# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 100 metre freestyle

The women's 100 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held in July 2011; the heats and the semifinals were held on 28 July and the final on 29 July.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
| | Name | Nation | Time | Location | Date |
| World record Championship record | Britta Steffen | Germany | 52.07 | Rome | 31 July 2009 |

## Results
### Heats

77 swimmers participated in 10 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Femke Heemskerk | Netherlands | 53.75 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 53.88 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | 3 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 54.10 | Q |
| 4 | 8 | 5 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 54.24 | Q |
| 5 | 10 | 3 | Camille Muffat | France | 54.35 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | 3 | Yolane Kukla | Australia | 54.37 | Q |
| 6 | 10 | 5 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 54.37 | Q |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Tang Yi | China | 54.37 | Q |
| 9 | 10 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 54.38 | Q |
| 10 | 9 | 5 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 54.47 | Q |
| 11 | 8 | 8 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 54.51 | Q NR |
| 12 | 9 | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.72 | Q |
| 13 | 8 | 2 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 54.74 | Q |
| 14 | 8 | 7 | Ida Marko-Varga | Sweden | 54.81 | Q |
| 15 | 9 | 1 | Gabriella Fagundez | Sweden | 54.81 | Q |
| 16 | 9 | 6 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 54.86 | Q |
| 17 | 10 | 2 | Veronika Popova | Russia | 54.88 | |
| 18 | 10 | 7 | Amy Smith | Great Britain | 54.93 | |
| 19 | 9 | 7 | Wang Shijia | China | 54.99 | |
| 20 | 7 | 6 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 55.06 | |
| 21 | 7 | 4 | Chantal Vanlandegem | Canada | 55.07 | |
| 22 | 10 | 1 | Pernille Blume | Denmark | 55.14 | |
| 23 | 8 | 1 | Daniela Schreiber | Germany | 55.24 | |
| 24 | 7 | 1 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 55.52 | |
| 25 | 9 | 8 | Tatiana Lemos Barbosa | Brazil | 55.55 | |
| 26 | 6 | 5 | Karin Prinsloo | South Africa | 55.57 | |
| 27 | 7 | 3 | Hannah Wilson | Hong Kong | 55.71 | |
| 28 | 7 | 5 | Natasha Hind | New Zealand | 55.72 | |
| 29 | 6 | 4 | Birgit Koschischek | Austria | 55.75 | |
| 30 | 9 | 2 | Evelyn Verrasztó | Hungary | 55.76 | |
| 31 | 6 | 3 | Sara Isakovič | Slovenia | 55.81 | |
| 32 | 7 | 8 | Nina Rangelova | Bulgaria | 55.81 | |
| 33 | 6 | 2 | Liliana Ibanez | Mexico | 56.07 | |
| 34 | 6 | 6 | Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir | Iceland | 56.28 | |
| 35 | 7 | 7 | Natsuki Hasegawa | Japan | 56.30 | |
| 36 | 7 | 2 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia | 56.42 | |
| 37 | 6 | 8 | Katarina Listopadova | Slovakia | 56.52 | |
| 38 | 5 | 5 | Natthanan Junkrajang | Thailand | 56.86 | |
| 39 | 6 | 1 | Amanda Lim | Singapore | 57.00 | |
| 40 | 6 | 7 | Katarina Filova | Slovakia | 57.06 | |
| 41 | 5 | 2 | Chinyere Pigot | Suriname | 57.34 | |
| 42 | 5 | 6 | Nicole Horn | Zimbabwe | 57.70 | |
| 43 | 5 | 3 | Megan Fonteno | American Samoa | 57.85 | |
| 44 | 5 | 4 | Jasmine Al-Khaldi | Philippines | 58.02 | |
| 45 | 4 | 5 | Karen Torrez | Bolivia | 58.05 | |
| 46 | 4 | 4 | Anna-Liza Mopio | Papua New Guinea | 58.86 | |
| 47 | 5 | 8 | Bayan Jumah | Syria | 59.22 | |
| 48 | 5 | 7 | Kiera Aitken | Bermuda | 59.39 | |
| 49 | 5 | 1 | Clelia Tini | San Marino | 59.50 | |
| 50 | 4 | 3 | Karen Schulz | Paraguay | 59.52 | |
| 51 | 4 | 2 | Christine Briedenhann | Namibia | 59.55 | |
| 52 | 4 | 6 | Jessica Vieira | Mozambique | 1:00.14 | |
| 53 | 4 | 8 | Branka Vranjes | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1:00.40 | |
| 54 | 4 | 7 | Jade Ashleigh Howard | Zambia | 1:01.24 | |
| 55 | 3 | 6 | Britany van Lange | Guyana | 1:01.39 | |
| 56 | 3 | 3 | Judith Meauri | Papua New Guinea | 1:01.54 | |
| 57 | 3 | 5 | Monica Vasilyan | Armenia | 1:01.82 | |
| 58 | 3 | 2 | Zamantha Hoss | Panama | 1:02.12 | |
| 59 | 3 | 1 | Ifiezegbe Gagbe | Nigeria | 1:02.44 | |
| 60 | 4 | 1 | Fabiola Isabel Espinoza | Nicaragua | 1:03.54 | |
| 61 | 3 | 4 | Estellah Fils Rabetsara | Madagascar | 1:03.62 | |
| 62 | 2 | 4 | Amelie Trinquier | Monaco | 1:04.08 | |
| 63 | 3 | 7 | Reshika Udugampola | Sri Lanka | 1:04.23 | |
| 64 | 2 | 3 | Magdalena Moshi | Tanzania | 1:05.39 | |
| 65 | 2 | 6 | Celeste Brown | Cook Islands | 1:05.76 | |
| 66 | 2 | 2 | Kuheilani Snow | French Polynesia | 1:05.99 | |
| 67 | 2 | 1 | Keesha Keane | Palau | 1:06.15 | |
| 68 | 3 | 8 | Mareme Faye | Senegal | 1:06.37 | |
| 69 | 2 | 8 | Debra Daniel | Micronesia | 1:06.87 | |
| 70 | 1 | 5 | Osisang Chilton | Palau | 1:07.62 | |
| 71 | 1 | 7 | Antoinette Guedia Mouafo | Cameroon | 1:09.28 | |
| 72 | 2 | 7 | Grace Kimball | Northern Mariana Islands | 1:09.70 | |
| 73 | 1 | 2 | Shreya Dhital | Nepal | 1:10.82 | |
| 74 | 1 | 4 | Katerina Izmailova | Tajikistan | 1:11.56 | |
| 75 | 1 | 3 | Sara Al Flaij | Bahrain | 1:14.86 | |
| 76 | 1 | 1 | Elsie Uwamahoro | Burundi | 1:17.70 | |
| 77 | 1 | 6 | Sihame Ayouba Ali | Comoros | 1:21.54 | |
| – | 2 | 5 | Gouri Kotecha | Tanzania | | DNS |
| – | 10 | 8 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | | DNS |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held at 18:02.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 53.48 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 53.88 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 54.05 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 54.46 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 54.82 | |
| 6 | 3 | Yolane Kukla | Australia | 54.87 | |
| 7 | 1 | Gabriella Fagundez | Sweden | 54.92 | |
| 8 | 8 | Amy Smith | Great Britain | 55.33 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Femke Heemskerk | Netherlands | 53.67 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 53.78 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 53.94 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.05 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 54.26 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Camille Muffat | France | 54.28 | |
| 7 | 1 | Ida Marko-Varga | Sweden | 54.78 | |
| 8 | 8 | Veronika Popova | Russia | 54.82 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:02.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 53.45 |
| | 8 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 53.45 |
| | 2 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 53.66 |
| 4 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 53.72 |
| 4 | 5 | Femke Heemskerk | Netherlands | 53.72 |
| 6 | 3 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 53.81 |
| 7 | 7 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 54.19 |
| 8 | 1 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.22 |