# Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 28 and 29 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each competitor had to swim four lengths of the pool.
Australia's defending Olympic champion and world record holder Ariarne Titmus and fellow Australian Mollie O'Callaghan were the favourites for the event. Other contenders included Hong Kong's Siobhán Haughey and China's Yang Junxuan. All four progressed through the heats and semifinals to the final.
In the final, Haughey led to the 150 metre mark, but on the final length she was overtaken by Titmus and O'Callaghan. O'Callaghan won with a new Olympic record of 1:53.27, Titmus finished second with 1:53.81 and Haughey finished third with 1:54.55.

## Background

Australia's Ariarne Titmus was the defending Olympic champion in the event, while fellow Australian Mollie O'Callaghan won it at the 2023 World Championships. At the 2024 Australian Olympic Trials, Titmus qualified with a new world record of 1:52.23. In the same race, O'Callaghan finished second with the second fastest qualifying time of 1:52:48, which would also have been a new world record if Titmus hadn't have swum faster. Hong Kong's 2024 World Champion Siobhán Haughey had the third fastest qualifying time of 1:53.96, while China's 2022 World Champion Yang Junxuan held the fourth fastest qualifying time of 1:54.37.
SwimSwam predicted Titmus would win and O'Callaghan would take second, while Swimming World predicted it would be the other way around. Both predicted Haughey would take third.

## Qualification

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). For this event, the OQT was 1:57.26. 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. Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 1:57.85 for this event. In total, 16 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, 14 athletes qualified through universality places and one athlete qualified through achieving the OCT.
Top 10 fastest qualification times :
| Swimmer | Country | Time | Competition |
| Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 01:52:23 | 2024 Australian Olympic Trials |
| Mollie O'Callaghan | Australia | 01:52:48 | 2024 Australian Olympic Trials |
| Siobhán Haughey | Hong Kong | 01:53:96 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Yang Junxuan | China | 01:54:37 | 2024 Chinese Championships |
| Barbora Seemanová | Czech Republic | 01:55:12 | 2024 AP Race London International |
| Claire Weinstein | United States | 01:55:26 | 2023 United States National Championships |
| Mary-Sophie Harvey | Canada | 01:55:44 | 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials |
| Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 01:55:45 | 2024 New Zealand Championships |
| Li Bingjie | China | 01:55:73 | 2024 Chinese Championships |
| Erin Gemmell | United States | 01:55:97 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |

## Heats

Four heats took place on 28 July 2024, starting at 12:00. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. O'Callaghan qualified with the fastest time of 1:55.79, while Titmus, Haughey and Junxuan also all qualified.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | Mollie O'Callaghan | Australia | 1:55.79 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | Mary-Sophie Harvey | Canada | 1:56.21 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 1:56.23 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 3 | Li Bingjie | China | 1:56.28 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | Siobhán Haughey | Hong Kong | 1:56.38 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 5 | Claire Weinstein | United States | 1:56.48 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 1:56.54 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 6 | Maria Fernanda Costa | Brazil | 1:56.65 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 5 | Yang Junxuan | China | 1:56.83 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | 5 | Barbora Seemanová | Czech Republic | 1:57.02 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 6 | Erin Gemmell | United States | 1:57.23 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | 2 | Valentine Dumont | Belgium | 1:57.50 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | 2 | Lilla Minna Ábrahám | Hungary | 1:57.77 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Aimee Canny | South Africa | 1:57.81 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | 7 | Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir | Iceland | 1:58.32 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 1 | Rebecca Diaconescu | Romania | 1:59.29 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 7 | Julia Mrozinski | Germany | 1:59.87 | |
| 18 | 2 | 1 | Enkhkhuslen Batbayar | Mongolia | 1:59.94 | |
| 19 | 2 | 7 | Lea Polonsky | Israel | 2:00.38 | |
| 20 | 3 | 1 | María Yegres | Venezuela | 2:00.66 | |
| 21 | 4 | 8 | Andrea Becali | Cuba | 2:03.38 | |
| 22 | 3 | 8 | Julimar Ávila | Honduras | 2:04.88 | |
| 23 | 1 | 4 | Dhinidhi Desinghu | India | 2:06.96 | |
| 24 | 2 | 8 | Lojine Abdalla Salah | Egypt | 2:07.19 | |
| 25 | 1 | 5 | Ariana Southa Dirkzwager | Laos | 2:07.22 | |
| 26 | 1 | 3 | Jehanara Nabi | Pakistan | 2:10.69 | |
| 27 | 1 | 6 | Kaltra Meca | Albania | 2:12.21 | |
| 28 | 1 | 7 | Maha Alshehhi | United Arab Emirates | 2:17.17 | |
| 29 | 1 | 1 | Mashael Meshari A Alayed | Saudi Arabia | 2:19.61 | |
| 30 | 1 | 2 | Duana Lama | Nepal | 2:20.74 | |
| | 3 | 6 | Nikolett Pádár | Hungary | DSQ | |

