Swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

Men's 100 metre backstroke at the Games of the IX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Sports Park Swim Stadium
Date	7–9 August
Competitors	19 from 12 nations
Medalists
George Kojac  United States Walter Laufer  United States Paul Wyatt  United States

The men's 100 metre backstroke was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Tuesday to Thursday, 7 to 9 August 1928. Nineteen swimmers from twelve nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:09.0	George Kojac	Detroit (U.S.)	23 June 1928
Olympic Record	1:13.2	Warren Kealoha	Paris (FRA)	18 July 1924

In the first heat George Kojac set a new Olympic record with 1:09.2 minutes. In the final he set a new world record with 1:08.2 minutes.

Results

Heats

Tuesday 7 August 1928: The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced. As there was a tie for second place in the fifth heat both swimmers advanced instead of a third placed.

Heat 1

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Kojac	United States	1:09.2	Q, OR
2	Toshio Irie	Japan	1:13.4	Q
3	Albert Schumberg	Germany	1:16.6
4	Roland Johansson	Sweden	1:17.4

Heat 2

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Walter Laufer	United States	1:12.8	Q
2	John Besford	Great Britain	1:15.0	Q
3	Aladár Bitskey	Hungary	1:15.6
4	Johann Schulz	Germany	1:17.2

Heat 3

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Tom Boast	Australia	1:17.0	Q
2	Gérard Blitz	Belgium	1:18.8	Q
3	Len Moorhouse	New Zealand	1:20.4

Heat 4

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Ernst Küppers	Germany	1:14.0	Q
2	Willie Francis	Great Britain	1:16.4	Q
3	Émile Zeibig	France	1:20.0
4	Eugène Kuborn	Luxembourg	Unknown

Heat 5

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Paul Wyatt	United States	1:14.0	Q
2	Eskil Lundahl	Sweden	1:14.4	Q
	Munroe Bourne	Canada	1:14.4
4	Shourai Kimura	Japan	Unknown

Semifinals

Wednesday 8 August 1928: The fastest three in each semi-final advanced.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Kojac	United States	1:10.0	Q
2	Toshio Irie	Japan	1:14.0	Q
3	John Besford	Great Britain	1:14.8	Q
4	Munroe Bourne	Canada	Unknown
5	Eskil Lundahl	Sweden	Unknown
6	Willie Francis	Great Britain	Unknown

Semifinal 2

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Walter Laufer	United States	1:12.6	Q
2	Paul Wyatt	United States	1:14.2	Q
	Ernst Küppers	Germany	1:14.2	Q
4	Tom Boast	Australia	Unknown
—	Gérard Blitz	Belgium	DNS

Final

Thursday 9 August 1928:

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
	George Kojac	United States	1:08.2	WR
	Walter Laufer	United States	1:10.0
	Paul Wyatt	United States	1:12.0
4	Toshio Irie	Japan	1:13.6
5	Ernst Küppers	Germany	1:13.8
6	John Besford	Great Britain	1:15.4

External links

• Olympic Report
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in polski). Retrieved 5 October 2008.