# Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships

The swimming portion of the 2011 FINA World Championships was held July 24–31 at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China. Swimming is one of five aquatic disciplines at the championships.

## Qualifying criteria

In January 2010, the FINA Bureau approved the swimming qualification system for the 2011 World Aquatics Championships. This represented the first time that a qualification system (including time standards) was used for the swimming portion of the world championships. Times had to be swum at a FINA approved competition/meet between March 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. The qualification meets included continental championships in 2010 and 2011 (e.g. European Championships, Asian Games, Pan American Games); and international competitions approved by FINA in advance. All meets for the qualification were swam in 50 meters course.
The time standards for the 2011 FINA World Championships :
| Men | Men | Event | Women | Women |
| A standard (2 entries) | B standard (1 entry) | Event | A standard (2 entries) | B standard (1 entry) |
| 22.35 | 22.90 | 50 freestyle | 25.43 | 26.06 |
| 49.23 | 50.44 | 100 freestyle | 55.24 | 56.60 |
| 1:48.72 | 1:51.40 | 200 freestyle | 1:59.29 | 2:02.24 |
| 3:49.96 | 3:55.63 | 400 freestyle | 4:11.26 | 4:17.64 |
| 8:10.26 | 8:37.52 | 800 freestyle | 8:35.98 | 8:48.70 |
| 15:13.16 | 15:35.67 | 1500 freestyle | 16:41.49 | 17:10.88 |
| 25.34 | 25.98 | 50 backstroke | 29.07 | 29.80 |
| 55.14 | 56.50 | 100 backstroke | 1:01.70 | 1:03.22 |
| 1:59.72 | 2:02.67 | 200 backstroke | 2:12.73 | 2:16.01 |
| 27.63 | 28.32 | 50 breaststroke | 31.52 | 32.31 |
| 1:01.57 | 1:03.08 | 100 breaststroke | 1:09.01 | 1:10.72 |
| 2:13.69 | 2:16.99 | 200 breaststroke | 2:28.21 | 2:31.87 |
| 23.73 | 24.32 | 50 butterfly | 26.68 | 27.35 |
| 52.86 | 54.16 | 100 butterfly | 59.35 | 1:00.82 |
| 1:57.67 | 2:00.57 | 200 butterfly | 2:10.84 | 2:14.07 |
| 2:01.40 | 2:04.39 | 200 individual medley | 2:15.27 | 2:18.57 |
| 4:18.40 | 4:24.77 | 400 individual medley | 4:45.08 | 4:52.11 |
The qualifying system for individual events was similar to what is employed for the Olympics. Historically, there has been a limit of 2 swimmers per country per individual event, and one relay team per country per relay event. This limitation remains; however, if a country wished to have more than one male and one female swimmer in up to 2 events each, then an athlete(s) had to meet one of two standards:
* a B standard which qualifies up to one swimmer per event, or
* an A standard which qualifies up to two swimmers per event, where both swimmers must meet this faster standard.

## Events

The swimming competition featured races in a long course (50 m) pool in 40 events (20 for males, 20 for females; 17 individual events and 3 relays for each gender).
The evening session schedule for the 2011 World Aquatics Championships is shown below.
| Date | Sunday July 24, 2011 | Monday July 25, 2011 | Tuesday July 26, 2011 | Wednesday July 27, 2011 |
| E v e n t s | Women's 100 fly [sf] Men's 400 free Women's 200 IM [sf] Men's 50 fly [sf] Women's 400 free Men's 100 breast [sf] Women's 4×100 freestyle Men's 4×100 freestyle | Women's 100 fly Men's 100 back [sf] Women's 100 breast [sf] Men's 50 fly Women's 100 back [sf] Men's 200 free [sf] Women's 200 IM Men's 100 breast | Men's 200 free Women's 100 back Men's 50 breast [sf] Women's 1500 free Men's 100 back Women's 200 free [sf] Men's 200 fly [sf] Women's 100 breast | Men's 100 free [sf] Women's 50 back [sf] Men's 200 fly Women's 200 free Men's 800 free Women's 200 fly [sf] Men's 200 IM [sf] Men's 50 breast |
| Date | Thursday July 28, 2011 | Friday July 29, 2011 | Saturday July 30, 2011 | Sunday July 31, 2011 |
| E v e n t s | Women's 100 free [sf] Men's 200 IM Women's 200 breast [sf] Men's 100 free Women's 200 fly Men's 200 breast [sf] Women's 50 back Men's 200 back [sf] Women's 4×200 freestyle | Women's 100 free Men's 200 back Women's 50 fly [sf] Men's 50 free [sf] Women's 200 breast Men's 100 fly [sf] Women's 200 back [sf] Men's 200 breast Men's 4×200 freestyle | Women's 50 fly Men's 50 free Women's 50 breast [sf] Women's 200 back Men's 100 fly Women's 50 free [sf] Men's 50 back [sf] Women's 800 free Women's 4×100 medley | Women's 50 breast Men's 400 IM Women's 50 free Men's 50 back Men's 1500 free Women's 400 IM Men's 4×100 medley |
Note: prelims/semifinals/finals will be swum in events 200 m and shorter; prelims/finals in events 400 m or longer. For prelims/semifinals/finals events, prelims and semis will be held on the same day, with finals being the evening of the following day. For the 400 m events and the 800 m relays, prelims and finals are the same day. For the individual 800 m and 1500 m races, prelims are in the morning of one day, with finals in the evening of the next day. Preliminary sessions began at 9:00 a.m.; finals at 6:00 p.m.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 16 | 5 | 8 | 29 |
| 2 | China | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 |
| 3 | Brazil | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Australia | 2 | 8 | 3 | 13 |
| 5 | France | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | Great Britain | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Italy | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Denmark | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Russia | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 13 | Belarus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Japan | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 | Canada | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 18 | Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Germany | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 20 | South Africa | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Totals (20 entries) | Totals (20 entries) | 42 | 38 | 40 | 120 |

