Swimming at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 yard freestyle

This was the second appearance of the men's 100 freestyle, with the distance in yards for the only time. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

None of the swimmers from 1896 returned.

Both competing nations, Hungary and the United States, were making their second appearance in the event; no nations made their debut in 1904.

The competition featured two rounds, heats and a final. The swimmers were grouped into two heats, with the top 3 in each heat (regardless of overall time) advancing to the final.

The swimming races were held in a man-made lake in the park, between a pier and some floating rafts. There was a slight current, which apparently did not greatly affect the swimmers.[2]

Prior to this competition, there was no recognized world record (first recognized in 1905) and the Olympic record was in metres.

100 metres
World record		'
Olympic record	Alfréd Hajós (HUN)	1:22.2	Athens, Greece	11 April 1896

Zoltán Halmay broke the Olympic in the first semifinal and then bettered his new record in the final.

• De Wael, Herman (2000). "Herman's Full Olympians". Retrieved 19 December 2006.
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 19 December 2006.