# Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

The women's 100 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30.
In the final, Betty Cuthbert clearly beat her teammate Marlene Mathews-Willard out of the blocks, with Heather Armitage and Isabelle Daniels out quickly in close contention. Christa Stubnick had a burst of acceleration to quickly draw even with Daniels as Armitage was unable to hold her speed. Cuthbert expanded upon her slight advantage to pull away to a clear win. Stubnick was able to separate slightly from Daniels with Mathews-Willard steadily gaining from the back. Mathews-Willard caught Daniels and almost nipped Stubnick, clearly the fastest moving athlete at the finish.

## Competition format

The women's 100 metres competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Shirley Strickland (AUS) | 11.3 | Warsaw, Poland | August 4, 1955 |
| Olympic record | Helen Stephens (USA) | 11.5 | Berlin, Germany | August 4, 1936 |

## Results
### Heats
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 11.8 | Q |
| 2 | Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina | Soviet Union | 11.9 | Q |
| 3 | Mae Faggs | United States | 12.2 | |
| 4 | Micheline Fluchot | France | 12.4 | |
| 5 | Janet Jesudason | Singapore | 13.2 | |
| — | Mary Rao | India | DNF | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marlene Mathews-Willard | Australia | 11.5 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Galina Rezchikova | Soviet Union | 11.8 | Q |
| 3 | Lucinda Williams | United States | 12.0 | |
| 4 | Maria Kusion-Bibro | Poland | 12.2 | |
| 5 | Maureen Rever | Canada | 12.2 | |
| 6 | Franca Peggion | Italy | 12.4 | |
| 7 | Mary Klass | Singapore | 12.6 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Betty Cuthbert | Australia | 11.4 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Isabelle Daniels | United States | 11.6 | Q |
| 3 | Anne Pashley | Great Britain | 11.7 | |
| 4 | Barbara Janiszewska | Poland | 12.2 | |
| 5 | Maria Musso | Italy | 12.2 | |
| 6 | Diane Matheson | Canada | 12.4 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Heather Armitage | Great Britain | 11.5 | Q |
| 2 | Gisela Birkemeyer | United Team of Germany | 11.7 | Q |
| 3 | Shirley Strickland | Australia | 11.7 | |
| 4 | Eleanor Haslam | Canada | 11.8 | |
| 5 | Halina Górecka | Poland | 12.2 | |
| 6 | Maeve Kyle | Ireland | 12.3 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Galina Popova | Soviet Union | 11.6 | Q |
| 2 | Catherine Capdevielle | France | 11.7 | Q |
| 3 | Inge Fuhrmann | United Team of Germany | 12.2 | |
| 4 | Annie Choong | Malaya | 12.5 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christa Stubnick | United Team of Germany | 11.7 | Q |
| 2 | June Foulds | Great Britain | 11.9 | Q |
| 3 | Margaret Stuart | New Zealand | 12.3 | |
| 4 | Elaine Winter | South Africa | 12.5 | |
| 5 | Claudette Masdammer | Guyana | 12.7 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christa Stubnick | United Team of Germany | 11.9 | Q |
| 2 | Betty Cuthbert | Australia | 12.0 | Q |
| 3 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 12.1 | Q |
| 4 | June Foulds | Great Britain | 12.1 | |
| 5 | Galina Popova | Soviet Union | 12.2 | |
| 6 | Catherine Capdevielle | France | 12.4 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marlene Mathews-Willard | Australia | 11.6 | Q |
| 2 | Heather Armitage | Great Britain | 11.6 | Q |
| 3 | Isabelle Daniels | United States | 11.7 | Q |
| 4 | Gisela Birkemeyer | United Team of Germany | 11.9 | |
| 5 | Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina | Soviet Union | 11.9 | |
| 6 | Galina Reshchikova | Soviet Union | 12.1 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| | Betty Cuthbert | Australia | 11.5 |
| | Christa Stubnick | United Team of Germany | 11.7 |
| | Marlene Mathews-Willard | Australia | 11.7 |
| 4 | Isabelle Daniels | United States | 11.8 |
| 5 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 11.9 |
| 6 | Heather Armitage | Great Britain | 12.0 |