World record progression 100 metres backstroke

This is a history of the 100 m backstroke world record as swum in both long-course (50 m; Olympic) pools and short-course (25 m) pools—the two categories recognized/tracked by FINA.

Men

Long course

Time	Swimmer	Date	Place
1:02.2	David Theile	December 6, 1956	Melbourne, Australia
1:01.5	John Monckton	February 15, 1958	Melbourne, Australia
1:01.3	Bob Bennett	August 19, 1961	Los Angeles, USA
1:01.0	Tom Stock	August 11, 1962	Cuyahoga Falls, USA
1:00.9	Tom Stock	August 12, 1962	Cuyahoga Falls, USA
1:00.8	Ernst-Joachim Küppers	August 28, 1964	Dortmund, West Germany
1:00.0	Thompson Mann	September 3, 1964	New York City, USA
59.6	Thompson Mann	October 16, 1964	Tokyo, Japan
59.5	Doug Russell	August 28, 1967	Tokyo, Japan
59.3	Charlie Hickcox	August 28, 1967	Tokyo, Japan
59.1	Charlie Hickcox	August 31, 1967	Tokyo, Japan
58.4	Roland Matthes	September 21, 1967	Leipzig, East Germany
58.0	Roland Matthes	October 26, 1968	Mexico City, Mexico
57.8	Roland Matthes	August 23, 1969	Würzburg, West Germany
56.9	Roland Matthes	September 8, 1970	Barcelona, Spain
56.7	Roland Matthes	September 4, 1971	Leipzig, East Germany
56.3	Roland Matthes	April 8, 1972	Moscow, USSR
56.30	Roland Matthes	September 4, 1972	Munich, West Germany
56.19	John Naber	July 18, 1976	Montreal, Canada
55.49	John Naber	July 19, 1976	Montreal, Canada
55.44	Rick Carey	August 6, 1983	Clovis, California, USA
55.38	Rick Carey	August 6, 1983	Clovis, California, USA
55.19	Rick Carey	August 21, 1983	Caracas, Venezuela
55.17	Igor Polyansky	March 15, 1988	Tallinn, USSR
55.16	Igor Polyansky	March 16, 1988	Tallinn, USSR
55.00	Igor Polyansky	July 16, 1988	Moscow, USSR
54.95	David Berkoff	August 12, 1988	Austin, Texas, USA
54.91	David Berkoff	August 12, 1988	Austin, Texas, USA
54.51	David Berkoff	September 24, 1988	Seoul, South Korea
53.93	Jeff Rouse	August 25, 1991	Edmonton, Canada
53.86	Jeff Rouse	July 31, 1992	Barcelona, Spain
53.60	Lenny Krayzelburg	August 24, 1999	Sydney, Australia
53.45	Aaron Peirsol	August 21, 2004	Athens, Greece
53.17	Aaron Peirsol	April 2, 2005	Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
52.98	Aaron Peirsol	March 27, 2007	Melbourne, Australia
52.89	Aaron Peirsol	July 1, 2008	Omaha, Nebraska, USA
52.54	Aaron Peirsol	August 12, 2008	Beijing, China
52.38	Aschwin Wildeboer	July 1, 2009	Pescara, Italy
51.94	Aaron Peirsol	July 8, 2009	Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
51.85 (r)	Ryan Murphy	August 13, 2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Short course

Time	Swimmer^[1]	Date	Place
52.50	Mark Tewksbury	February 22, 1992	Winnipeg, Canada
51.43	Jeff Rouse	April 12, 1993	Sheffield, Great Britain
51.28	Lenny Krayzelburg	2000
50.75	Neil Walker	March 19, 2000	Athens, Greece
50.58	Thomas Rupprath	December 8, 2002	Melbourne, Australia
50.32	Peter Marshall	March 26, 2004	New York City, United States
49.99	Ryan Lochte	April 9, 2006	Shanghai, China
49.94	Peter Marshall	November 11, 2008	Stockholm, Sweden
49.63	Peter Marshall	November 15, 2008	Berlin, Germany
49.32	Stanislav Donets	December 14, 2008	Rijeka, Croatia
49.20	Aschwin Wildeboer	December 21, 2008	Madrid, Spain
49.17	Arkady Vyatchanin	December 12, 2009	Istanbul, Turkey
48.97	Arkady Vyatchanin Stanislav Donets	December 13, 2009	Istanbul, Turkey
48.94 (r)	Nick Thoman	December 18, 2009	Manchester, England
48.92^[2]	Matt Grevers	December 12, 2015	Indianapolis, USA

