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

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Women's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue Olympic Aquatics Stadium
Dates7 August 2016
Competitors32 from 25 nations
Winning time3:56.46 WR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Jazmin Carlin Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Bronze medal icon.svg Leah Smith Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  2012
2020  

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 7 August, at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. [1]

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. [2] [3] 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. [4] Meanwhile, Smith faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze with a 4:01.92. [5] [6]

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 (4:05.30) and Jessica Ashwood (4:05.68) 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. [5]

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. [7] [8]

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.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Katie Ledecky  (USA)3:58.37 Gold Coast, Australia 23 August 2014 [9]
Olympic recordFlag of France.svg  Camille Muffat  (FRA)4:01.45 London, Great Britain 29 July 2012 [10]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundNameNationTimeRecord
7 AugustHeat 4 Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:58.71 OR
7 AugustFinal Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:56.46 WR , OR

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. [1]

Results

Heats

The heats began 2:28 pm. [11]

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144 Katie Ledecky  Flag of the United States.svg  United States  3:58.71Q, OR
233 Jazmin Carlin  Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain  4:02.83Q
334 Leah Smith  Flag of the United States.svg  United States  4:03.39Q
446 Coralie Balmy  Flag of France.svg  France  4:03.40Q
536 Brittany MacLean  Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada  4:03.43Q, NR
635 Jessica Ashwood  Flag of Australia.svg  Australia  4:03.58Q
743 Boglárka Kapás  Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary  4:04.11Q
841 Tamsin Cook  Flag of Australia.svg  Australia  4:04.36Q
925 Zhang Yuhan  Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China  4:06.30
1024 Sarah Köhler  Flag of Germany.svg  Germany  4:06.55
1123 Lotte Friis  Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark  4:07.13
1214 Chihiro Igarashi  Flag of Japan.svg  Japan  4:07.52
1313 Joanna Evans  Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas  4:07.60 NR
1442 Lauren Boyle  Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand  4:07.90
1532 Mireia Belmonte García  Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  4:08.12
1626 Andreina Pinto  Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela  4:08.34
1738 Melania Costa Schmid  Flag of Spain.svg  Spain  4:08.96
1848 Anja Klinar  Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia  4:09.07
1945 Sharon van Rouwendaal  Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  4:11.44
2028 Arina Openysheva  Flag of Russia.svg  Russia  4:11.83
2122 Ajna Késely  Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary  4:12.40
2231 Alice Mizzau  Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  4:14.20
2316 Katarina Simonović  Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia  4:15.57
2412 Kristel Köbrich  Flag of Chile.svg  Chile  4:16.07
2527 Emily Overholt  Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada  4:16.24
2621 Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên  Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam  4:16.32
2747 Diletta Carli  Flag of Italy.svg  Italy  4:17.15
2837 Cao Yue  Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China  4:19.57
2915 Valerie Gruest  Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala  4:19.58
3017 Lani Cabrera  Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados  4:28.95
3118 Gabriella Doueihy  Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon  4:31.21
3211 Rebeca Quinteros  Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador  4:52.11

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:56.46 WR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Jazmin Carlin Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 4:01.23
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Leah Smith Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:01.92
41 Boglárka Kapás Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 4:02.37 NR
52 Brittany MacLean Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 4:04.69
68 Tamsin Cook Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:05.30
77 Jessica Ashwood Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:05.68
86 Coralie Balmy Flag of France.svg  France 4:06.98

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References

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