## Results
### Men's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | César Cielo Brazil | 21.52 | Luca Dotto Italy | 21.90 | Alain Bernard France | 21.92 |
| 100 m freestyle details | James Magnussen Australia | 47.63 | Brent Hayden Canada | 47.95 | William Meynard France | 48.00 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Ryan Lochte United States | 1:44.44 | Michael Phelps United States | 1:44.79 | Paul Biedermann Germany | 1:44.88 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Park Tae-Hwan South Korea | 3:42.04 | Sun Yang China | 3:43.24 | Paul Biedermann Germany | 3:44.14 |
| 800 m freestyle details | Sun Yang China | 7:38.57 | Ryan Cochrane Canada | 7:41.86 AM | Gergő Kis Hungary | 7:44.94 NR |
| 1500 m freestyle details | Sun Yang China | 14:34.14 WR | Ryan Cochrane Canada | 14:44.46 | Gergő Kis Hungary | 14:45.66 NR |
| 50 m backstroke details | Liam Tancock Great Britain | 24.50 | Camille Lacourt France | 24.57 | Gerhard Zandberg South Africa | 24.66 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Jérémy Stravius France Camille Lacourt France | 52.76 | Not awarded | Not awarded | Ryosuke Irie Japan | 52.98 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Ryan Lochte United States | 1:52.96 | Ryosuke Irie Japan | 1:54.11 | Tyler Clary United States | 1:54.69 |
| 50 m breaststroke details | Felipe França Silva Brazil | 27.01 | Fabio Scozzoli Italy | 27.17 NR | Cameron van der Burgh South Africa | 27.19 |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Alexander Dale Oen Norway | 58.71 NR | Fabio Scozzoli Italy | 59.42 NR | Cameron van der Burgh South Africa | 59.49 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Dániel Gyurta Hungary | 2:08.41 | Kosuke Kitajima Japan | 2:08.63 | Christian vom Lehn Germany | 2:09.06 |
| 50 m butterfly details | César Cielo Brazil | 23.10 | Matthew Targett Australia | 23.28 | Geoff Huegill Australia | 23.35 |
| 100 m butterfly details | Michael Phelps United States | 50.71 | Konrad Czerniak Poland | 51.15 NR | Tyler McGill United States | 51.26 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Michael Phelps United States | 1:53.34 | Takeshi Matsuda Japan | 1:54.01 | Wu Peng China | 1:54.67 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Ryan Lochte United States | 1:54.00 WR | Michael Phelps United States | 1:54.16 | László Cseh Hungary | 1:57.69 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Ryan Lochte United States | 4:07.13 | Tyler Clary United States | 4:11.17 | Yuya Horihata Japan | 4:11.98 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay details | Australia James Magnussen (47.49) Matthew Targett (47.87) Matthew Abood (47.92) Eamon Sullivan (47.72) | 3:11.00 | France Alain Bernard (48.75) Jérémy Stravius (47.78) William Meynard (47.39) Fabien Gilot (47.22) | 3:11.14 | United States Michael Phelps (48.08) Garrett Weber-Gale (48.33) Jason Lezak (48.15) Nathan Adrian (47.40) | 3:11.96 |
| 4×200 m freestyle relay details | United States Michael Phelps (1:45.53) Peter Vanderkaay (1:46.07) Ricky Berens (1:46.51) Ryan Lochte (1:44.56) | 7:02.67 | France Yannick Agnel (1:45.25) Grégory Mallet (1:46.81) Jérémy Stravius (1:45.40) Fabien Gilot (1:47.35) | 7:04.81 NR | China Wang Shun (1:47.09) Zhang Lin (1:46.14) Li Yunqi (1:47.30) Sun Yang (1:45.14) | 7:05.67 NR |
| 4×100 m medley relay details | United States Nick Thoman (53.61) Mark Gangloff (1:00.24) Michael Phelps (50.57) Nathan Adrian (47.64) | 3:32.06 | Australia Hayden Stoeckel (54.22) Brenton Rickard (59.32) Geoff Huegill (51.72) James Magnussen (47.00) | 3:32.26 | Germany Helge Meeuw (53.53) Hendrik Feldwehr (59.72) Benjamin Starke (51.83) Paul Biedermann (47.52) | 3:32.60 |
| AF African record | AM Americas record | AS Asian record | CR Championship record | ER European record | OC Oceania record | WR World record | NR National record |||||| |