## Semifinals

Two semifinals took place on 28 July, starting at 21:50. The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final. The USA's Claire Weinstein won the first semifinal with the third fastest qualifying time of 1:55.24, while Titmus won the second semifinal with the fastest qualifying time of 1:54.64. O'Callaghan, Haughey, Junxuan, Barbora Seemanová of the Czech Republic, Erika Fairweather of New Zealand and Canada's Mary-Sophie Harvey also qualified.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 5 | Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 1:54.64 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Mollie O'Callaghan | Australia | 1:54.70 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | Claire Weinstein | United States | 1:55.24 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 3 | Siobhán Haughey | Hong Kong | 1:55.51 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | Yang Junxuan | China | 1:55.90 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | Barbora Seemanová | Czech Republic | 1:56.06 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 6 | Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 1:56.31 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | Mary-Sophie Harvey | Canada | 1:56.37 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 7 | Erin Gemmell | United States | 1:56.46 | |
| 10 | 1 | 5 | Li Bingjie | China | 1:56.56 | |
| 11 | 1 | 6 | Maria Fernanda Costa | Brazil | 1:56.89 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | Aimee Canny | South Africa | 1:57.34 | |
| 13 | 1 | 7 | Valentine Dumont | Belgium | 1:57.50 | |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Lilla Minna Ábrahám | Hungary | 1:57.78 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir | Iceland | 1:58.78 | |
| 16 | 1 | 8 | Rebecca Diaconescu | Romania | 1:59.58 | |

### Final

The final took place at 21:53 on 29 July. Haughey led the race up the 150 metre mark, but on the final length she was overtaken by O'Callaghan and Titmus. During the underwater of the final length, O'Callaghan also overtook Titmus to win gold with a new Olympic record of 1:53.27. Titmus won silver with 1:53.81 and Haughey won bronze with 1:54.55.
Results :
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Mollie O'Callaghan | Australia | 1:53.27 | OR |
| | 4 | Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 1:53.81 | |
| | 6 | Siobhán Haughey | Hong Kong | 1:54.55 | |
| 4 | 8 | Mary-Sophie Harvey | Canada | 1:55.29 | |
| 5 | 2 | Yang Junxuan | China | 1:55.38 | |
| 6 | 7 | Barbora Seemanová | Czech Republic | 1:55.47 | |
| 7 | 1 | Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 1:55.59 | |
| 8 | 3 | Claire Weinstein | United States | 1:56.60 | |
Statistics :
| Name | 50 metre split | 100 metre split | 150 metre split | Time | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
| Mollie O'Callaghan | 00:27.01 | 00:56.07 | 01:25.29 | 1:53.27 | 41.8 |
| Ariarne Titmus | 00:27.00 | 00:55.88 | 01:25.17 | 1:53.81 | 46.9 |
| Siobhán Haughey | 00:26.72 | 00:55.70 | 01:24.97 | 1:54.55 | 45.4 |
| Mary-Sophie Harvey | 00:27.49 | 00:56.64 | 01:26.05 | 1:55.29 | 44.6 |
| Yang Junxuan | 00:26.87 | 00:56.05 | 01:25.88 | 1:55.38 | 46.0 |
| Barbora Seemanová | 00:26.88 | 00:55.97 | 01:25.73 | 1:55.47 | 43.7 |
| Erika Fairweather | 00:27.24 | 00:56.66 | 01:26.31 | 1:55.59 | 45.2 |
| Claire Weinstein | 00:27.42 | 00:56.74 | 01:26.45 | 1:56.60 | 43.7 |