Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 100 metre freestyle
The women's 100 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held in July 2011; the heats and the semifinals were held on 28 July and the final on 29 July.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.| Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date | |
| World record Championship record | Britta Steffen | 52.07 | Rome | 31 July 2009 |
Results
Heats
77 swimmers participated in 10 heats.| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Femke Heemskerk | Q | ||
| 2 | 8 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Q | ||
| 3 | 9 | 3 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Q | ||
| 4 | 8 | 5 | Dana Vollmer | Q | ||
| 5 | 10 | 3 | Camille Muffat | Q | ||
| 6 | 8 | 3 | Yolane Kukla | Q | ||
| 6 | 10 | 5 | Alicia Coutts | Q | ||
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Tang Yi | Q | ||
| 9 | 10 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | Q | ||
| 10 | 9 | 5 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Q | ||
| 11 | 8 | 8 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Q NR | ||
| 12 | 9 | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | Q | ||
| 13 | 8 | 2 | Victoria Poon | Q | ||
| 14 | 8 | 7 | Ida Marko-Varga | Q | ||
| 15 | 9 | 1 | Gabriella Fagundez | Q | ||
| 16 | 9 | 6 | Britta Steffen | Q | ||
| 17 | 10 | 2 | Veronika Popova | |||
| 18 | 10 | 7 | Amy Smith | |||
| 19 | 9 | 7 | Wang Shijia | |||
| 20 | 7 | 6 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | |||
| 21 | 7 | 4 | Chantal Vanlandegem | |||
| 22 | 10 | 1 | Pernille Blume | |||
| 23 | 8 | 1 | Daniela Schreiber | |||
| 24 | 7 | 1 | Theodora Drakou | |||
| 25 | 9 | 8 | Tatiana Lemos Barbosa | |||
| 26 | 6 | 5 | Karin Prinsloo | |||
| 27 | 7 | 3 | Hannah Wilson | |||
| 28 | 7 | 5 | Natasha Hind | |||
| 29 | 6 | 4 | Birgit Koschischek | |||
| 30 | 9 | 2 | Evelyn Verrasztó | |||
| 31 | 6 | 3 | Sara Isakovič | |||
| 32 | 7 | 8 | Nina Rangelova | |||
| 33 | 6 | 2 | Liliana Ibanez | |||
| 34 | 6 | 6 | Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir | |||
| 35 | 7 | 7 | Natsuki Hasegawa | |||
| 36 | 7 | 2 | Miroslava Najdanovski | |||
| 37 | 6 | 8 | Katarina Listopadova | |||
| 38 | 5 | 5 | Natthanan Junkrajang | |||
| 39 | 6 | 1 | Amanda Lim | |||
| 40 | 6 | 7 | Katarina Filova | |||
| 41 | 5 | 2 | Chinyere Pigot | |||
| 42 | 5 | 6 | Nicole Horn | |||
| 43 | 5 | 3 | Megan Fonteno | |||
| 44 | 5 | 4 | Jasmine Al-Khaldi | |||
| 45 | 4 | 5 | Karen Torrez | |||
| 46 | 4 | 4 | Anna-Liza Mopio | |||
| 47 | 5 | 8 | Bayan Jumah | |||
| 48 | 5 | 7 | Kiera Aitken | |||
| 49 | 5 | 1 | Clelia Tini | |||
| 50 | 4 | 3 | Karen Schulz | |||
| 51 | 4 | 2 | Christine Briedenhann | |||
| 52 | 4 | 6 | Jessica Vieira | |||
| 53 | 4 | 8 | Branka Vranjes | |||
| 54 | 4 | 7 | Jade Ashleigh Howard | |||
| 55 | 3 | 6 | Britany van Lange | |||
| 56 | 3 | 3 | Judith Meauri | |||
| 57 | 3 | 5 | Monica Vasilyan | |||
| 58 | 3 | 2 | Zamantha Hoss | |||
| 59 | 3 | 1 | Ifiezegbe Gagbe | |||
| 60 | 4 | 1 | Fabiola Isabel Espinoza | |||
| 61 | 3 | 4 | Estellah Fils Rabetsara | |||
| 62 | 2 | 4 | Amelie Trinquier | |||
| 63 | 3 | 7 | Reshika Udugampola | |||
| 64 | 2 | 3 | Magdalena Moshi | |||
| 65 | 2 | 6 | Celeste Brown | |||
| 66 | 2 | 2 | Kuheilani Snow | |||
| 67 | 2 | 1 | Keesha Keane | |||
| 68 | 3 | 8 | Mareme Faye | |||
| 69 | 2 | 8 | Debra Daniel | |||
| 70 | 1 | 5 | Osisang Chilton | |||
| 71 | 1 | 7 | Antoinette Guedia Mouafo | |||
| 72 | 2 | 7 | Grace Kimball | |||
| 73 | 1 | 2 | Shreya Dhital | |||
| 74 | 1 | 4 | Katerina Izmailova | |||
| 75 | 1 | 3 | Sara Al Flaij | |||
| 76 | 1 | 1 | Elsie Uwamahoro | |||
| 77 | 1 | 6 | Sihame Ayouba Ali | |||
| – | 2 | 5 | Gouri Kotecha | DNS | ||
| – | 10 | 8 | Federica Pellegrini | DNS |
Semifinals
The semifinals were held at 18:02.Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
Final
The final was held at 18:02.| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | 53.45 | |||
| 8 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | 53.45 | |||
| 2 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | 53.66 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | 53.72 | ||
| 4 | 5 | Femke Heemskerk | 53.72 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Alicia Coutts | 53.81 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Dana Vollmer | 54.19 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Natalie Coughlin | 54.22 |