Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke


The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Summary

After a world-record breaking victory in the 400 m individual medley two days earlier, Hungary's Katinka Hosszú touched out the U.S. swimmer Kathleen Baker at the home stretch to capture the sprint backstroke crown, and her second gold medal at these Games. Approaching the 50-metre lap, Baker pulled herself ahead of the field with a marginal lead, but Hosszú passed the American at the final 25-metre stretch to touch the wall first with a Hungarian record of 58.45. Falling three tenths of a second short of the Olympic title, Baker picked up the silver instead at 58.75. Meanwhile, Canada's Kylie Masse and China's Fu Yuanhui tied for the bronze in a matching 58.76, breaking their national records respectively.
Trailing Hosszú by a 0.35-second margin, Denmark's Mie Nielsen finished off the podium with a fifth-place time in 58.80, while Baker's teammate Olivia Smoliga moved up to sixth with a 58.95. London 2012 silver medalist and reigning World champion Emily Seebohm faded to seventh in 59.19, with fellow Australian swimmer Madison Wilson finishing behind her by 0.04 of a second to round out the championship field.
The medals for the competition were presented by Frankie Fredericks, Namibia, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Ben Ekumbo, Bureau Member of the FINA.

Records

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

Competition format

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

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
143Kathleen Baker58.84Q
254Emily Seebohm58.99Q
353Kylie Masse59.07Q
444Mie Nielsen59.13Q
455Katinka Hosszú59.13Q
635Olivia Smoliga59.60Q
746Georgia Davies59.86Q
834Madison Wilson59.92Q
945Fu Yuanhui1:00.02Q
1033Anastasia Fesikova1:00.04Q
1132Kirsty Coventry1:00.13Q
1252Dominique Bouchard1:00.18Q
1348Matea Samardžić1:00.46Q
1442Wang Xueer1:00.59Q
1541Duane da Rocha1:00.87Q
1637Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir1:00.89Q
1738Simona Baumrtová1:01.08
1851Kira Toussaint1:01.17
1925Claudia Lau1:01.27
2058Yekaterina Rudenko1:01.28
2124Alicja Tchórz1:01.31
2247Katarína Listopadová1:01.43
2336Daria Ustinova1:01.45
2431Mimosa Jallow1:01.58
2556Etiene Medeiros1:01.70
2657Natsumi Sakai1:01.74
2723Alexus Laird1:03.33
2822Kimiko Raheem1:04.21
2926Lara Butler1:04.98NR
3021Caylee Watson1:07.19NR
3114Gaurika Singh1:08.45
3215Evelina Afoa1:08.74
3327Talisa Lanoe1:10.02
3413Rita Zeqiri1:12.31NR

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final