The men's 100 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics

At the 1896 Summer Olympics, four swimming events were contested, all for men. They were planned and organized by the Sub-Committee for Nautical Sports. All events took place on 11 April in the Bay of Zea...

 programme. The 100 metre freestyle race was the first of the swimming events. 10 swimmers entered the race. The two competitors from Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

finished in the top two places, though no record distinguishes the places of the other eight competitors. The names of four of the Greek swimmers are not known.

Hajós beat Herschmann by less than a body length.

Results

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		1:22.2
2		1:22.8
3-10		Unknown
		Unknown
		Unknown
		Unknown
		Unknown