# Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 29 to 30 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, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
The USA's Regan Smith and Australia's Kaylee McKeown were the favourites going into the event, with Canada's Kylie Masse and the USA's Katharine Berkoff also in contention. In the heats, Spain's Carmen Weiler lowered her country's national record to 59.57.
In the final, Smith and Masse led at the halfway point, but McKeown ended up winning the gold with a new Olympic record of 57.33. Smith won silver and Berkoff won bronze.

## Background

The USA's defending Olympic bronze medallist and 2022 World Champion Regan Smith broke the world record at the 2024 US Olympic Trials with a time of 57.13. Defending Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown from Australia held the previous world record, and won the event at the 2023 World Championships. She swam 57.41 at the Australian Olympic Trials. Canada's Kylie Masse was the defending Olympic silver medallist in the event, and she finished second at the 2023 Championships. Other contenders included the USA's Katharine Berkoff, who swam 57.83 at the US Trials, and Australia's Iona Anderson, who swam 58.43 at the Australian Trials. Both SwimSwam and Swimming World predicted Smith would win, McKeown would take second and Berkoff 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 59.99 seconds. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with 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. In total, 20 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while 16 athletes qualified through universality places.
Top 10 fastest qualification times :
| Swimmer | Country | Time | Competition |
| Regan Smith | United States | 00:57:13 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 00:57:33 | 2023 World Aquatics World Cup |
| Katharine Berkoff | United States | 00:57:83 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Kylie Masse | Canada | 00:57:94 | 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials |
| Iona Anderson | Australia | 00:58:43 | 2024 Australian Olympic Trials |
| Emma Terebo | France | 00:58:79 | 2024 French Elite Championships |
| Ingrid Wilm | Canada | 00:58:80 | 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials |
| Wan Letian | China | 00:59:02 | 2024 Chinese Championships |
| Danielle Hill | Ireland | 00:59:11 | 2024 Irish Championships |
| Béryl Gastaldello | France | 00:59:17 | 2024 French Elite Championships |

## Heats

Five heats took place on 29 July 2024, starting at 11:13. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. Berkoff qualified with the fastest time of 57.99, Smith qualified in second and McKeown in third. Carmen Weiler broke Spain's national record by 0.19 seconds, setting it at 59.57 to qualify.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | Katharine Berkoff | United States | 57.99 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Regan Smith | United States | 58.45 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 58.48 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 59.06 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Emma Terebo | France | 59.10 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 6 | Béryl Gastaldello | France | 59.31 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Iona Anderson | Australia | 59.37 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 2 | Carmen Weiler | Spain | 59.57 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 4 | 7 | Roos Vanotterdijk | Belgium | 59.68 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | 7 | Kira Toussaint | Netherlands | 59.84 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 3 | Wan Letian | China | 59.87 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Ingrid Wilm | Canada | 1:00.06 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 2 | Maaike de Waard | Netherlands | 1:00.12 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 6 | Wang Xue'er | China | 1:00.15 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 1 | Louise Hansson | Sweden | 1:00.26 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Danielle Hill | Ireland | 1:00.40 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Adela Piskorska | Poland | 1:00.47 | |
| 18 | 3 | 2 | Kathleen Dawson | Great Britain | 1:00.69 | |
| 19 | 3 | 6 | Medi Eira Harris | Great Britain | 1:00.85 | |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | Anastasiya Shkurdai | Individual Neutral Athletes | 1:00.94 | |
| 21 | 3 | 1 | Celia Pulido | Mexico | 1:01.10 | |
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Nika Sharafutdinova | Ukraine | 1:01.47 | |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Emma Harvey | Bermuda | 1:01.78 | |
| 24 | 3 | 8 | Gabriela Georgieva | Bulgaria | 1:02.16 | |
| 25 | 2 | 5 | Aviv Barzelay | Israel | 1:02.30 | |
| 26 | 2 | 4 | Xeniya Ignatova | Kazakhstan | 1:02.51 | |
| 27 | 2 | 6 | Zuri Ferguson | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:02.75 | |
| 28 | 2 | 2 | Lucero Mejía | Guatemala | 1:03.42 | |
| 29 | 2 | 3 | Cindy Cheung | Hong Kong | 1:03.45 | |
| 30 | 1 | 4 | Ganga Senavirathne | Sri Lanka | 1:04.26 | |
| 31 | 2 | 8 | Amani Al-Obaidli | Bahrain | 1:04.27 | |
| 32 | 2 | 1 | Celina Márquez | El Salvador | 1:04.55 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Elizabeth Jiménez | Dominican Republic | 1:04.99 | |
| 34 | 1 | 3 | Denise Donelli | Mozambique | 1:08.73 | |
| 35 | 1 | 5 | Aýnura Primowa | Turkmenistan | 1:10.17 | |
| 36 | 1 | 6 | Maleek Al-Mukhtar | Libya | 1:10.99 | |

