The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 28 to 30 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's twenty-fifth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1912.

Summary Australia's Emma McKeon became only the second woman to break the 52 second threshold in the event, setting a new Olympic and Oceanian record of 51.96. With the victory, McKeon won her first individual Olympic title and Australia's first in the event since Jodie Henry in 2004.

Though first at the 50, Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey was overtaken by McKeon down the stretch but still won her second silver medal at these Games with an Asian record of 52.27. Australia's Cate Campbell, the resounding favourite for gold in 2016, had a comeback performance to take the bronze medal in 52.52. By joining teammate McKeon on the podium, the pair's 1-3 finish marked the first time two Australians placed on the podium in this event since the country's medal sweep in Melbourne 1956.

One of two defending champions Penny Oleksiak of Canada finished narrowly behind Campbell in a Canadian record of 52.57. Sweden's world-record holder and 2016 bronze medallist Sarah Sjöström was last at the 50 but managed to touch in 52.68 for fifth. Femke Heemskerk (52.79) clocked a new Dutch record to come sixth while Great Britain's Anna Hopkin (52.83) and the U.S.'s Abbey Weitzeil (53.23) rounded out the finalists.

The medals for the competition were presented by Sweden's Gunilla Lindberg, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Uruguay's Julio Maglione, former FINA President.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record July 25 Final* Sarah Sjöström 52.62 July 28 Heat 6 Emma McKeon 52.13 July 30 Final Emma McKeon 51.96 * Split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 54.38 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 56.01 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a female swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.

Competition format The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

DateTimeRound 28 July 2021 19:00 Heats 29 July 2021 10:53 Semifinals 30 July 2021 10:59 Final

Results Heats The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 6 4 Emma McKeon 52.13 , 2 6 5 Siobhán Haughey 52.70 , AS 3 6 6 Anna Hopkin 52.75 , NR 4 7 4 Cate Campbell 52.80 5 5 4 Sarah Sjöström 52.91 6 7 5 Penny Oleksiak 52.95 7 5 2 Pernille Blume 52.96 8 7 6 Yang Junxuan 53.02 , 9 5 5 Femke Heemskerk 53.10 10 7 1 Kayla Sanchez 53.12 , 11 5 3 Abbey Weitzeil 53.21 12 7 3 Michelle Coleman 53.53 13 5 1 Signe Bro 53.54 14 7 2 Freya Anderson 53.61 15 5 6 Charlotte Bonnet 53.67 16 6 2 Marie Wattel 53.71 6 3 Ranomi Kromowidjojo , 18 6 7 Erika Brown 53.87 7 8 Wu Qingfeng 20 5 7 Maria Kameneva 53.92 21 6 1 Barbora Seemanová 53.98 22 6 8 Andrea Murez 54.06 NR 23 4 8 Fanny Teijonsalo 54.69 24 5 8 Janja Šegel 54.73 25 4 5 Erin Gallagher 54.75 26 4 7 Maria Ugolkova 54.86 27 4 4 Lidón Muñoz 54.97 28 4 3 Anastasiya Shkurdai 55.17 29 3 4 Kalia Antoniou 55.38 30 4 6 Larissa Oliveira 55.53 31 3 6 Anicka Delgado 55.56 NR 32 4 2 Julie Meynen 55.69 33 3 5 Farida Osman 55.74 34 3 7 Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir 56.15 35 3 1 Bianca Costea 56.35 36 4 1 Quah Ting Wen 56.36 37 3 3 Ieva Maļuka 56.39 38 3 2 Miriam Sheehan 56.64 39 3 8 Amel Melih 56.65 40 2 4 Mia Blaževska Eminova 57.19 41 2 3 Jillian Crooks 57.32 NR 42 2 5 Jenjira Srisa-Ard 57.42 43 2 7 Maria Schutzmeier 57.94 NR 44 2 1 Colleen Furgeson 58.71 45 2 2 Varsenik Manucharyan 59.18 46 2 6 Jeanne Boutbien 59.27 47 2 8 Catarina Sousa 59.35 48 1 3 Abiola Ogunbanwo 59.74 NR 49 1 4 Andela Antunović 50 1 5 Gaurika Singh 51 1 6 Mineri Gomez 7 7 Federica Pellegrini

Swim-off Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 4 Erika Brown 53.51 2 5 Wu Qingfeng 54.47

Semifinals The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 2 4 Emma McKeon 52.32 2 1 4 Siobhán Haughey 52.40 , AS 3 1 5 Cate Campbell 52.71 4 2 3 Sarah Sjöström 52.82 5 1 3 Penny Oleksiak 52.86 6 1 6 Femke Heemskerk 52.93 7 2 2 Abbey Weitzeil 52.99 8 2 5 Anna Hopkin 53.11 9 1 1 Marie Wattel 53.12 10 2 6 Pernille Blume 53.26 11 1 7 Freya Anderson 53.53 12 2 7 Signe Bro 53.55 13 2 8 Erika Brown 53.58 14 1 2 Michelle Coleman 53.73 15 2 1 Charlotte Bonnet 54.10 16 1 8 Wu Qingfeng 54.86

Final

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Emma McKeon 51.96 , OC 5 Siobhán Haughey 52.27 AS 3 Cate Campbell 52.52 4 2 Penny Oleksiak 52.59 NR 5 6 Sarah Sjöström 52.68 6 7 Femke Heemskerk 52.79 7 8 Anna Hopkin 52.83 8 1 Abbey Weitzeil 53.23

References