Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle

  • 26 July 2021 (heats)
  • 27 July 2021 (semifinals)
  • 28 July 2021 (final)
Competitors29 from 22 nationsWinning time1:53.50Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ariarne Titmus  Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Penny Oleksiak  Canada
← 2016
2024 →
  • v
  • t
  • e

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 26 to 28 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.[1] It was the event's fourteenth consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1968.

Summary

After a victory in the 400 m freestyle two days earlier, Australia's Ariarne Titmus pulled away from the field to capture the Olympic mid-distance freestyle crown and her second individual gold at these Games. Hanging with the leaders at the 150-metre turn, Titmus overtook Hong Kong's Siobhán Haughey in the final 25 m to establish a new Olympic Record of 1:53.50. Despite leading for the first three laps, Haughey was unable to catch a fast-finishing Titmus near the wall, winning silver in an Asian record of 1:53.92. Haughey's silver also marked Hong Kong's first ever Olympic medal in swimming. Meanwhile, Canada's Penny Oleksiak moved up from one of the outside lanes to take home the bronze in 1:54.70.

China's Yang Junxuan was second at the 150-metre turn though ultimately slipped off the podium to fourth in 1:55.01. The U.S.' defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky finished fifth with a time of 1:55.21 while the Czech Republic's Barbora Seemanova recorded a national record of 1:55.45 to touch sixth. Italy's world-record holder Federica Pellegrini grabbed the penultimate spot of the top eight in 1:55.91 with Titmus' teammate Madison Wilson (1:56.39) trailing her to round out the field.

The medals for competition were presented by Giovanni Malagò, IOC member, 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  Federica Pellegrini (ITA) 1:52.98 Rome, Italy 29 July 2009 [2][3]
Olympic record  Allison Schmitt (USA) 1:53.61 London, United Kingdom 31 July 2012 [4]

The following record was established during the competition:

Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record
July 28 Final Ariarne Titmus  Australia 1:53.50 OR

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 1:57.28. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 2:00.80. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a female swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.[5]

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.[6]

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)[1]

Date Time Round
Monday, 26 July 2021 19:00 Heats
Tuesday, 27 July 2021 10:30 Semifinals
Wednesday, 28 July 2021 10:41 Final

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advance to the semifinals.[7]

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 2 4 Katie Ledecky  United States 1:55.28 Q
2 2 6 Penny Oleksiak  Canada 1:55.38 Q
3 2 5 Madison Wilson  Australia 1:55.87 Q
4 4 4 Ariarne Titmus  Australia 1:55.88 Q
5 4 6 Summer McIntosh  Canada 1:56.11 Q
6 4 5 Yang Junxuan  China 1:56.17 Q
7 3 6 Barbora Seemanová  Czech Republic 1:56.38 Q
8 3 5 Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong 1:56.48 Q
9 3 2 Isabel Marie Gose  Germany 1:56.80 Q
10 2 3 Charlotte Bonnet  France 1:56.88 Q
11 3 3 Freya Anderson  Great Britain 1:56.96 Q
12 4 3 Allison Schmitt  United States 1:57.10 Q
13 4 7 Annika Bruhn  Germany 1:57.15 Q
14 2 7 Erika Fairweather  New Zealand 1:57.26 Q
15 3 4 Federica Pellegrini  Italy 1:57.33 Q
16 3 7 Valeriya Salamatina  ROC 1:58.33 Q
17 2 1 Janja Šegel  Slovenia 1:58.38
18 3 1 Joanna Evans  Bahamas 1:58.40
19 4 1 Andrea Murez  Israel 1:58.97
20 4 2 Li Bingjie  China 1:59.03
21 2 2 Veronika Andrusenko  ROC 1:59.17
22 3 8 Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir  Iceland 2:00.20 NR
23 4 8 Elisbet Gámez  Cuba 2:00.56
24 1 4 Ieva Maļuka  Latvia 2:03.75
25 1 3 Beatriz Padrón  Costa Rica 2:04.56
26 2 8 Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên  Vietnam 2:05.30
27 1 5 Gabriela Santis  Guatemala 2:07.24
28 1 6 Lina Khiyara  Morocco 2:08.80
29 1 2 Gabriella Doueihy  Lebanon 2:11.29

Semifinals

The swimmers with the best 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.[8]

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 5 Ariarne Titmus  Australia 1:54.82 Q
2 1 6 Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong 1:55.16 Q
3 2 4 Katie Ledecky  United States 1:55.34 Q
4 1 3 Yang Junxuan  China 1:55.98 Q
5 2 6 Barbora Seemanová  Czech Republic 1:56.14 Q, NR
6 1 4 Penny Oleksiak  Canada 1:56.39 Q
7 2 8 Federica Pellegrini  Italy 1:56.44 Q
8 2 5 Madison Wilson  Australia 1:56.58 Q
9 2 3 Summer McIntosh  Canada 1:56.82
10 1 7 Allison Schmitt  United States 1:56.87
11 2 2 Isabel Marie Gose  Germany 1:57.07
12 2 7 Freya Anderson  Great Britain 1:57.10
13 1 2 Charlotte Bonnet  France 1:57.35
14 2 1 Annika Bruhn  Germany 1:57.62
15 1 8 Valeriya Salamatina  ROC 1:58.98
16 1 1 Erika Fairweather  New Zealand 1:59.14

Final

[9]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Ariarne Titmus  Australia 1:53.50 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Siobhán Haughey  Hong Kong 1:53.92 AS
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 Penny Oleksiak  Canada 1:54.70
4 6 Yang Junxuan  China 1:55.01
5 3 Katie Ledecky  United States 1:55.21
6 2 Barbora Seemanová  Czech Republic 1:55.45 NR
7 1 Federica Pellegrini  Italy 1:55.91
8 8 Madison Wilson  Australia 1:56.39

References

  1. ^ a b "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. ^ "FINA World Championships, Swimming: Federica Pellegrini Puts on Show for Home Crowd With World Record, U.S. Goes 2-3 With American Record". Swimming World Magazine. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Phelps bounces back with 200m fly world record triumph". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Olympics swimming: Allison Schmitt wins with Games record". BBC Sport. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (pdf). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  6. ^ "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Semifinals results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.