### Women's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | Therese Alshammar Sweden | 24.14 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands | 24.27 | Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands | 24.49 |
| 100 m freestyle details | Aleksandra Gerasimenya Belarus Jeanette Ottesen Denmark | 53.45 NR53.45 | Not awarded | Not awarded | Ranomi Kromowidjojo Netherlands | 53.66 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Federica Pellegrini Italy | 1:55.58 | Kylie Palmer Australia | 1:56.04 | Camille Muffat France | 1:56.10 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Federica Pellegrini Italy | 4:01.97 | Rebecca Adlington Great Britain | 4:04.01 | Camille Muffat France | 4:04.06 |
| 800 m freestyle details | Rebecca Adlington Great Britain | 8:17.51 | Lotte Friis Denmark | 8:18.20 | Kate Ziegler United States | 8:23.36 |
| 1500 m freestyle details | Lotte Friis Denmark | 15:49.59 | Kate Ziegler United States | 15:55.60 | Li Xuanxu China | 15:58.02 AS |
| 50 m backstroke details | Anastasia Zueva Russia | 27.79 | Aya Terakawa Japan | 27.93 | Missy Franklin United States | 28.01 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Zhao Jing China | 59.05 | Anastasia Zueva Russia | 59.06 | Natalie Coughlin United States | 59.15 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Missy Franklin United States | 2:05.10 AM | Belinda Hocking Australia | 2:06.06 OC | Sharon van Rouwendaal Netherlands | 2:07.78 NR |
| 50 m breaststroke details | Jessica Hardy United States | 30.19 | Yuliya Efimova Russia | 30.49 | Rebecca Soni United States | 30.58 |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Rebecca Soni United States | 1:05.05 | Leisel Jones Australia | 1:06.25 | Ji Liping China | 1:06.52 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Rebecca Soni United States | 2:21.47 | Yuliya Efimova Russia | 2:22.22 NR | Martha McCabe Canada | 2:24.81 |
| 50 m butterfly details | Inge Dekker Netherlands | 25.71 | Therese Alshammar Sweden | 25.76 | Mélanie Henique France | 25.86 NR |
| 100 m butterfly details | Dana Vollmer United States | 56.87 | Alicia Coutts Australia | 56.94 | Lu Ying China | 57.06 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Jiao Liuyang China | 2:05.55 | Ellen Gandy Great Britain | 2:05.59 | Liu Zige China | 2:05.90 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Ye Shiwen China | 2:08.90 | Alicia Coutts Australia | 2:09.00 | Ariana Kukors United States | 2:09.12 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Elizabeth Beisel United States | 4:31.78 | Hannah Miley Great Britain | 4:34.22 | Stephanie Rice Australia | 4:34.23 |
| 4×100 m freestyle relay details | Netherlands Inge Dekker (54.91) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.26) Marleen Veldhuis (53.33) Femke Heemskerk (52.46) | 3:33.96 | United States Natalie Coughlin (54.09) Missy Franklin (52.99) Jessica Hardy (54.12) Dana Vollmer (53.27) | 3:34.47 | Germany Britta Steffen (54.51) Silke Lippok (54.17) Lisa Vitting (53.85) Daniela Schreiber (53.12) | 3:36.05 |
| 4×200 m freestyle relay details | United States Missy Franklin (1:55.06) Dagny Knutson (1:57.18) Katie Hoff (1:57.41) Allison Schmitt (1:56.49) | 7:46.14 | Australia Bronte Barratt (1:56.86) Blair Evans (1:57.69) Angie Bainbridge (1:57.36) Kylie Palmer (1:55.51) | 7:47.42 | China Chen Qian (1:57.37) Pang Jiaying (1:56.97) Liu Jing (1:57.85) Tang Yi (1:55.47) | 7:47.66 |
| 4×100 m medley relay details | United States Natalie Coughlin (59.12) Rebecca Soni (1:04.71) Dana Vollmer (55.74) Missy Franklin (52.79) | 3:52.36 AM | China Zhao Jing (59.24) Ji Liping (1:06.27) Lu Ying (56.77) Tang Yi (53.33) | 3:55.61 | Australia Belinda Hocking (59.91) Leisel Jones (1:06.18) Alicia Coutts (56.69) Merindah Dingjan (54.35) | 3:57.13 |
| AF African record | AM Americas record | AS Asian record | CR Championship record | ER European record | OC Oceania record | WR World record | NR National record |||||| |

## World records

The following world records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Time | Name | Nation |
| July 28, 2011 | Men's 200 m individual medley final | 1:54.00 | Ryan Lochte | United States |
| July 31, 2011 | Men's 1500 m freestyle final | 14:34.14 | Sun Yang | China |