# Swimming at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships took place May 26 and 27. The heats and semifinals took place on May 26, the final on May 27.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world, European and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record and European record | Britta Steffen | Germany | 23.73 | Rome | August 2, 2009 |
| Championship record | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.09 | Eindhoven | March 24, 2008 |

## Results
### Heats

59 swimmers participated in 8 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.66 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Hinkelien Schreuder | Netherlands | 24.92 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | 8 | Anna Dowgiert | Poland | 25.23 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 2 | Aleksandra Urbanczyk | Poland | 25.30 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 3 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 25.33 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | Daniela Schreiber | Germany | 25.35 | Q |
| 7 | 8 | 5 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.38 | Q |
| 8 | 8 | 3 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.41 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 4 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 25.42 | |
| 10 | 7 | 6 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 25.43 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 6 | 5 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.46 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 1 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 25.46 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | 3 | Eszter Dara | Hungary | 25.56 | Q |
| 14 | 7 | 3 | Anna Santamans | France | 25.60 | Q |
| 15 | 8 | 7 | Nathalie Lindborg | Sweden | 25.60 | Q |
| 16 | 8 | 6 | Burcu Dolunay | Turkey | 25.63 | Q |
| 17 | 7 | 2 | Jane Trepp | Estonia | 25.64 | Q |
| 18 | 5 | 6 | Erika Ferraioli | Italy | 25.66 | |
| 19 | 6 | 2 | Yuliya Khitraya | Belarus | 25.68 | |
| 20 | 6 | 8 | Henriette Brekke | Norway | 25.70 | NR |
| 21 | 8 | 8 | Miroslava Syllabová | Slovakia | 25.70 | |
| 22 | 8 | 1 | Lisa Vitting | Germany | 27.73 | |
| 23 | 7 | 5 | Darya Stepanyuk | Ukraine | 25.80 | |
| 24 | 7 | 1 | Nadiya Koba | Ukraine | 25.86 | |
| 25 | 8 | 2 | Jolien Sysmans | Belgium | 25.87 | |
| 26 | 4 | 2 | Nastja Govejšek | Slovenia | 25.88 | NR |
| 27 | 5 | 4 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia | 25.90 | |
| 28 | 4 | 1 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 25.95 | |
| 29 | 5 | 3 | Erica Buratto | Italy | 25.98 | |
| 30 | 5 | 5 | Laura Kurki | Finland | 25.98 | |
| 31 | 6 | 7 | Birgit Koschischek | Austria | 26.10 | |
| 32 | 7 | 7 | Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir | Iceland | 26.14 | |
| 33 | 5 | 8 | Aksana Dziamidava | Belarus | 26.15 | |
| 34 | 5 | 7 | Cecilie Johannessen | Norway | 26.16 | |
| 35 | 4 | 7 | Eva Hannesdóttir | Iceland | 26.22 | |
| 36 | 4 | 6 | Lotta Nevalainen | Finland | 26.24 | |
| 37 | 4 | 4 | Kristel Vourna | Greece | 26.28 | |
| 38 | 4 | 5 | Justine Bruno | France | 26.29 | |
| 39 | 2 | 7 | Katarína Milly | Slovakia | 26.36 | |
| 40 | 5 | 1 | Louise Hansson | Sweden | 26.37 | |
| 41 | 3 | 4 | Gabriela Ņikitina | Latvia | 26.40 | |
| 42 | 4 | 8 | Aneta Pechancova | Czech Republic | 26.50 | |
| 43 | 3 | 2 | Susann Bjørnsen | Norway | 26.56 | |
| 44 | 3 | 7 | Fanni Pataki | Hungary | 26.64 | |
| 45 | 2 | 5 | Katarína Filová | Slovakia | 26.69 | |
| 46 | 3 | 1 | Eva Chavez-Diaz | Austria | 26.76 | |
| 47 | 3 | 6 | Monica Johannessen | Norway | 26.76 | |
| 48 | 3 | 5 | Sandra Kazíková | Czech Republic | 26.86 | |
| 49 | 2 | 4 | Linda Laihorinne | Finland | 26.88 | |
| 50 | 2 | 2 | Clelia Tini | San Marino | 26.94 | |
| 51 | 2 | 8 | Klara Vaclavikova | Czech Republic | 27.05 | |
| 52 | 2 | 3 | Katarzyna Gorniak | Poland | 27.07 | |
| 53 | 3 | 8 | Ivana Gabrilo | Switzerland | 27.08 | |
| 54 | 4 | 3 | Ingibjørg Kristin Jonsdóttir | Iceland | 27.10 | |
| 55 | 2 | 6 | Hazal Sarikaya | Turkey | 27.11 | |
| 56 | 1 | 5 | Gudrun Mortensen | Faroe Islands | 27.23 | NR |
| 57 | 2 | 1 | Anastasia Bogdanovski | Macedonia | 27.27 | |
| 58 | 1 | 3 | Tatiana Perstniova | Moldova | 27.29 | |
| 59 | 1 | 4 | Birita Debes | Faroe Islands | 27.94 | |

### Semifinals

The eight fastest swimmers advanced to the final.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Hinkelien Schreuder | Netherlands | 24.81 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.12 | Q, =NR |
| 3 | 2 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.21 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 3 | Daniela Schreiber | Germany | 25.38 | |
| 5 | 5 | Aleksandra Urbanczyk | Poland | 25.44 | |
| 6 | 8 | Jane Trepp | Estonia | 25.47 | |
| 7 | 7 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 25.52 | |
| 8 | 1 | Nathalie Lindborg | Sweden | 25.53 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.56 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 25.09 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 1 | Anna Santamans | France | 25.20 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.26 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 25.38 | NR |
| 5 | 5 | Anna Dowgiert | Poland | 25.38 | |
| 7 | 7 | Eszter Dara | Hungary | 25.41 | |
| 8 | 8 | Burcu Dolunay | Turkey | 26.02 | |

#### Swim-off

A swim-off was needed to determine the last participant in the final.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 25.24 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | Daniela Schreiber | Germany | 25.46 | |
| 3 | 3 | Anna Dowgiert | Poland | 25.54 | |

### Final

The final was held at 17:02.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.37 | |
| | 5 | Hinkelien Schreuder | Netherlands | 24.78 | |
| | 3 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 24.93 | NR |
| 4 | 6 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.01 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.05 | |
| 6 | 1 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.12 | |
| 7 | 2 | Anna Santamans | France | 25.26 | |
| 8 | 8 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 25.38 | |