[2] Australia's Duncan Armstrong set a new world record to win the Olympic title in the event.

Swimming in lane six and coming from third at the final turn, he edged out a vastly experienced field for the gold medal in 1:47.25.

His time also sliced 0.19 seconds off the global standard set by West Germany's Michael Gross at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

[3] Sweden's Anders Holmertz overtook U.S. swimmer Matt Biondi about midway through the final stretch, but could not catch Armstrong near the wall to finish with a silver in 1:47.89.

[4][5] Poland's Artur Wojdat, a top qualifier on the morning preliminaries, dropped off the podium to a fourth-place time in 1:48.40.

[2] Belgium, Guam, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates each made their debut in the event.