The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 27 to 28 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[1] Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
Going into the competition, Gretchen Walsh of the USA was the favourite, having set the event's world record at the Olympic Trials. Also among the favourites were China's Zhang Yufei and USA's Torri Huske, while Canada's Maggie Mac Neil was the defending champion. In the semifinals, Walsh set a new Olympic record, but in the finals Huske won by 0.04 seconds after coming back from over half a second behind over the last 35 metres. Walsh finished second and Yufei finished third. Swimming World called Huske's win a "stunning victory", and it was the first time the USA had won gold and silver in the event since 1984.
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).[4] For this event, the OQT was 57.92 seconds. World Aquatics then considered 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.[4][5] Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 58.21 for this event.[4] In total, 40 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, 35 athletes qualified through universality places and two athletes qualified through achieving the OCT.[5]
Four heats took place on 27 July 2024, starting at 11:00.[a][6] The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals.[7] Yufei qualified fastest, swimming 56.50 seconds,[8] while Barbora Seemanová lowered her national record for the Czech Republic by swimming 57.50—0.25 faster than her previous national record from the year prior.[9]
Two semifinals took place on 27 July, starting at 20:30.[10] The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final.[11] Walsh qualified with an Olympic Record of 55.38 seconds,[12] which broke Sarah Sjöström's record from 2016 by 0.10. Huske qualified in second, and Yufei in third.[13]Roos Vanotterdijk broke the Belgian national record, by swimming 57.25 seconds. This was 0.22 seconds faster than her previous national record set the month prior but was not enough to qualify.[14]
The final took place at 20:40 on 28 July.[15]Torri Huske started with the fastest reaction time of 0.63 seconds, but by 15 metres Gretchen Walsh had taken first place with a faster dive and underwater.[16][17] By 25 metres, Zhang Yufei had taken the lead, but by 45 metres Walsh was back in front. At 65 metres (after the second turn and underwater) Walsh was over half a second ahead, having swum a 8.10 50–65 metre split, which was 0.5 seconds faster than anyone else in the race. Over the last 35 metres, Huske came from 0.69 behind to win by 0.04 seconds, pushing Walsh to second and Yufei to third.[16] Matt Nelson, a journalist reporting on olympics.com, called the win a "stunning victory",[18] while David Rieder of Swimming World said "it was a result three years in the making."[19] It was the first time the USA had won gold and silver in the event since 1984, and it was Walsh's first Olympic medal.[20]
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