Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50 metre freestyle

Cam McEvoy of Australia, the reigning Olympic champion and world leader with a 21.30 in 2025, was widely regarded as the favourite to win the event, while Great Britain's Ben Proud, a consistent podium finisher since 2022, was anticipated to contend for gold. The United States' Jack Alexy, second in world rankings with 21.36, was aiming to return to form after missing the U.S. Olympic team in 2024. Brazil's Gui Caribé and Russia's Egor Kornev, who was competing for the Neutral Athletes B team, were also chasing podium finishes. The defending world champion was Vladislav Bukhov of Ukraine, though his recent results had been inconsistent. ==Qualification==

Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time at approved qualifying events. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 22.05 seconds. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 22.82. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events. ==Records==

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows. ==Heats==

The heats took place on 1 August 2025 at 10:51. Swim-off The swim-off was started on 1 August at 12:44. ==Semifinals==

The semifinals took place on 1 August at 19:34. Swim-off The swim-off was started on 1 August at 20:58. ==Final==

The final took place on 2 August at 19:09. == Notes ==