Women's 50 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Aquatics Centre. Paris La Défense Arena | ||||||||||||
Dates | 3 August 2024 (Heats and Semis) 4 August 2024 (Final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 79 from 72 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 23.71 | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics | |||
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Qualification | |||
Freestyle | |||
50 m | men | women | |
100 m | men | women | |
200 m | men | women | |
400 m | men | women | |
800 m | men | women | |
1500 m | men | women | |
Backstroke | |||
100 m | men | women | |
200 m | men | women | |
Breaststroke | |||
100 m | men | women | |
200 m | men | women | |
Butterfly | |||
100 m | men | women | |
200 m | men | women | |
Individual medley | |||
200 m | men | women | |
400 m | men | women | |
Freestyle relay | |||
4 × 100 m | men | women | |
4 × 200 m | men | women | |
Medley relay | |||
4 × 100 m | men | mixed | women |
Marathon | |||
10 km | men | women | |
The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 3 to 4 August 2024 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre at Paris La Défense Arena. [1]
Sweden's Sarah Sjöström was the favourite going into the event, and set a new Olympic record of 23.66 seconds in the semifinal to qualify as top seed. In the final, Sjöström won gold, Meg Harris won silver and Zhang Yufei won bronze, finishing ahead of Gretchen Walsh by 0.01 seconds. Slovenia's Neža Klančar set new national records in her heat, semifinal and in the final, which she qualified for despite originally being seeded 23rd.
Going into the competition, three of the top four finishers at the 2020 games were not competing. SwimSwam and Swimming World opined that Sweden's Sarah Sjöström was the favourite, with her having set the world record of 23.61 at the 2023 World Swimming Championships and owning the 27 fastest times among all swimmers potentially competing in the race. [2] [3] Four days before the event started, Sjöström had won the 100 metre freestyle. [4]
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT). [5] For this event, the OQT was 24.70 seconds. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT. [5] [6] In total, 24 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while 55 athletes qualified through universality places. [6]
10 heats took place on 3 August 2024, starting at 11:00. [a] The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. [7] Sarah Sjöström clocked 23.85 seconds, qualifying with the fastest seed and only swim under 24 seconds. Katarzyna Wasick and Gretchen Walsh qualified with the second and third seeds respectively. Simone Manuel from the United States did not qualify for the semifinals. [8] Kenya's Maria Brunlehner and Slovenia's Neža Klančar set national records of 25.82 and 24.64 seconds respectively. [9] [10]
Two semifinals took place on 3 August, starting at 20:39. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. [12] Sjöström qualified for the finals with a time of 23.66 seconds, which broke the Olympic record by 0.15 seconds. [13] [14] Walsh qualified with the second seed, and Wasick qualified with the third. Australia's two swimmers Shayna Jack and Meg Harris qualified, as did China's two swimmers Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng. [15] Klančar qualified in seventh despite being initially seeded 23rd, [16] setting another new national record of 24.40 seconds and becoming the first Slovenian Olympic finalist since Sara Isakovič in 2008. [17] [10]
Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
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1 | 2 | 4 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 23.66 | Q, OR |
2 | 2 | 5 | Gretchen Walsh | United States | 24.17 | Q |
3 | 1 | 4 | Katarzyna Wasick | Poland | 24.23 | Q |
4 | 1 | 3 | Zhang Yufei | China | 24.24 | Q |
5 | 1 | 5 | Shayna Jack | Australia | 24.29 | Q |
6 | 2 | 3 | Meg Harris | Australia | 24.33 | Q |
7 | 1 | 6 | Wu Qingfeng | China | 24.40 | Q |
1 | 7 | Neža Klančar | Slovenia | Q, NR | ||
9 | 2 | 6 | Michelle Coleman | Sweden | 24.47 | |
10 | 2 | 8 | Anna Hopkin | Great Britain | 24.50 | |
11 | 1 | 2 | Beryl Gastaldello | France | 24.66 | |
12 | 1 | 8 | Valerie van Roon | Netherlands | 24.67 | |
13 | 2 | 2 | Taylor Ruck | Canada | 24.72 | |
14 | 2 | 1 | Sara Curtis | Italy | 24.77 | |
15 | 1 | 1 | Florine Gaspard | Belgium | 24.82 | |
16 | 2 | 7 | Julie Kepp Jensen | Denmark | 24.98 |
The final took place at 18:30 on 4 August. [19] Sarah Sjöström had the fastest reaction time of 0.61 seconds, but stated after the race that she dove too deep and resurfaced at around 12 metres. Gretchen Walsh had the slowest reaction time of 0.75 seconds, but her longer 15 metre underwater meant that she surfaced in first place, 0.12 seconds ahead of Sjöström and 0.30 seconds ahead of Zhang Yufei in third. [20]
Walsh held her lead until 25 metres, where she was overtaken by Sjöström, who extended her lead over most of the field until the finish. At 25 metres, Shayna Jack had overtaken Yufei, placing her in third position, while Meg Harris had the fastest split over the 15–25 metre segment which elevated her to fourth. [20]
At the 45 metre mark, Sjöström was 0.34 seconds ahead of the field. Harris had further elevated herself to second place and pushed Walsh to third, with Jack having dropped to seventh. [20] Sjöström and Harris retained these positions over the last five metres, finishing in first and second respectively. [21] Yufei was 0.06 seconds behind Walsh at the 45 metre mark, but overtook her in the last five metres to take third by 0.01 seconds. [20] Klančar set another Slovenian national record of 24.35 seconds. [10]
Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 23.71 | ||
