The men’s 100-meter back has already proved to be an exciting race with the Championship Record being broken twice during prelims. Hugo Gonzalez of Spain originally broke the record of 54.87 set by Christou Apostolos in 2013 when he turned in 54.80 in heat five. Not two heats later Michael Taylor of the USA clocked a 54.74 to claim the record for himself and earn the top seed going into tonight’s semi-finals.
Michael Andrew of the USA posted a 54.90 to earn himself a spot in the middle of the pool at third.
Canada’s Markus Thormeyer and Romania’s Robert Glinta turned in close times, finishing only .04 seconds apart in heat five. Thormeyer managed to get his hand to the wall first with a final time of 55.12 over Glinta’s 55.16.
Clyde Lewis of Australia and Abdalla Youssef of Egypt also posted close times from heat six finishing only .02 seconds apart. Lewis clocked a 55.36, while Youssef finished with a 55.38.
Great Britain’s Luke Greenback rounds out the top eight with a 55.54.
Canada’s Javier Acevedo (55.68), New Zealand’s Willrich Coetzee (55.84), Greece’s Nikolaos Sofianidis (55.92), Brazil’s Guilherme Basseto (55.93), Ireland’s Conor Ferguson (55.94), Portugal’s Gabriel Lopes (56.05), Russia’s Roman Larin (56.07), and the Czech Republic’s Tomas Franta (56.13) finish up the qualifiers for tonight’s semi-finals.
