# Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12–13 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

## Summary

Pernille Blume defeated the field of experienced sprinters to give Denmark its first Olympic swimming title in 68 years. Leading the program's shortest race from prelims into the semifinals, she splashed her way to a gold-medal triumph in 24.07, but fell short of her attempt to overhaul Ranomi Kromowidjojo's Olympic record by a small fraction of a second. U.S. sprinter Simone Manuel, newly crowned Olympic champion of the 100 m freestyle, settled for the silver in 24.09, stopping 0.02 seconds behind Blume. Meanwhile, London 2012 runner-up Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus secured the top three spot with a 24.11 for the bronze.
Great Britain's Francesca Halsall narrowly missed out of the medals by 0.02 of a second, finishing with a fourth-place time in 24.13. Unable to bounce back from their out-of-medal feat in the 100 m freestyle, sisters and pre-race favorites Cate (24.15) and Bronte Campbell (24.42) slipped to fifth and seventh, respectively, while defending champion Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands split the Australian duo to take the sixth spot in 24.19. Brazil's hometown favorite Etiene Medeiros wrapped up the top eight with a 24.69.
Notable swimmers failed to reach the top eight final, including Blume's fellow sprinter Jeanette Ottesen, London 2012 finalist Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas, and Swedish tandem of three-time medalist Sarah Sjöström and Therese Alshammar, who built a historic milestone as the first ever female in the pool to compete at her sixth Olympics.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Britta Steffen (GER) | 23.73 | Rome, Italy | 2 August 2009 |
| Olympic record | Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) | 24.05 | London, United Kingdom | 4 August 2012 |

## Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 12 | 6 | Pernille Blume | Denmark | 24.23 | Q |
| 2 | 11 | 5 | Fran Halsall | Great Britain | 24.26 | Q |
| 3 | 10 | 6 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.42 | Q |
| 4 | 12 | 4 | Bronte Campbell | Australia | 24.45 | Q |
| 5 | 10 | 5 | Abbey Weitzeil | United States | 24.48 | Q |
| 5 | 11 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.48 | Q |
| 7 | 11 | 4 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.52 | Q |
| 8 | 10 | 3 | Chantal Van Landeghem | Canada | 24.57 | Q |
| 8 | 10 | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.57 | Q |
| 10 | 12 | 5 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 24.66 | Q |
| 11 | 11 | 3 | Simone Manuel | United States | 24.71 | Q |
| 12 | 11 | 7 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.73 | Q |
| 13 | 9 | 7 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 24.77 | Q |
| 13 | 12 | 3 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.77 | Q |
| 13 | 12 | 7 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 24.77 | Q |
| 16 | 11 | 2 | Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | 24.82 | Q |
| 17 | 11 | 8 | Silvia di Pietro | Italy | 24.89 | |
| 18 | 9 | 4 | Farida Osman | Egypt | 24.91 | AF |
| 18 | 10 | 7 | Liu Xiang | China | 24.91 | |
| 18 | 12 | 1 | Michelle Williams | Canada | 24.91 | |
| 21 | 10 | 2 | Anna Santamans | France | 24.93 | |
| 22 | 8 | 8 | Vanessa García | Puerto Rico | 24.94 | NR |
| 22 | 11 | 1 | Rozaliya Nasretdinova | Russia | 24.94 | |
| 24 | 7 | 4 | Susann Bjørnsen | Norway | 25.05 | |
| 25 | 10 | 8 | Flóra Molnár | Hungary | 25.07 | |
| 26 | 7 | 6 | Julie Meynen | Luxembourg | 25.12 | |
| 27 | 9 | 6 | Yuliya Khitraya | Belarus | 25.18 | |
| 28 | 7 | 5 | Liliana Ibáñez | Mexico | 25.25 | |
| 29 | 9 | 5 | Aleksandra Urbańczyk | Poland | 25.28 | |
| 30 | 7 | 2 | Isabella Arcila | Colombia | 25.35 | |
| 31 | 8 | 4 | Mélanie Henique | France | 25.36 | |
| 32 | 9 | 3 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.36 | |
| 33 | 8 | 7 | Zohar Shikler | Israel | 25.38 | |
| 34 | 8 | 3 | Erika Ferraioli | Italy | 25.40 | |
| 35 | 9 | 8 | Andrea Murez | Israel | 25.41 | |
| 36 | 9 | 2 | Rikako Ikee | Japan | 25.45 | |
| 37 | 8 | 5 | Anna Dowgiert | Poland | 25.54 | |
| 38 | 12 | 8 | Nataliya Lovtsova | Russia | 25.55 | |
| 39 | 8 | 6 | Birgit Koschischek | Austria | 25.58 | |
| 40 | 10 | 1 | Graciele Herrmann | Brazil | 25.60 | |
| 41 | 7 | 3 | Alexandra Touretski | Switzerland | 25.66 | |
| 42 | 9 | 1 | Darya Stepanyuk | Ukraine | 25.67 | |
| 43 | 8 | 1 | Yayoi Matsumoto | Japan | 25.73 | |
| 44 | 7 | 8 | Camille Cheng | Hong Kong | 25.92 | |
| 45 | 7 | 7 | Allyson Ponson | Aruba | 26.00 | |
| 46 | 6 | 2 | Karen Torrez | Bolivia | 26.12 | |
| 47 | 6 | 4 | Naomi Ruele | Botswana | 26.23 | |
| 48 | 6 | 8 | Elinah Phillip | British Virgin Islands | 26.26 | |
| 49 | 6 | 3 | Bayan Jumah | Syria | 26.41 | |
| 49 | 7 | 1 | Lin Pei-wun | Chinese Taipei | 26.41 | |
| 51 | 6 | 7 | Talita Baqlah | Jordan | 26.48 | |
| 52 | 6 | 5 | Rebecca Heyliger | Bermuda | 26.54 | |
| 53 | 6 | 6 | Nicola Muscat | Malta | 26.60 | |
| 54 | 5 | 6 | Faye Sultan | Independent Olympic Athletes | 26.86 | |
| 55 | 6 | 1 | Dorian McMenemy | Dominican Republic | 27.37 | |
| 56 | 5 | 3 | Naomy Grand Pierre | Haiti | 27.46 | |
| 57 | 5 | 5 | Samantha Roberts | Antigua and Barbuda | 27.95 | |
| 58 | 4 | 4 | Colleen Furgeson | Marshall Islands | 28.16 | |
| 59 | 5 | 2 | Noura Mana | Morocco | 28.20 | |
| 60 | 4 | 6 | Yesuin Bayar | Mongolia | 28.40 | NR |
| 61 | 5 | 8 | Irene Prescott | Tonga | 28.68 | |
| 62 | 4 | 7 | Mary Al-Atrash | Palestine | 28.76 | |
| 63 | 5 | 7 | Jamila Sanmoogan | Guyana | 28.88 | |
| 64 | 5 | 1 | Lianna Swan | Pakistan | 29.02 | |
| 65 | 3 | 3 | Dirngulbai Misech | Palau | 29.19 | |
| 66 | 4 | 8 | Hemthon Vitiny | Cambodia | 29.37 | NR |
| 67 | 3 | 4 | Angelika Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | 29.44 | NR |
| 67 | 4 | 5 | Magdalena Moshi | Tanzania | 29.44 | |
| 69 | 3 | 5 | Sonia Aktar | Bangladesh | 29.99 | NR |
| 70 | 1 | 6 | Ei Ei Thet | Myanmar | 30.25 | |
| 71 | 4 | 2 | Ammara Pinto | Malawi | 30.32 | |
| 72 | 4 | 1 | Debra Daniel | Federated States of Micronesia | 30.83 | |
| 73 | 2 | 2 | Anastasiya Tyurina | Tajikistan | 31.15 | |
| 74 | 1 | 3 | Fatema Almahmeed | Bahrain | 32.28 | |
| 75 | 3 | 6 | Rahel Gebresilassie | Ethiopia | 32.51 | |
| 76 | 3 | 7 | Siri Arun Budcharern | Laos | 32.55 | NR |
| 77 | 2 | 6 | Laraïba Seibou | Benin | 33.01 | |
| 78 | 1 | 5 | Nada Al-Bedwawi | United Arab Emirates | 33.42 | |
| 79 | 3 | 8 | Adzo Kpossi | Togo | 33.44 | |
| 80 | 3 | 1 | Elsie Uwamahoro | Burundi | 33.70 | |
| 81 | 2 | 4 | Bellore Sangala | Republic of the Congo | 33.71 | |
| 81 | 3 | 2 | Fatoumata Samassékou | Mali | 33.71 | |
| 83 | 2 | 7 | Roukaya Mahamane | Niger | 35.60 | NR |
| 84 | 2 | 5 | Haneen Ibrahim | Sudan | 36.23 | |
| 85 | 2 | 8 | Chloe Sauvourel | Central African Republic | 37.15 | |
| 86 | 2 | 3 | Nazlati Mohamed Andhumdine | Comoros | 37.66 | |
| 87 | 2 | 1 | Mariama Sow | Guinea | 39.85 | |
| 88 | 1 | 4 | Bunturabie Jalloh | Sierra Leone | 39.93 | |
| | 5 | 4 | Monika Vasilyan | Armenia | | DNS |
| | 12 | 2 | Chen Xinyi | China | | DNS |
| | 4 | 3 | Awa Ly N'diaye | Senegal | | DSQ |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.41 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Bronte Campbell | Australia | 24.43 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | 24.45 | Q, SA |
| 4 | 1 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.60 | |
| 5 | 6 | Chantal Van Landeghem | Canada | 24.61 | |
| 6 | 3 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.62 | |
| 7 | 2 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 24.69 | |
| 8 | 7 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.72 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Pernille Blume | Denmark | 24.28 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.32 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.39 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Simone Manuel | United States | 24.44 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.53 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Abbey Weitzeil | United States | 24.67 | |
| 7 | 8 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 24.71 | |
| 8 | 1 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 25.31 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Pernille Blume | Denmark | 24.07 | NR |
| | 7 | Simone Manuel | United States | 24.09 | |
| | 8 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.11 | NR |
| 4 | 6 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.13 | |
| 5 | 5 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.15 | |
| 6 | 3 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.19 | |
| 7 | 2 | Bronte Campbell | Australia | 24.42 | |
| 8 | 1 | Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | 24.69 | |