The women's 400 metre freestyle 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 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

U.S. distance ace

Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky's six individual gold medals at ...

put together a powerful attack on her existing world record to become the first Olympic champion in the event for the Americans, since

Brooke Bennett Brooke Marie Bennett (born May 6, 1980) is an American former competition swimmer and three-time Olympic champion. Swimming career 1996 Summer Olympics ' Bennett's first gold medal came in the 800-meter freestyle race at the 1996 Summer Olymp ...

topped the podium in 2000. Leading from the start, Ledecky quickly dropped two seconds under a world-record pace, as she pulled away further from the field to smash her own record with a gold-medal time in 3:56.46. Trailing the leader by almost five seconds, Great Britain's distance-freestyle swimmer

Jazmin Carlin Jazmin Roxy "Jazz" Carlin (born 17 September 1990) is a former British competitive swimmer, who previously represented Wales and the Great Britain swimming team. She competed primarily in endurance freestyle events, and was based at the Univer ...

fought off a tight battle against Ledecky's teammate Leah Smith on the final lap for the silver in 4:01.23. Meanwhile, Smith faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze with a 4:01.92.

Boglárka Kapás Boglárka Kapás (; born 22 April 1993) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer. She is the world champion ( 2019 Gwangju) in 200 m butterfly and a bronze medallist at the Olympic Games ( 2016 Rio de Janeiro) in 800 m freestyle. Career Kapás won ...

missed the podium in fourth with a Hungarian record of 4:02.37 from the outside lane, while Canada's

Brittany MacLean Brittany MacLean (born March 3, 1994) is a Canadian retired competitive swimmer who has represented her country in the Summer Olympics and other international championships. She won a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay at ...

posted a fifth-place time in 4:04.69. Australian duo

Tamsin Cook Tamsin Cook (born 25 December 1998) is an Australian swimmer and the former junior world champion in the 400-meter freestyle. After a neck injury in 2018 she retired from swimming, but returned in 2020 and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic ...

(4:05.30) and

Jessica Ashwood Jessica Ashwood (born 28 April 1993) is an Australian competitive swimmer who was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 800-metre freestyle event, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics. Early life Ashwood was born ...

(4:05.68) kept a close race to take the sixth and seventh spots respectively, separated by a 0.4-second margin. France's three-time Olympian

Coralie Balmy Coralie Balmy (born 8 June 1987) is a French freestyle swimmer. Balmy was born in La Trinité, Martinique. She won her first senior title at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven in the 4 × 200 m relay freestyle. At the same ...

rounded out the top eight with a 4:06.98. Earlier in the prelims, Ledecky opened her first individual race of the Games with a new Olympic record of 3:58.71 to immediately lock the top seed for the final, clearing a four-minute barrier at the Games for the first time, and slashing 2.74 seconds off the mark set in London 2012 by reigning champion

Camille Muffat Camille Muffat (; 28 October 1989 – 9 March 2015) was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career ran from 2005 ...

of France, who was killed on a helicopter crash in March 2015. The medals for the competition were presented by

Nita Ambani Nita Mukesh Ambani (''née'' Dalal, born 1 November 1963) is an Indian philanthropist. She is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School and a director of Reliance Industries. She is married to ...

, India, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Dr. Margo Mountjoy, 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. The following records were established during the competition:

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

The heats began 2:28 pm.

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre freestyle Women's 00400 metre freestyle

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