The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event)^[1] of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics.

The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1922.^[2] The current world records holders are Pan Zhanle (since February 2024) and Sarah Sjöström (since 2017).

Australian Dawn Fraser won the event a record three times at the Olympics, and she is the only woman to win it more than once. Four men, American Duke Kahanamoku, Weissmuller, Russian Alexander Popov, and Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband won the event at the Olympics twice. Popov was also world champion (held since 1973) three times.

• Freestyle swimming
• World record progression 100 metres freestyle