The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

took place on 7–8 August at the

Olympic Aquatics Stadium The Olympic Aquatics Stadium ( pt, Estádio Aquático Olímpico) was a temporary aquatics center in the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. The venue hosted the Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics, swimming events, Synchronized swimming at t ...

Summary

After a world-record breaking victory in the 400 m individual medley two days earlier, Hungary's

Katinka Hosszú Katinka Hosszú (; born 3 May 1989) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer specialized in individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympic champion and a nine-time long-course world champion. She is owner of a Budapest based swim school and swi ...

touched out the U.S. swimmer

Kathleen Baker Kathleen Baker (born February 28, 1997) is an American competition swimming (sport), swimmer who specializes in freestyle swimming, freestyle and backstroke swimming, backstroke events. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the Sw ...

at the home stretch to capture the sprint backstroke crown, and her second gold medal at these Games. Approaching the 50-metre lap, Baker pulled herself ahead of the field with a marginal lead, but Hosszú passed the American at the final 25-metre stretch to touch the wall first with a Hungarian record of 58.45. Falling three tenths of a second short of the Olympic title, Baker picked up the silver instead at 58.75. Meanwhile, Canada's

Kylie Masse Kylie Jacqueline Masse (born January 18, 1996) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic medallist, having tied for the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 m backstroke and then won silver medals at the ...

and China's

Fu Yuanhui Fu Yuanhui (; born January 7, 1996) is a Chinese competitive swimmer who specializes in backstroke. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke. Early life On January 7, 1996, Fu was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, C ...

tied for the bronze in a matching 58.76, breaking their national records respectively. Trailing Hosszú by a 0.35-second margin, Denmark's

Mie Nielsen Mie Østergaard Nielsen (born 25 September 1996) is a Danish former competitive swimmer who holds the Danish record in several backstroke events. Career Nielsen won her first international senior medals at the 2011 European Short Course Swimmin ...

finished off the podium with a fifth-place time in 58.80, while Baker's teammate

Olivia Smoliga Olivia Smoliga (born October 12, 1994) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in backstroke and freestyle events. She won a record eight gold medals at the 2018 World Championships, becoming the first swimmer, male or female, to wi ...

moved up to sixth with a 58.95. London 2012 silver medalist and reigning World champion

Emily Seebohm Emily Jane Seebohm, OAM (born 5 June 1992) is an Australian swimmer and television personality. She has appeared at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021; and won three Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and seven Commo ...

faded to seventh in 59.19, with fellow Australian swimmer

Madison Wilson Madison Maree Wilson, (born 31 May 1994) is an Australian competitive swimmer who has participated in backstroke and freestyle events at the Olympic Games and the FINA world championships. Wilson has been a member of three world record Austr ...

(59.23) finishing behind her by 0.04 of a second to round out the championship field. The medals for the competition were presented by

Frankie Fredericks Frank "Frankie" Fredericks (born 2 October 1967) is a former track and field athlete from Namibia. Running in the 100 metres and 200 metres, he won four silver medals at the Olympic Games (two in 1992 and two in 1996), making him Namibia's only ...

, Namibia, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Ben Ekumbo, Bureau Member of the

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

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

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics - Women's 100 metre backstroke Women's 00100 metre backstroke

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

2016 in women's swimming Women's events at the 2016 Summer Olympics