# Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre breaststroke

The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

## Summary

U.S. swimmer Lilly King stormed home on the final lap in a match against Russia's Yuliya Yefimova to capture the sprint breaststroke title for the first time since Megan Quann topped the podium in 2000. With 15 metres to go, King launched a mighty surge to pass Yefimova by more than half a second for the gold medal with a time of 1:04.93. King's time also shaved 0.24 seconds off the Olympic record set by Australia's four-time Olympian Leisel Jones in Beijing in 2008. Yefimova finished with a silver in 1:05.50. King's teammate Katie Meili snared the final podium spot with a 1:05.69 for the bronze.
China's Shi Jinglin delivered a time of 1:06.37 to pick up the fourth spot, just ahead of Canada's Rachel Nicol (1:06.68) by about three tenths of a second. Iceland's Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir placed sixth in 1:07.18, while Lithuania's world-record holder and defending champion Rūta Meilutytė could not reproduce her effort from London 2012 with a seventh-place time in 1:07.32. Jamaica's Alia Atkinson, fourth-place finalist at the previous Games, rounded out the top eight with a 1:08.10.
The medals for the competition were presented by Richard Peterkin, IOC member from St. Lucia, and the gifts were presented by Donald Rukare, FINA bureau member.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Rūta Meilutytė (LTU) | 1:04.35 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 2013 |
| Olympic record | Leisel Jones (AUS) | 1:05.17 | Beijing, China | 10 August 2008 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| 8 August | Final | Lilly King | United States | 1:04.93 | OR |

## 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 | 6 | 4 | Lilly King | United States | 1:05.78 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:05.79 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Katie Meili | United States | 1:06.00 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 5 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:06.35 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 3 | Shi Jinglin | China | 1:06.55 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 7 | Rikke Møller Pedersen | Denmark | 1:06.58 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:06.72 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 6 | Taylor McKeown | Australia | 1:06.73 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 6 | Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir | Iceland | 1:06.81 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 6 | Jennie Johansson | Sweden | 1:06.84 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 2 | Rachel Nicol | Canada | 1:06.85 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 8 | Chloe Tutton | Great Britain | 1:06.88 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | 2 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 1:06.99 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 1 | Jessica Vall | Spain | 1:07.07 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 2 | Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş | Turkey | 1:07.14 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 3 | Kanako Watanabe | Japan | 1:07.22 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Arianna Castiglioni | Italy | 1:07.32 | |
| 18 | 3 | 4 | Jenna Laukkanen | Finland | 1:07.35 | NR |
| 19 | 6 | 7 | Kierra Smith | Canada | 1:07.41 | |
| 20 | 5 | 3 | Martina Carraro | Italy | 1:07.56 | |
| 21 | 5 | 1 | Fiona Doyle | Ireland | 1:07.58 | |
| 22 | 6 | 8 | Zhang Xinyu | China | 1:07.59 | |
| 23 | 3 | 2 | Molly Renshaw | Great Britain | 1:07.92 | |
| 24 | 4 | 5 | Georgia Bohl | Australia | 1:07.96 | |
| 25 | 3 | 1 | Anna Sztankovics | Hungary | 1:08.06 | |
| 26 | 3 | 8 | Martina Moravčíková | Czech Republic | 1:08.50 | |
| 27 | 3 | 5 | Sophie Hansson | Sweden | 1:08.67 | |
| 28 | 4 | 1 | Fanny Lecluyse | Belgium | 1:08.80 | |
| 29 | 4 | 8 | Daria Chikunova | Russia | 1:09.12 | |
| 30 | 3 | 6 | Amit Ivry | Israel | 1:09.42 | |
| 31 | 2 | 5 | Maria Romanjuk | Estonia | 1:09.49 | |
| 32 | 3 | 3 | Yvette Kong | Hong Kong | 1:09.56 | |
| 33 | 2 | 4 | Phee Jinq En | Malaysia | 1:10.22 | |
| 34 | 2 | 6 | Dariya Talanova | Kyrgyzstan | 1:10.94 | |
| 35 | 3 | 7 | Tjaša Vozel | Slovenia | 1:11.15 | |
| 36 | 2 | 3 | Tatiana Chișca | Moldova | 1:11.37 | |
| 37 | 2 | 2 | Evita Leter | Suriname | 1:14.96 | |
| 38 | 2 | 1 | Pilar Shimizu | Guam | 1:16.65 | |
| 39 | 2 | 8 | Izzy Joachim | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 1:17.37 | |
| 40 | 2 | 7 | Jamila Lunkuse | Uganda | 1:19.64 | |
| 41 | 1 | 3 | Darya Semyonova | Turkmenistan | 1:19.84 | |
| 42 | 1 | 5 | Rechael Tonjor | Nigeria | 1:21.43 | |
| 43 | 1 | 4 | Teona Bostashvili | Georgia | 1:22.91 | |
| 44 | 1 | 6 | Daniah Hagul | Libya | 1:25.47 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:05.72 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:06.44 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Jennie Johansson | Sweden | 1:07.06 | |
| 4 | 3 | Rikke Møller Pedersen | Denmark | 1:07.07 | |
| 5 | 6 | Taylor McKeown | Australia | 1:07.12 | |
| 6 | 7 | Chloe Tutton | Great Britain | 1:07.29 | |
| 7 | 8 | Kanako Watanabe | Japan | 1:07.43 | |
| 8 | 1 | Jessica Vall | Spain | 1:07.55 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Lilly King | United States | 1:05.70 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Shi Jinglin | China | 1:06.31 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Katie Meili | United States | 1:06.52 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:06.52 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir | Iceland | 1:06.71 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | Rachel Nicol | Canada | 1:06.73 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 1:07.18 | |
| 8 | 8 | Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş | Turkey | 1:07.41 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Lilly King | United States | 1:04.93 | OR |
| | 5 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:05.50 | |
| | 2 | Katie Meili | United States | 1:05.69 | |
| 4 | 3 | Shi Jinglin | China | 1:06.37 | |
| 5 | 8 | Rachel Nicol | Canada | 1:06.68 | |
| 6 | 1 | Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir | Iceland | 1:07.18 | |
| 7 | 6 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:07.32 | |
| 8 | 7 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:08.10 | |