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

Women's 200 metre butterfly
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
VenueTokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates27 July 2021 (heats)
28 July 2021 (semifinals)
29 July 2021 (final)
Competitors16 from 13 nations
Winning time2:03.86 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Zhang Yufei  China
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Regan Smith  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hali Flickinger  United States
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2024 →
Swimming at the
2020 Summer Olympics
Sample picture of the event (unofficial)
Qualification
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mmenwomen
1500 mmenwomen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
4 × 200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4 × 100 mmenmixedwomen
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen

The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 27 to 29 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[edit]

China's Zhang Yufei commanded the race from the beginning to continue a strong run of Chinese dominance in the event, delivering the nation its third title in four Olympics. Rebounding from a narrow loss in the 100 m butterfly earlier in the week, Zhang similarly roared to an early lead, touching more than a second and a half ahead of the U.S.' Hali Flickinger at the halfway mark. While she began to tire in the latter half of the race, Zhang clocked a new Olympic record of 2:03.86 - the fastest performance in textile and quickest time in 12 years - to best the field and win gold.

While the American duo of Flickinger and Regan Smith battled for the silver, Smith fired off the fastest closing split in the field to edge her compatriot and record a personal best time of 2:05.30. Meanwhile Flickinger, the bronze medallist in the 400 m individual medley, could not hold off her teammate at the finish and settled for her second bronze at these Games in 2:05.65. Hungary's reigning World champion Boglárka Kapás (2:06.53) was 3-hundredths of a second off her national record to take fourth. More than a second back, ROC's Svetlana Chimrova (2:07.70) claimed fifth while Zhang's teammate Yu Liyan (2:07.85) took sixth. Great Britain's 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Alys Thomas (2:07.90) could not replicate her winning performance from those championships, taking the penultimate spot in the final. Australia's Brianna Throssell repeated her eighth-place finish from Rio five years earlier, touching in 2:09.48 - almost three seconds behind her personal best time.

The medals for the competition were presented by Costa Rica's Laura Chinchilla, IOC Member, and the gifts were presented by Kazakhstan's Andrey Kryukov, FINA Bureau Member.

Records[edit]

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

World record  Liu Zige (CHN) 2:01.81 Jinan, China 21 October 2009 [2][3]
Olympic record  Jiao Liuyang (CHN) 2:04.06 London, United Kingdom 1 August 2012 [4]

The following record was established during the competition:

Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record
29 July Final Zhang Yufei  China 2:03.86 OR

Qualification[edit]

Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 2:08.43. 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 2:12.28. 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[edit]

The competition consists 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[edit]

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

Date Time Round
27 July 19:25 Heats
28 July 10:57 Semifinals
29 July 11:28 Final

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

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

As Katinka Hosszú withdrew before the event, all sixteen remaining swimmers were guaranteed to qualify for the semi-finals.

Although FINA rules would have allowed the Heats to be scratched and two straight semi-finals held, the decision was made to keep the original schedule.

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 3 4 Zhang Yufei  China 2:07.50 Q
2 2 4 Hali Flickinger  United States 2:08.31 Q
3 1 5 Yu Liyan  China 2:08.36 Q
4 1 4 Regan Smith  United States 2:08.46 Q
5 3 5 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 2:08.58 Q
6 1 6 Svetlana Chimrova  ROC 2:08.84 Q
7 3 3 Laura Stephens  Great Britain 2:09.00 Q
8 2 6 Alys Thomas  Great Britain 2:09.06 Q
9 2 3 Brianna Throssell  Australia 2:09.34 Q
10 2 2 Helena Bach  Denmark 2:09.37 Q
11 3 6 Franziska Hentke  Germany 2:09.98 Q
12 1 2 Defne Taçyıldız  Turkey 2:10.00 Q
13 1 3 Suzuka Hasegawa  Japan 2:10.43 Q
14 3 2 Ana Monteiro  Portugal 2:11.45 Q
15 3 7 Remedy Rule  Philippines 2:12.23 Q
16 2 7 Julimar Ávila  Honduras 2:15.36 Q, NR
2 5 Katinka Hosszú  Hungary DNS

Semifinals[edit]

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

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 2 4 Zhang Yufei  China 2:04.89 Q
2 1 4 Hali Flickinger  United States 2:06.23 Q
3 2 3 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 2:06.59 Q
4 1 5 Regan Smith  United States 2:06.64 Q
5 2 5 Yu Liyan  China 2:07.04 Q
6 2 2 Brianna Throssell  Australia 2:08.41 Q
7 1 3 Svetlana Chimrova  ROC 2:08.62 Q
8 1 6 Alys Thomas  Great Britain 2:09.07 Q
9 2 1 Suzuka Hasegawa  Japan 2:09.42
10 2 6 Laura Stephens  Great Britain 2:09.49
11 1 1 Ana Monteiro  Portugal 2:09.82
12 1 2 Helena Bach  Denmark 2:10.05
13 2 7 Franziska Hentke  Germany 2:10.89
14 1 7 Defne Taçyıldız  Turkey 2:11.27
15 2 8 Remedy Rule  Philippines 2:12.89
16 1 8 Julimar Ávila  Honduras 2:16.38

Final[edit]

[9]

Rank Lane Name Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Zhang Yufei  China 2:03.86 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 Regan Smith  United States 2:05.30
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Hali Flickinger  United States 2:05.65
4 3 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 2:06.53
5 1 Svetlana Chimrova  ROC 2:07.70
6 2 Yu Liyan  China 2:07.85
7 8 Alys Thomas  Great Britain 2:07.90
8 7 Brianna Throssell  Australia 2:09.48

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Chinese National Games: Liu Zige Shocks World With Astounding 200 Fly World Record". Swimming World Magazine. 21 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Chinese Olympic champion Liu Zige breaks women's 200m butterfly world record". People's Daily. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ^ "2012 London Olympics: China's Jiao Liuyang Goes Silver-to-Gold With Olympic Record in Women's 200 Fly; Kathleen Hersey, Cammile Adams Miss Podium". Swimming World Magazine. 1 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. 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 23 August 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Semifinals results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
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