[1] Spain's Mireia Belmonte stormed home on the final lap to upgrade her silver from London 2012 with an Olympic title in this event, writing a historic milestone to become the country's first female swimming champion.

[2] Closing the gap between herself and Madeline Groves at the 150-metre turn, she pipped the Australian challenger with a half-stroke swim on the final stretch to a striking gold-medal triumph in 2:04.85.

[5] Meanwhile, Japan's Natsumi Hoshi delivered a powerful back-half strategy to hold on the two leaders and repeat her bronze-medal feat from London 2012 in 2:05.20.

[6][7] Swimming in lane eight, Cammile Adams of the United States missed out on the podium by seven tenths of a second, as she moved up from the outside to fourth with a lifetime best of 2:05.90.

[7] Notable swimmers missed the final roster, including British duo Hannah Miley and Aimee Willmott, Germany's Franziska Hentke, the reigning European champion, and Hungary's Katinka Hosszú, who later scratched the afternoon prelims to prepare herself instead for a historic medley double that happened in the evening session of the same day.