Coming from eighth place in the turn, she posted a time of 53.12 to edge out Australia's world record holder and top favorite Lisbeth Trickett by 0.04 of a second.

[2][3][4] She narrowly reached the final as the eighth seed, when China's Pang Jiaying was disqualified for a false start in the semifinals.

[6] Competing at her third straight Olympics with Steffen, Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppälä finished outside the medals in fourth place at 53.97.

[7] She was followed in fifth place by Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen (54.06), and host nation China's Zhu Yingwen, who shared a sixth-place tie with the Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis in 54.21.

* Split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay Note: Lisbeth Trickett advanced to the final only when Chinese swimmer Pang Jiaying, who had finished first in the semifinals, was disqualified for a false start.