The women's 50-metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 3 to 4 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.

Sweden's Sarah Sjöström was the favourite going into the event and set a new Olympic record of 23.66 seconds in the semifinals to qualify as the top seed. In the final, Sjöström won gold, Australia's Meg Harris won silver, and China's Zhang Yufei won bronze, finishing ahead of Gretchen Walsh of the United States by 0.01 seconds. Slovenia's Neža Klančar set new national records in her heat, semifinal and in the final.

Background Three of the top four finishers in the event at the 2020 Games were not competing, including Australia's Emma McKeon, who had won the 2020 gold medal in Olympic record time of 23.81. SwimSwam and Swimming World opined that Sweden's Sarah Sjöström was the favourite, with her having set the world record of 23.61 at the 2023 World Swimming Championships and owning the 27 fastest times among all swimmers potentially competing in the race. Three days before the event started, Sjöström had won the 100 metre freestyle. The event was held at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT). For this event, the OQT was 24.70 seconds. World Aquatics then filled the rest of the event places with athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT. In total, 24 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, while 55 athletes qualified through universality places.

+ Top 10 fastest qualification times Swimmer Country Time Competition Sarah Sjöström 23.61 2023 World Aquatics Championships Katarzyna Wasick 23.95 2024 World Aquatics Championships Shayna Jack 23.99 2024 Australian Olympic Trials Gretchen Walsh 24.06 2024 United States Olympic Trials Simone Manuel 24.13 2024 United States Olympic Trials Zhang Yufei 24.15 2023 World Aquatics Championships Wu Qingfeng 24.22 2024 Chinese National Championships Meg Harris 24.26 2024 Australian Olympic Trials Michelle Coleman 24.43 2024 Sette Colli Trophy Taylor Ruck 24.50 2024 World Aquatics Championships

Heats Ten heats took place on 3 August 2024, starting at 11:00. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. Sjöström clocked 23.85 seconds, qualifying as the fastest seed with the only swim under 24 seconds. Katarzyna Wasick of Poland and Gretchen Walsh of the United States qualified with the second and third seeds, respectively. Simone Manuel from the United States, the 2016 silver medalist, did not qualify for the semifinals. Kenya's Maria Brunlehner set her country's national record at 25.82, Slovenia's Neža Klančar set a national record of 24.64, and Elizaveta Pecherskikh of Kyrgyzstan set a national record of 26.26.

María José Ribera from Bolivia, who had failed to qualify in 28th place, was disqualified after the International Testing Agency reported she had tested positive for furosemide, a prohibited substance.

+ Results Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 10 4 Sarah Sjöström 23.85 2 9 4 Katarzyna Wasick 24.27 3 10 5 Gretchen Walsh 24.37 4 8 4 Shayna Jack 24.38 5 9 3 Meg Harris 24.50 6 8 5 Zhang Yufei 24.54 7 8 3 Michelle Coleman 24.55 8 10 3 Wu Qingfeng 24.57 10 6 Taylor Ruck 10 8 6 Béryl Gastaldello 24.60 11 8 8 Julie Kepp Jensen 24.64 9 8 Neža Klančar , NR 13 8 2 Sara Curtis 24.67 14 8 7 Florine Gaspard 24.69 15 9 6 Anna Hopkin 24.72 9 7 Valerie van Roon 17 10 7 Theodora Drakou 24.80 18 9 1 Kim Busch 24.87 9 5 Simone Manuel 20 10 8 Kornelia Fiedkiewicz 24.94 21 8 1 Danielle Hill 25.02 22 10 2 Mélanie Henique 25.05 23 7 4 Jenjira Srisaard 25.18 24 9 2 Petra Senánszky 25.21 25 10 1 Jana Pavalic 25.24 26 7 5 Anicka Delgado 25.43 27 7 2 Maria Brunlehner 25.82 NR 28 7 3 María José Ribera 26.07 29 7 6 Sabrina Lyn 26.08 30 6 7 Elizaveta Pecherskikh 26.26NR 31 7 7 Rhanishka Gibbs 26.27 32 7 1 Mia Phiri 26.49 7 8 Chloë Farro 34 6 1 Adaku Nwandu 26.62NR 35 6 5 Mariam Sheikhalizadeh 26.76 36 6 3 Joselle Mensah 26.81 37 6 2 Anahira McCutcheon 26.88 38 6 4 Apsara Sakbun 26.90 39 6 8 Antsa Rabejaona 27.12NR 40 5 3 Jovana Kuljaca 27.19NR 41 5 7 Christina Rach 27.20 42 5 4 Kennice Aphenie Greene 27.23 43 6 6 Hana Beiqi 27.34 44 5 5 Georgia-Leigh Vele 27.61 45 5 2 Ionnah Eliane Douillet 27.64 46 4 4 Noelie Annette Lacour 27.68 47 5 6 Khema Elizabeth 28.18 48 5 1 Kaiya Brown 28.31 49 5 8 Sophia Latiff 28.42 50 4 3 Hayley Wong 28.52 51 4 5 Noelani Day 28.60 52 4 6 Kestra Kihleng 28.81NR 53 4 2 Ekaterina Bordachyova 28.85 NR 54 4 8 Loane Russet 28.86NR 55 4 7 Tayamika Chang'anamuno 29.32 56 4 1 Aishath Ulya Shaig 29.39 57 2 8 Maesha Saadi 29.60 58 3 4 Lois Eliora Irishura 29.63 59 3 3 Mayah Chouloute 29.78 60 3 1 Jasmine Schofield 29.91 61 3 2 Kaelyn Ciara Suryanti Djoparto 29.99 62 2 4 Kayla Hepler 30.33 3 7 Iman Kouraogo 64 3 6 Mst Sonia Khatun 30.52 3 8 Yuri Hosei 66 2 6 Grace Manuela Nguelo'O 30.98 67 3 5 Isabella Millar 31.32 68 2 5 Lina Alemayehu Selo 31.87 69 2 3 Djenabou Jolie Bah 31.90 NR 70 2 1 Lidwine Umuhoza Uwase 32.03 71 2 7 Imelda Ximenes Belo 32.48NR 72 2 2 Adele Sodalo Agnes Gaitou 32.50 73 1 3 Vanessa Bobimbo 33.01 74 1 5 Salima Ahmadou Youssoufou 33.66 75 1 4 Naima-Zahra Amison 33.69NR 76 1 6 Tracy Marine Andet 34.95 77 1 2 Aichata Diabate 37.55 78 1 7 Olamide Sam 42.87 79 1 1 Divine Miansadi Mpolo 44.10

