[1] Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjöström overturned her own existing world record to become the country's first Olympic champion in the pool since Lars Frölander topped the podium on the male counterpart of this event in 2000.

She maintained an enormous lead from the start to capture her first Olympic gold medal with a 55.48, shaving 0.16 seconds off from her own world record.

[2][3] Canada's 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak came from third at the initial length to smash a new junior World and Canadian record for the silver in 56.46, touching out U.S. swimmer and reigning Olympic titleholder Dana Vollmer, who claimed the bronze in 56.63, by just 0.17 of a second.

[4][5] Chinese teammates Chen Xinyi (56.72) and London 2012 runner-up Lu Ying (56.76) picked up the fourth and fifth spots respectively, separated by 0.04-second margin.

[6] Earlier in the semifinals, Sjöström established a new Olympic record time of 55.84 to take the top seed for a historic finale, slicing 0.14 seconds off from the standard held by Vollmer at the previous Games.