7 | Meg Harris | Australia | 23.97 | ||
6 | Zhang Yufei | China | 24.20 | ||
4 | 5 | Gretchen Walsh | United States | 24.21 | |
5 | 3 | Katarzyna Wasick | Poland | 24.33 | |
6 | 8 | Neža Klančar | Slovenia | 24.35 | NR |
7 | 1 | Wu Qingfeng | China | 24.37 | |
8 | 2 | Shayna Jack | Australia | 24.39 |
Name | Underwater distance (m) | Underwater speed (m/s) | 15 metre split (s) | 25 metre split (s) | Time (s) | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
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Sarah Sjöström | 12.35 | 3.10 | 6.00 | 10.98 | 23.71 | 61.8 |
Meg Harris | 11.22 | 2.99 | 6.27 | 11.20 | 23.97 | 61.9 |
Zhang Yufei | 13.01 | 2.93 | 6.18 | 11.20 | 24.20 | 63.2 |
Gretchen Walsh | 15.47 | 3.02 | 5.88 | 10.98 | 24.21 | 53.8 |
Katarzyna Wasick | 9.47 | 3.21 | 6.21 | 11.20 | 24.33 | 60.8 |
Neža Klančar | 15.28 | 2.79 | 6.25 | 11.28 | 24.35 | 55.6 |
Wu Qingfeng | 10.74 | 3.07 | 6.31 | 11.32 | 24.37 | 58.6 |
Shayna Jack | 10.61 | 3.08 | 6.19 | 11.14 | 24.39 | 60.4 |
Sarah Fredrika Sjöström is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events and one of the most decorated swimmers of all time.
Mélanie Henique is a French competitive swimmer. She won a bronze medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the 2011 World Championships and a silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
Bronte Campbell is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer. A four time Olympian, Campbell is a triple Olympic gold medallist and a former World Champion in the 50 and 100 m freestyle, having won both titles in 2015.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Pernille Blume is a Danish former swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle events. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she was the gold medalist in the women's 50 metre freestyle and won a bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay where she swam the freestyle leg of the relay in both the prelims and the final. She also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle.
Florent Manaudou is a French competitive swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He competes for the Energy Standard Swim Club in the International Swimming League.
Emma Jennifer McKeon, is a retired Australian competitive swimmer. She is an eight-time world record holder, three current and five former, in relays. Her total career haul of 14 Olympic medals following the 2024 Olympic Games made her the most decorated Australian, the third-most decorated swimmer, and the seventh-most decorated athlete in Olympic history and included one gold medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, four gold medals from the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and one gold medal from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. With four gold and three bronze medals she was the most decorated athlete across all sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and tied for the most medals won by a woman in a single Olympic Games. She also won 20 medals, including five gold medals, at the World Aquatics Championships; and a record 20 medals, including 14 gold, at the Commonwealth Games.
Zhang Yufei is a Chinese competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. Considered one of the most promising swimming in the international scene, she produced a tally of forty-three medals in her swimming career, spanning the Youth Olympics, Asian Games, World Championships and the Summer Olympics. She currently holds the record for most Olympic medals for a Chinese athlete. In 2023, she was named as the most valuable player in the women's division, in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Short Course Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, and 100 meter individual medley.
Siobhán Bernadette Haughey is a Hong Kong-Irish competitive swimmer. She became the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal and the first Hong Kong athlete to win two Olympic medals in any sport, after winning silver in the women's 200-metre freestyle and women's 100-metre freestyle during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. She later became the only Hong Kong athlete to win four Olympic medals after winning bronze in the women's 200-metre freestyle and the women's 100-metre freestyle at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. She also won the first swimming gold for Hong Kong in 2022 Asian Games, and became the most decorated Hong Kong athlete of all time in one single edition of Asian Games with two golds, one silver, and three bronzes.
The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 1 to 2 August 2024 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre at Paris La Défense Arena.
The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 30 and 31 July 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 30 and 31 July 2024 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre at Paris La Défense Arena.
The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 28 and 29 July 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 28 and 29 July 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre. This will be the fifteenth running of the event since the first in 1968.
The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 29 to 30 July 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 2 to 3 August 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 27 to 28 July 2024 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre at Paris La Défense Arena.
The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 30 to 31 July 2024 at the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 31 July to 1 August 2024 at the Olympic Aquatics Centre at Paris La Défense Arena.