Semifinals Two semifinals took place on 3 August, starting at 20:39. The swimmers with the best eight times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Sjöström qualified for the final with a time of 23.66, which broke the Olympic record by 0.15 seconds. Walsh qualified with the second seed, and Wasick qualified with the third. Australia's two swimmers, Harris and Shayna Jack, qualified, as did China's two swimmers Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng. Klančar qualified in seventh despite being initially seeded 23rd, setting another national record of 24.40 and becoming the first Slovenian Olympic finalist in swimming since Sara Isakovič in 2008.

+ Results Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 2 4 Sarah Sjöström 23.66 , OR 2 2 5 Gretchen Walsh 24.17 3 1 4 Katarzyna Wasick 24.23 4 1 3 Zhang Yufei 24.24 5 1 5 Shayna Jack 24.29 6 2 3 Meg Harris 24.33 7 1 6 Wu Qingfeng 24.40 1 7 Neža Klančar , NR 9 2 6 Michelle Coleman 24.47 10 2 8 Anna Hopkin 24.50 11 1 2 Béryl Gastaldello 24.66 12 1 8 Valerie van Roon 24.67 13 2 2 Taylor Ruck 24.72 14 2 1 Sara Curtis 24.77 15 1 1 Florine Gaspard 24.82 16 2 7 Julie Kepp Jensen 24.98

Final

The final took place at 18:30 on 4 August. Sjöström had the fastest reaction time of 0.61 seconds but, as she stated after the race, dove too deep and resurfaced at around 12 metres. Walsh had the slowest reaction time of 0.75, but her longer 15-metre underwater meant that she surfaced in first place, 0.12 ahead of Sjöström and 0.30 ahead of Zhang in third.

Walsh held her lead until 25 metres, where she was overtaken by Sjöström, who extended her lead over most of the field until the finish. At 25 metres, Jack had overtaken Zhang, placing her in third position, while Harris had the fastest split over the 15–25-metre segment which elevated her to fourth.

At the 45-metre mark, Sjöström was 0.34 ahead of the field. Harris had further elevated herself to second place and pushed Walsh to third, with Jack having dropped to seventh. Sjöström and Harris finished in first and second with times of 23.71 and 23.97, respectively. Zhang was 0.06 behind Walsh at the 45-metre mark, but she overtook her in the last five metres to take third by 0.01 with a time of 24.20. Klančar set another Slovenian record with 24.35.

+ Results Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Sarah Sjöström 23.71 7 Meg Harris 23.97 6 Zhang Yufei 24.20 4 5 Gretchen Walsh 24.21 5 3 Katarzyna Wasick 24.33 6 8 Neža Klančar 24.35 NR 7 1 Wu Qingfeng 24.37 8 2 Shayna Jack 24.39

+ Statistics Name Underwater distance (m) Underwater speed (m/s) 15 metre split (s) 25 metre split (s) Time (s) Stroke rate (strokes/min) Sarah Sjöström 12.35 3.10 6.00 10.98 23.71 61.8 Meg Harris 11.22 2.99 6.27 11.20 23.97 61.9 Zhang Yufei 13.01 2.93 6.18 11.20 24.20 63.2 Gretchen Walsh 15.47 3.02 5.88 10.98 24.21 53.8 Katarzyna Wasick 9.47 3.21 6.21 11.20 24.33 60.8 Neža Klančar 15.28 2.79 6.25 11.28 24.35 55.6 Wu Qingfeng 10.74 3.07 6.31 11.32 24.37 58.6 Shayna Jack 10.61 3.08 6.19 11.14 24.39 60.4

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