Women

Long course

Time	Swimmer	Date	Meet	Place
1:07.7	Cathy Ferguson	October 14, 1964	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan
1:07.4	Ann Farlie	July 23, 1966		Béziers, France
1:07.3	Elaine Tanner	July 27, 1967		Winnipeg, Canada
1:07.1	Elaine Tanner	July 30, 1967		Winnipeg, Canada
1:06.7	Karen Muir	January 30, 1968		Kimberley, South Africa
1:06.4	Karen Muir	April 6, 1968		Paris, France
1:06.2	Kaye Hall	October 23, 1968	Olympic Games	Mexico City, Mexico
1:05.6	Karen Muir	July 6, 1969		Utrecht, Netherlands
1:05.39	Ulrike Richter	August 18, 1973		Utrecht, Netherlands
1:04.99 (r)	Ulrike Richter	September 4, 1973	World Championships	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
1:04.78	Wendy Cook	January 31, 1974		Christchurch, New Zealand
1:04.43	Ulrike Richter	July 8, 1974		Rostock, East Germany
1:04.09	Ulrike Richter	August 22, 1974		Vienna, Austria
1:03.30	Ulrike Richter	August 23, 1974		Vienna, Austria
1:02.98	Ulrike Richter	September 1, 1974		Concord, California, USA
1:02.60	Ulrike Richter	March 14, 1976		Tallinn, USSR
1:01.62	Kornelia Ender	June 3, 1976		Berlin, East Germany
1:01.51	Ulrike Richter	June 5, 1976		Berlin, East Germany
1:01.51 (e)	Rica Reinisch	July 20, 1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, USSR
1:01.50	Rica Reinisch	July 22, 1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, USSR
1:00.86	Rica Reinisch	July 23, 1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, USSR
1:00.59 (r)	Ina Kleber	August 24, 1984	Friendship Games	Moscow, USSR
1:00.31	Krisztina Egerszegi	August 22, 1991	European Championships	Athens, Greece
1:00.16 (r)	He Cihong	September 10, 1994	World Championships	Rome, Italy
59.58	Natalie Coughlin	August 13, 2002	U.S. National Swimming Championships	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
59.44	Natalie Coughlin	March 27, 2007	World Championships	Melbourne, Australia
59.21	Natalie Coughlin	February 17, 2008	Missouri Grand Prix	Columbia, Missouri, United States
59.15	Hayley McGregory	June 30, 2008	USA Olympic Trials	Omaha, Nebraska, United States
59.03	Natalie Coughlin	June 30, 2008	USA Olympic Trials	Omaha, Nebraska, United States
58.97	Natalie Coughlin	July 1, 2008	USA Olympic Trials	Omaha, Nebraska, United States
58.77	Kirsty Coventry	August 11, 2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China
58.48	Anastasia Zuyeva	July 27, 2009	World Championships	Rome, Italy
58.12	Gemma Spofforth	July 28, 2009	World Championships	Rome, Italy

Short course

Time	Swimmer^[3]	Date	Place
59.41	Angel Martino	November 21, 1993	Stavanger, Norway
58.50	Angel Martino	December 3, 1993	Palma de Mallorca, Spain
58.45	Reiko Nakamura	March 4, 2001	Sagamihara, Japan
57.08	Natalie Coughlin	November 29, 2001	East Meadow, New York, United States
56.71	Natalie Coughlin	November 23, 2002	East Meadow, New York, United States^[4]
56.51	Natalie Coughlin	October 28, 2007	Singapore
56.15	Shiho Sakai	February 22, 2009	Tokyo, Japan
55.23	Shiho Sakai	November 15, 2009	Berlin, Germany
55.03	Katinka Hosszú	December 4, 2014	Doha, Qatar

References

^ Sports123.com tracking page of men's short-course World Record in the 100 back.
^ Lord, Craig (December 12, 2015). "Duel In The Pool Over Before Over: WRS For Grevers, Kromowidjojo; USA Keeps Crown". Swimvortex. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
^ Sport123.com's tracking of the women's short-course 100m back World Record.
^ Denman, Elliott (2002-11-23). "SWIMMING; Coughlin Sets Two Records and Collects Three Victories". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-07.

[1] Sports123.com tracking page of men's short-course World Record in the 100 back.

[2] Lord, Craig (December 12, 2015). "Duel In The Pool Over Before Over: WRS For Grevers, Kromowidjojo; USA Keeps Crown". Swimvortex. Retrieved December 12, 2015.

[3] Sport123.com's tracking of the women's short-course 100m back World Record.

[4] Denman, Elliott (2002-11-23). "SWIMMING; Coughlin Sets Two Records and Collects Three Victories". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-07.

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v t e World records in swimming
Freestyle	50 100 200 400 800 1500
Backstroke	50 100 200
Breaststroke	50 100 200
Butterfly	50 100 200
Individual medley	100 200 400
Relays	4 × 50 freestyle relay 4 × 100 freestyle relay 4 × 200 freestyle relay 4 × 50 medley relay 4 × 100 medley relay