Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle


The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 7 August, at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Summary

U.S. distance ace Katie Ledecky put together a powerful attack on her existing world record to become the first Olympic champion in the event for the Americans, since Brooke Bennett topped the podium in 2000. Leading from the start, Ledecky quickly dropped two seconds under a world-record pace, as she pulled away further from the field to smash her own record with a gold-medal time in 3:56.46. Trailing the leader by almost five seconds, Great Britain's distance-freestyle swimmer Jazmin Carlin fought off a tight battle against Ledecky's teammate Leah Smith on the final lap for the silver in 4:01.23. Meanwhile, Smith faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze with a 4:01.92.
Boglárka Kapás missed the podium in fourth with a Hungarian record of 4:02.37 from the outside lane, while Canada's Brittany MacLean posted a fifth-place time in 4:04.69. Australian duo Tamsin Cook and Jessica Ashwood kept a close race to take the sixth and seventh spots respectively, separated by a 0.4-second margin. France's three-time Olympian Coralie Balmy rounded out the top eight with a 4:06.98.
Earlier in the prelims, Ledecky opened her first individual race of the Games with a new Olympic record of 3:58.71 to immediately lock the top seed for the final, clearing a four-minute barrier at the Games for the first time, and slashing 2.74 seconds off the mark set in London 2012 by reigning champion Camille Muffat of France, who was killed on a helicopter crash in March 2015.
The medals for the competition were presented by Nita Ambani, India, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Dr. Margo Mountjoy, Bureau Member of the FINA.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
DateRoundNameNationTimeRecord
7 AugustHeat 4Katie Ledecky3:58.71
7 AugustFinalKatie Ledecky3:56.46,

Competition format

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

Results

Heats

The heats began 2:28 pm.
RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144Katie Ledecky 3:58.71Q,
233Jazmin Carlin 4:02.83Q
334Leah Smith 4:03.39Q
446Coralie Balmy 4:03.40Q
536Brittany MacLean 4:03.43Q, NR
635Jessica Ashwood 4:03.58Q
743Boglárka Kapás 4:04.11Q
841Tamsin Cook 4:04.36Q
925Zhang Yuhan 4:06.30
1024Sarah Köhler 4:06.55
1123Lotte Friis 4:07.13
1214Chihiro Igarashi 4:07.52
1313Joanna Evans 4:07.60NR
1442Lauren Boyle 4:07.90
1532Mireia Belmonte García 4:08.12
1626Andreina Pinto 4:08.34
1738Melania Costa Schmid 4:08.96
1848Anja Klinar 4:09.07
1945Sharon van Rouwendaal 4:11.44
2028Arina Openysheva 4:11.83
2122Ajna Késely 4:12.40
2231Alice Mizzau 4:14.20
2316Katarina Simonović 4:15.57
2412Kristel Köbrich 4:16.07
2527Emily Overholt 4:16.24
2621Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên 4:16.32
2747Diletta Carli 4:17.15
2837Cao Yue 4:19.57
2915Valerie Gruest 4:19.58
3017Lani Cabrera 4:28.95
3118Gabriella Doueihy 4:31.21
3211Rebeca Quinteros 4:52.11

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
4Katie Ledecky3:56.46
5Jazmin Carlin4:01.23
3Leah Smith4:01.92
41Boglárka Kapás4:02.37NR
52Brittany MacLean4:04.69
68Tamsin Cook4:05.30
77Jessica Ashwood4:05.68
86Coralie Balmy4:06.98