The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

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 Evgeny Mikhailovich Rylov ( rus, Евгений Михайлович Рылов, , ɪ̯ɪvˈɡʲenʲɪɪ̯ ˈrɨɫəf; born 23 September 1996) is a Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic champion specializing in backstroke events. He won three ...

of Russia (competing under the ROC banner), fourth-place finisher

Xu Jiayu Xu Jiayu (; born 19 August 1995) is a Chinese competitive swimmer who specializes in the backstroke. He is the Olympic Silver medalist ( 2016 Rio de Janeiro) and twice consecutive world champion ( 2017 Budapest and 2019 Gwangju) in the 100 met ...

of China, seventh-place finisher

Christian Diener Christian Diener (born 3 June 1993) is a German backstroke swimmer. He is living in Potsdam (Germany). Jörg Hoffmann is his coach. Diener won his first international championship title at European Junior Championships 2010 in 50m backstroke. O ...

of Germany, and eighth-place finisher (and 2012 silver medalist)

Ryosuke Irie is a Japanese competitive swimmer who competes in backstroke events. He is a Kindai University student in Osaka. He won a silver medal in the 200 metre backstroke and a bronze in the 100 metre backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, along wit ...

of Japan. Rylov had won the

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and 2019 World Championships with Murphy finishing second both times.

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event was 1:57.50. Up to two swimmers per

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(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. The following records was established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

(UTC+9)

Results

Heats

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

Semifinals

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

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metre backstroke Men's 00200 metre backstroke

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

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