56.19	Q
5	2	1	Nicolás García	Spain	1:56.35	Q
6	2	5	Bryce Mefford	United States	1:56.37	Q
7	1	3	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:56.68	Q
8	1	6	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:56.69	Q
9	1	8	Yohann Ndoye-Brouard	France	1:56.83
10	1	2	Tristan Hollard	Australia	1:56.92
11	1	5	Lee Ju-ho	South Korea	1:56.93
12	2	3	Grigory Tarasevich	ROC	1:57.06
13	2	7	Roman Mityukov	Switzerland	1:57.07
14	2	2	Keita Sunama	Japan	1:57.16
15	1	7	Brodie Williams	Great Britain	1:57.73
16	2	8	Markus Thormeyer	Canada	1:59.36

Final

Rank	Lane	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
	4	Evgeny Rylov	ROC	1:53.27	OR
	3	Ryan Murphy	United States	1:54.15
	5	Luke Greenbank	Great Britain	1:54.72
4	7	Bryce Mefford	United States	1:55.49
5	6	Ádám Telegdy	Hungary	1:56.15
6	1	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:56.39
7	8	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:57.32
8	2	Nicolás García	Spain	1:59.06

References

1. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
2. "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
3. "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
4. "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
5. "Cavic supplants Phelps' 100 fly time". ESPN. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
6. Michaelis, Vicky (31 July 2009). "Phelps earns relay gold medal, Peirsol sets 200m backstroke mark". USA Today. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
7. Auerbach, Nicole (2 August 2012). "Clary tops Lochte, wins gold in 200-meter backstroke". USA Today. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
8. "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
9. "Semifinals results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
10. "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

• Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Men's 200 metre backstroke
• 200 metre backstroke at the Olympics
• Men's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics