# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 30 with the heats and the semifinals and July 31 with the final.

## 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 | 23.73 | Rome | August 2, 2009 |

## Results
### Heats

87 swimmers participated in 12 heats.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 11 | 4 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.82 | Q |
| 1 | 11 | 5 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 24.82 | Q |
| 3 | 12 | 5 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 24.85 | Q |
| 4 | 10 | 5 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 24.86 | Q |
| 5 | 10 | 4 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 25.01 | Q |
| 6 | 12 | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 25.03 | Q |
| 7 | 11 | 8 | Chantal van Landeghem | Canada | 25.05 | Q |
| 7 | 12 | 3 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 25.05 | Q |
| 9 | 10 | 3 | Amanda Weir | United States | 25.11 | Q |
| 9 | 12 | 6 | Yolane Kukla | Australia | 25.11 | Q |
| 11 | 10 | 8 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.13 | Q |
| 12 | 10 | 6 | Olivia Halicek | Australia | 25.18 | Q |
| 13 | 12 | 2 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 25.23 | Q |
| 14 | 11 | 6 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 25.24 | Q |
| 15 | 9 | 3 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 25.28 | Q, NR |
| 16 | 10 | 7 | Yayoi Matsumoto | Japan | 25.34 | Q |
| 17 | 12 | 7 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.41 | |
| 18 | 12 | 8 | Flávia Delaroli | Brazil | 25.47 | |
| 19 | 9 | 5 | Darya Stepanyuk | Ukraine | 25.50 | |
| 20 | 12 | 1 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.54 | |
| 21 | 9 | 8 | Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir | Iceland | 25.57 | |
| 21 | 11 | 1 | Zhu Qianwei | China | 25.57 | |
| 23 | 9 | 6 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 25.79 | |
| 24 | 9 | 7 | Hannah Wilson | Hong Kong | 25.82 | |
| 25 | 10 | 2 | Karin Prinsloo | South Africa | 25.89 | |
| 25 | 10 | 1 | Svetlana Fedulova | Russia | 25.89 | |
| 27 | 8 | 6 | Burcu Dolunay | Turkey | 26.01 | NR |
| 28 | 8 | 5 | Liliana Ibáñez | Mexico | 26.04 | |
| 29 | 9 | 2 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia | 26.09 | |
| 30 | 9 | 1 | Amanda Lim | Singapore | 26.12 | |
| 31 | 8 | 4 | Cecilie Johannessen | Norway | 26.14 | |
| 32 | 8 | 2 | Chinyere Pigot | Suriname | 26.19 | |
| 33 | 8 | 7 | Gabriela Ņikitina | Latvia | 26.20 | NR |
| 34 | 8 | 3 | Lai Kwan Chui | Malaysia | 26.22 | |
| 35 | 8 | 8 | Megan Fonteno | American Samoa | 26.46 | |
| 36 | 8 | 1 | Katarina Filova | Slovakia | 26.83 | |
| 37 | 7 | 6 | Anna-Liza Mopio | Papua New Guinea | 26.91 | |
| 38 | 7 | 3 | Nicole Horn | Zimbabwe | 27.01 | |
| 39 | 6 | 5 | Karen Torrez | Bolivia | 27.08 | |
| 40 | 7 | 7 | Jessica Vieira | Mozambique | 27.11 | |
| 41 | 7 | 4 | Clelia Tini | San Marino | 27.15 | |
| 42 | 7 | 2 | Cherelle Thompson | Trinidad and Tobago | 27.21 | |
| 43 | 7 | 8 | Kiera Aitken | Bermuda | 27.38 | |
| 44 | 7 | 1 | Christine Briedenhann | Namibia | 27.46 | |
| 45 | 7 | 5 | Nicola Muscat | Malta | 27.56 | |
| 46 | 6 | 3 | Talita Baqlah | Jordan | 27.71 | |
| 47 | 6 | 4 | Karen Schulz | Paraguay | 27.76 | |
| 48 | 6 | 6 | Fabiola Isabel Espinoza | Nicaragua | 28.18 | |
| 49 | 5 | 5 | Zamantha Hoss | Panama | 28.19 | |
| 50 | 9 | 4 | Sylvia Brunlehner | Kenya | 28.20 | |
| 51 | 6 | 7 | Jamila Lunkuse | Uganda | 28.34 | |
| 52 | 5 | 4 | Ifiezegbe Gagbe | Nigeria | 28.35 | |
| 53 | 5 | 7 | Ann-Marie Hepler | Marshall Islands | 28.43 | |
| 54 | 6 | 8 | Monica Vasilyan | Armenia | 28.51 | |
| 55 | 6 | 1 | Pilar Shimizu | Guam | 28.71 | |
| 56 | 5 | 3 | Hazboun Sabine | Palestine | 29.16 | |
| 57 | 5 | 8 | Keesha Keane | Palau | 29.33 | |
| 58 | 5 | 6 | Celeste Brown | Cook Islands | 29.59 | |
| 59 | 6 | 2 | Siona Huxley | Saint Lucia | 29.79 | |
| 60 | 5 | 1 | Amelie Trinquier | Monaco | 29.94 | |
| 61 | 5 | 2 | Magdalena Moshi | Tanzania | 30.01 | |
| 62 | 4 | 2 | Deandra van der Colff | Botswana | 30.60 | |
| 63 | 3 | 2 | Mariana Henriques | Angola | 30.83 | |
| 64 | 3 | 6 | Antoinette Guedia Mouafo | Cameroon | 30.84 | |
| 65 | 4 | 3 | Grace Kimball | Northern Mariana Islands | 30.94 | |
| 66 | 4 | 7 | Osisang Chilton | Palau | 31.07 | |
| 67 | 4 | 5 | Katerina Izmaylova | Tajikistan | 31.38 | |
| 68 | 3 | 3 | Alphonsine Agahozo | Rwanda | 31.41 | |
| 68 | 4 | 1 | Karin O'Reilly Clashing | Antigua and Barbuda | 31.41 | |
| 70 | 4 | 6 | Vitiny Hemthon | Cambodia | 31.45 | |
| 71 | 4 | 8 | Faleumata Samassekou | Mali | 32.40 | |
| 72 | 3 | 8 | Shreya Dhital | Nepal | 32.44 | |
| 73 | 3 | 1 | Gebremedhin Yanet Seyoum | Ethiopia | 33.17 | |
| 74 | 3 | 5 | Shajan Aminath | Maldives | 33.43 | |
| 75 | 2 | 6 | Angelika Sita Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | 33.54 | |
| 76 | 3 | 4 | Sara Al Flaij | Bahrain | 33.98 | |
| 77 | 2 | 2 | Toure Assita | Ivory Coast | 34.45 | |
| 78 | 2 | 7 | Elsie Uwamahoro | Burundi | 35.11 | |
| 79 | 2 | 4 | Vilayphone Vongphachanh | Laos | 35.99 | |
| 80 | 1 | 5 | Aminata Aboubakar Yacoub | Congo | 37.07 | |
| 81 | 2 | 1 | Mhasin El Nour Fadlalla | Sudan | 38.15 | |
| 82 | 2 | 3 | Aicha Hassan Abdillahi | Djibouti | 38.38 | |
| 83 | 2 | 5 | Angele Gbenou | Benin | 38.40 | |
| 84 | 1 | 3 | Nafissa Adamou | Niger | 43.36 | |
| 85 | 2 | 8 | Ingrid Outtara | Burkina Faso | 44.43 | |
| 86 | 1 | 2 | Adzo Rebecca Kpossi | Togo | 44.60 | |
| 87 | 4 | 4 | Masempe Theko | Lesotho | 49.75 | NR |
| – | 1 | 1 | Vandenboss Samira | Central African Republic | | DNS |
| – | 1 | 4 | Soukeina Abdellahi | Mauritania | | DNS |
| - | 1 | 6 | Maihi Asono-Nathalie | DR Congo | | DNS |
| – | 1 | 7 | Ophelia Swyne | Ghana | | DNS |
| – | 1 | 8 | Nganga-Ngbo Tania | DR Congo | | DNS |
| – | 3 | 7 | Sophia Adecky | Gambia | | DNS |
| - | 11 | 3 | Britta Steffen | Germany | | DNS |
| – | 11 | 7 | Li Zhesi | China | | DNS |

### Semifinals

The semifinals were held at 18:57.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.56 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.80 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 25.00 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 25.06 | |
| 5 | 2 | Yolane Kukla | Australia | 25.11 | |
| 6 | 7 | Olivia Halicek | Australia | 25.20 | |
| 7 | 1 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 25.26 | |
| 8 | 8 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.57 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.61 | Q NR |
| 2 | 4 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.63 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 24.69 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.88 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 25.05 | Q NR |
| 6 | 2 | Amanda Weir | United States | 25.14 | |
| 7 | 7 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.22 | |
| 8 | 6 | Chantal van Landeghem | Canada | 25.23 | |

### Final

The final was held at 18:20.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.14 | |
| | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.27 | |
| | 7 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.49 | |
| 4 | 2 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.60 | |
| 5 | 6 | Aleksandra Gerasimenya | Belarus | 24.65 | |
| 6 | 5 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.67 | |
| 7 | 8 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.79 | NR |
| 8 | 1 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 24.87 | |