Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

Did You Know?

• 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.

Summary

Katie Ledecky, a long-distance specialist from the United States, launched a fierce assault on her own world record to claim the women's 400-metre freestyle gold medal on August 7, 2016, at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. She became the first American to win this event since Brooke Bennett did so in 2000. From the very start, Ledecky was two seconds ahead of world-record pace, and she kept pulling away from the field, ultimately shattering her own mark with a winning time of 3:56.46.

Nearly five seconds behind, Great Britain’s Jazmin Carlin held off a strong challenge from Ledecky’s teammate Leah Smith on the final lap to take silver in 4:01.23. Smith, fading in the closing meters, settled for bronze with a 4:01.92. Hungary’s Boglárka Kapás, swimming from lane eight, finished fourth in a national record of 4:02.37. Canada’s Brittany MacLean came fifth at 4:04.69.

Australia’s Tamsin Cook and Jessica Ashwood placed sixth and seventh, separated by just 0.4 seconds, with times of 4:05.30 and 4:05.68. France’s three-time Olympian Coralie Balmy rounded out the top eight in 4:06.98. In the preliminary heats earlier that day, Ledecky set an Olympic record of 3:58.71, becoming the first woman to break the four-minute barrier at the Games. That time knocked 2.74 seconds off the previous Olympic mark set in 2012 by France’s Camille Muffat, the reigning champion, who died in a helicopter crash in March 2015.

Nita Ambani of India, an IOC member, presented the medals, while Dr. Margo Mountjoy, a FINA Bureau Member, handed out the gifts. The competition involved two rounds: heats and a final, with the eight fastest swimmers from the heats advancing.