## Semifinals

Two semifinals took place on 29 July, starting at 21:01. The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Smith won the first semifinal with a time of 57.97 seconds, while McKeown won the second in 57.99.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Regan Smith | United States | 57.97 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 57.99 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | Katharine Berkoff | United States | 58.27 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 6 | Iona Anderson | Australia | 58.63 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 5 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 58.82 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 7 | Ingrid Wilm | Canada | 59.10 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | Béryl Gastaldello | France | 59.29 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | Emma Terebo | France | 59.50 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 6 | Carmen Weiler | Spain | 59.72 | |
| 10 | 2 | 2 | Roos Vanotterdijk | Belgium | 59.86 | |
| 11 | 1 | 1 | Wang Xue'er | China | 59.89 | |
| 12 | 2 | 7 | Wan Letian | China | 1:00.06 | |
| 13 | 2 | 1 | Maaike de Waard | Netherlands | 1:00.22 | |
| 14 | 1 | 2 | Kira Toussaint | Netherlands | 1:00.37 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Louise Hansson | Sweden | 1:00.47 | |
| 16 | 1 | 8 | Danielle Hill | Ireland | 1:00.80 | |

## Final

The final took place at 21:00 on 30 July. Smith and Masse led at the 50 metre mark, both splitting 28.02. Berkoff split third with 28.05 and McKeown fourth with 28.08. Over the last 50 metres, McKeown elevated herself to first to win the gold medal with a time of 57.33 seconds. Smith won the silver with 57.66, Berkoff won bronze with 57.98 and Masse finished fourth.
Smith spent the longest underwater and had the fastest average underwater pace, while McKeown had the fastest pace during the non-underwater sections. McKeown did 70 strokes throughout the race, which was the least of the top 4 swimmers; Masse did 75, Smith did 76 and Berkoff did 77.
McKeown's winning time of 57.33 broke her own Olympic Record from Tokyo, matched her former world record in the event and won her her fourth gold medal. She later went on to win the 200 metre backstroke as well, which made her the first swimmer to win both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke events at consecutive Olympics. Later at the Paris Games, Smith broke McKeown's Olympic record with a time of 57.28, which she swam in the opening leg of the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay. Berkoff's bronze was the USA's 3000th Olympic medal, and their 600th swimming medal.
Results :
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | 57.33 | OR, =OC |
| | 4 | Regan Smith | United States | 57.66 | |
| | 3 | Katharine Berkoff | United States | 57.98 | |
| 4 | 2 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 58.29 | |
| 5 | 6 | Iona Anderson | Australia | 58.98 | |
| 6 | 7 | Ingrid Wilm | Canada | 59.25 | |
| 7 | 8 | Emma Terebo | France | 59.40 | |
| 8 | 1 | Béryl Gastaldello | France | 59.80 | |
Statistics :
| Name | 15 metre split (s) | 50 metre split (s) | 50–65 metre split (s) | Time (s) | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
| Kaylee McKeown | 6.67 | 28.08 | 7.52 | 57.33 | 48.2 |
| Regan Smith | 6.69 | 28.02 | 7.45 | 57.66 | 53.1 |
| Katharine Berkoff | 6.75 | 28.05 | 7.39 | 57.98 | 53.8 |
| Kylie Masse | 6.81 | 28.02 | 7.70 | 58.29 | 50.8 |
| Iona Anderson | 7.17 | 28.47 | 8.09 | 58.98 | 50.7 |
| Ingrid Wilm | 6.87 | 28.69 | 8.07 | 59.25 | 44.2 |
| Emma Terebo | 7.18 | 28.79 | 8.39 | 59.40 | 49.0 |
| Béryl Gastaldello | 6.86 | 28.80 | 8.06 | 59.80 | 49.2 |