# Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 11 and 12 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

## Summary

U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky set a new world record to defend her Olympic title in this event and to successfully complete a distance freestyle treble at a single edition for the first time, since Debbie Meyer did so in 1968. Dominating the race from the start, Ledecky quickly dropped two seconds under a world-record pace, as she pulled further away from the field to overturn her own existing standard with a gold-medal time in 8:04.79. Separated from the leader by 11.38 seconds, Great Britain's Jazmin Carlin edged out the Hungarian challenger Boglárka Kapás at the final lap for her second silver of the meet in 8:16.17. Meanwhile, Kapás faded down the stretch to earn a bronze in 8:16.37, two tenths of a second short of Carlin's time.
London 2012 runner-up Mireia Belmonte slipped off the podium to fourth in a Spanish record of 8:18.55. Outside the 8:20 club, Australia's Jessica Ashwood (8:20.32) and Ledecky's teammate Leah Smith (8:20.95), bronze medalist in the 400 m freestyle, picked up the fifth and sixth spots respectively, finishing 63-hundredths of a second apart from each other. Denmark's Lotte Friis (8:24.50) and Germany's Sarah Köhler (8:27.75) rounded out the championship field.
Ledecky also overturned the existing Olympic record in 8:12.86 to top the field of twenty-seven swimmers in the prelims, taking 1.24 seconds off the standard set by Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington in a since-banned high-tech bodysuit in Beijing eight years earlier.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Katie Ledecky (USA) | 8:06.68 | Austin, United States | 17 January 2016 |
| Olympic record | Rebecca Adlington (GBR) | 8:14.10 | Beijing, China | 16 August 2008 |
The following records were broken during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 11 August | Heat 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:12.86 | OR |
| 12 August | Final | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:04.79 | WR |

## Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats 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 | 4 | 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:12.86 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | Boglárka Kapás | Hungary | 8:19.43 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Jazmin Carlin | Great Britain | 8:19.67 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | Leah Smith | United States | 8:21.43 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 3 | Lotte Friis | Denmark | 8:22.54 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 5 | Jessica Ashwood | Australia | 8:22.57 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | Sarah Köhler | Germany | 8:24.65 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 4 | Mireia Belmonte | Spain | 8:25.55 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Lauren Boyle | New Zealand | 8:25.84 | |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Brittany MacLean | Canada | 8:26.43 | |
| 11 | 4 | 8 | Hou Yawen | China | 8:30.59 | |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | Andreina Pinto | Venezuela | 8:30.92 | |
| 13 | 4 | 1 | Tjaša Oder | Slovenia | 8:33.14 | |
| 14 | 1 | 5 | Éva Risztov | Hungary | 8:33.36 | |
| 15 | 2 | 6 | Camilla Hattersley | Great Britain | 8:33.65 | |
| 16 | 2 | 7 | Emma Robinson | New Zealand | 8:33.73 | |
| 17 | 2 | 3 | Kristel Köbrich | Chile | 8:34.34 | |
| 18 | 3 | 2 | Zhang Yuhan | China | 8:35.32 | |
| 19 | 3 | 1 | María Vilas | Spain | 8:36.43 | |
| 20 | 3 | 8 | Tamsin Cook | Australia | 8:36.62 | |
| 21 | 1 | 2 | Julia Hassler | Liechtenstein | 8:38.19 | |
| 22 | 1 | 4 | Valerie Gruest | Guatemala | 8:39.80 | NR |
| 23 | 2 | 8 | Joanna Evans | Bahamas | 8:42.93 | |
| 24 | 1 | 6 | Tamila Holub | Portugal | 8:45.36 | |
| 25 | 2 | 5 | Leonie Beck | Germany | 8:47.47 | |
| 26 | 1 | 3 | Arina Openysheva | Russia | 8:48.89 | |
| 27 | 1 | 7 | Talita Te Flan | Ivory Coast | 9:07.21 | NR |
| | 3 | 7 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | DNS | |
| | 2 | 1 | Martina De Memme | Italy | DNS | |
| | 4 | 7 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:04.79 | WR |
| | 3 | Jazmin Carlin | Great Britain | 8:16.17 | |
| | 5 | Boglárka Kapás | Hungary | 8:16.37 | NR |
| 4 | 8 | Mireia Belmonte | Spain | 8:18.55 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Jessica Ashwood | Australia | 8:20.32 | |
| 6 | 6 | Leah Smith | United States | 8:20.95 | |
| 7 | 2 | Lotte Friis | Denmark | 8:24.50 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sarah Köhler | Germany | 8:27.75 | |