# Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre individual medley

The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 26 to 28 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It will be the event's twelfth appearance, having been first held in 1968 and 1972 and then at every edition since 1984.

## Summary

Japan's home favourite Yui Ohashi pulled away from a tight field to strike a medley double for the seventh straight Olympics, having already won gold in the 400 m race. Second at the final turn behind the U.S.' Alex Walsh, Ohashi narrowly eclipsed the American to win gold in 2:08.52. While leading at the 150, Walsh faded over the closing stages to claim silver in a personal best time of 2:08.65. Walsh's teammate Kate Douglass moved through the field in the breaststroke, before charging home in the freestyle leg to take the bronze in 2:09.04. Third at the final turn, Great Britain's Abbie Wood could not hold off Douglass at the finish and settled for fourth 11 hundredths of a second back in 2:09.15.
China's Yu Yiting, the early leader after the butterfly and backstroke legs, fell of the pace to come fifth in a world junior record of 2:09.57. Canada's 2019 World Championships bronze medallist Sydney Pickrem repeated her sixth-place finish from Rio five years earlier, touching in 2:10.05. Hungary's defending champion and world record holder Katinka Hosszú was unable to replicate her sterling Rio performance and claimed a distant seventh in 2:12.78. Wood's teammate Alicia Wilson (2:12.86) rounded out the championship field.
The medals for competition were presented by Hungary's Dániel Gyurta, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Uruguay's Verónica Stanham, FINA Bureau Member.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Katinka Hosszú (HUN) | 2:06.12 | Kazan, Russia | 3 August 2015 |
| Olympic record | Katinka Hosszú (HUN) | 2:06.58 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 9 August 2016 |
No new records were set during the competition.

## Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 2:12.56. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 2:16.54. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a female swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.

## Competition format

The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

## Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
| 26 July | 19:00 | Heats |
| 27 July | 11:58 | Semifinals |
| 28 July | 11:45 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 5 | Kate Douglass | United States | 2:09.16 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:09.70 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Abbie Wood | Great Britain | 2:09.94 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Alex Walsh | United States | 2:09.94 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | Maria Ugolkova | Switzerland | 2:10.04 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | Sydney Pickrem | Canada | 2:10.13 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 6 | Anastasia Gorbenko | Israel | 2:10.21 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | Yu Yiting | China | 2:10.22 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 3 | Alicia Wilson | Great Britain | 2:10.39 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | 4 | Yui Ohashi | Japan | 2:10.77 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | Cyrielle Duhamel | France | 2:11.11 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Miho Teramura | Japan | 2:11.22 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | 2 | Ilaria Cusinato | Italy | 2:11.41 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Sara Franceschi | Italy | 2:11.47 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Kim Seo-yeong | South Korea | 2:11.54 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 8 | Kristýna Horská | Czech Republic | 2:12.21 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | 7 | Dalma Sebestyén | Hungary | 2:12.42 | |
| 18 | 2 | 6 | Bailey Andison | Canada | 2:12.52 | |
| 19 | 4 | 1 | Ellen Walshe | Ireland | 2:13.34 | |
| 20 | 3 | 8 | África Zamorano | Spain | 2:13.81 | |
| 21 | 3 | 7 | Fantine Lesaffre | France | 2:14.20 | |
| 22 | 3 | 1 | Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş | Turkey | 2:14.41 | |
| 23 | 2 | 8 | Rebecca Meder | South Africa | 2:14.79 | |
| 24 | 1 | 5 | McKenna DeBever | Peru | 2:15.86 | |
| 25 | 2 | 1 | Diana Petkova | Bulgaria | 2:16.70 | |
| 26 | 1 | 4 | Anja Crevar | Serbia | 2:17.62 | |
| 27 | 1 | 3 | Nicole Frank | Uruguay | 2:18.93 | |

### Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Kate Douglass | United States | 2:09.21 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | Abbie Wood | Great Britain | 2:09.56 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Alex Walsh | United States | 2:09.57 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 6 | Yu Yiting | China | 2:09.72 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | Yui Ohashi | Japan | 2:09.79 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | Sydney Pickrem | Canada | 2:09.94 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 4 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:10.22 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | Alicia Wilson | Great Britain | 2:10.59 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Maria Ugolkova | Switzerland | 2:10.65 | |
| 10 | 2 | 6 | Anastasia Gorbenko | Israel | 2:10.70 | |
| 11 | 2 | 7 | Cyrielle Duhamel | France | 2:10.84 | |
| 12 | 2 | 8 | Kim Seo-yeong | South Korea | 2:11.38 | |
| 13 | 1 | 1 | Sara Franceschi | Italy | 2:11.71 | |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Ilaria Cusinato | Italy | 2:12.10 | |
| 15 | 1 | 7 | Miho Teramura | Japan | 2:12.14 | |
| 16 | 1 | 8 | Kristýna Horská | Czech Republic | 2:12.85 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 2 | Yui Ohashi | Japan | 2:08.52 | |
| | 3 | Alex Walsh | United States | 2:08.65 | |
| | 4 | Kate Douglass | United States | 2:09.04 | |
| 4 | 5 | Abbie Wood | Great Britain | 2:09.15 | |
| 5 | 6 | Yu Yiting | China | 2:09.57 | WJ |
| 6 | 7 | Sydney Pickrem | Canada | 2:10.05 | |
| 7 | 1 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:12.38 | |
| 8 | 8 | Alicia Wilson | Great Britain | 2:12.86 | |