| | Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	30 July – 2 August 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Participants	34 from 14 countries

Denmark had emerged as a force in women’s swimming over the previous decade and, although Ragnhild Hveger had retired, they had three strong contenders for gold including European champion Fritze Carstensen. The preliminaries saw the youngest of the Danes, Greta Andersen, and Ann Curtis of the USA provide the most impressive performances and they would battle for gold in the final. Although Curtis, who was better over longer distances, kept close to Andersen throughout the Danish swimmer maintained a slender lead and became her nation’s first ever gold medallist in swimming. Andersen later turned professional and became a specialist English Channel swimmer. She set a record for the England to France swim in 1964.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	421	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:07.0 (2 h4)	1:05.9 (1 h1)	1:06.3 (1)	Gold
2	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:06.9 (1 h4)	1:07.6 (1 h2)	1:06.5 (2)	Silver
3	432	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:07.5 (2 h2)	1:08.4 (2 h2)	1:07.6 (3)	Bronze
4	423	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.4 (2 h3)	1:08.7 (5 h2)	1:08.1 (4)
5	438	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.1 (1 h5)	1:08.4 (3 h2)	1:08.4 (5)
6	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:07.9 (1 h1)	1:07.7 (3 h1)	1:08.4 (6)
7	437	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.7 (1 h3)	1:08.6 (4 h2)	1:08.8 (7)
8	422	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:06.5 (1 h2)	1:07.5 (2 h1)	1:09.1 (8)
9	443	Marie Corridon	USA	1:08.4 (2 h5)	1:08.9 (4 h1)	–
10	428	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:09.0 (3 h5)	1:09.3 (6 h2)	–
=11	439	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:09.0 (3 h4)	1:09.5 (5 h1)	–
=11	417	Piedade Coutinho-Tavares	BRA	1:08.6 (4 h3)	1:09.5 (7 h2)	–
=13	412	Marjory McQuade	AUS	1:08.5 (3 h3)	1:09.6 (6 h1)	–
=13	427	Pat Nielsen	GBR	1:09.4 (5 h3)	1:09.6 (7 h1)	–
15	435	Judit Temes	HUN	1:08.3 (2 h1)	1:09.7 (8 h1)	–
16	441	Brenda Helser	USA	1:09.0 (3 h1)	1:10.0 (8 h2)	–
17	424	Josette Arène	FRA	1:09.7 (4 h1)	–	–
=18	429	Margaret Wellington	GBR	1:09.8 (4 h4)	–	–
=18	431	Hannie Termeulen	NED	1:09.8 (4 h5)	–	–
20	413	Denise Spencer	AUS	1:10.0 (3 h2)	–	–
21	–	Eleonora Schmitt	BRA	1:10.8 (4 h2)	–	–
22	411	Eileen Holt	ARG	1:12.0 (5 h1)	–	–
=23	414	Fernande Caroen	BEL	1:12.1 (5 h5)	–	–
=23	425	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:12.1 (6 h3)	–	–
25	436	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:12.5 (6 h1)	–	–
26	434	Mária Littomeritzky	HUN	1:13.0 (5 h2)	–	–
27	–	Kay McNamee	CAN	1:13.3 (5 h4)	–	–
28	419	Irene Strong	CAN	1:13.5 (6 h5)	–	–
29	426	Gisèle Vallerey	FRA	1:14.0 (7 h5)	–	–
30	410	Enriqueta Duarte	ARG	1:14.9 (7 h3)	–	–
31	433	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	1:15.8 (6 h4)	–	–
32	415	Maria da Costa	BRA	1:16.0 (7 h4)	–	–
33	409	Adriana Camelli	ARG	1:16.5 (6 h2)	–	–
34	440	Marianne Erismann	SUI	1:19.9 (7 h1)	–	–
DNS	420	Vivian King	CAN	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One

Date	30 July 1948 — 19:00
Format	Top two in each heat and the next six fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:06.5	Q
2	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:06.9	Q
3	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:07.0	Q
4	–	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:07.5	Q
5	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:07.9	Q
6	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.1	Q
7	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:08.3	Q
=8	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.4	Q
=8	–	Marie Corridon	USA	1:08.4	Q
10	–	Marjory McQuade	AUS	1:08.5	q
11	–	Piedade Coutinho-Tavares	BRA	1:08.6	q
12	–	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.7	Q	1
=13	–	Brenda Helser	USA	1:09.0	q
=13	–	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:09.0	q
=13	–	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:09.0	q
16	–	Pat Nielsen	GBR	1:09.4	q
17	–	Josette Arène	FRA	1:09.7
=18	–	Margaret Wellington	GBR	1:09.8
=18	–	Hannie Termeulen	NED	1:09.8
20	–	Denise Spencer	AUS	1:10.0
21	–	Eleonora Schmitt	BRA	1:10.8
22	–	Eileen Holt	ARG	1:12.0
=23	–	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:12.1
=23	–	Fernande Caroen	BEL	1:12.1
25	–	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:12.5
26	–	Mária Littomeritzky	HUN	1:13.0
27	–	Kay McNamee	CAN	1:13.3
28	–	Irene Strong	CAN	1:13.5
29	–	Gisèle Vallerey	FRA	1:14.0
30	–	Enriqueta Duarte	ARG	1:14.9
31	–	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	1:15.8
32	–	Maria da Costa	BRA	1:16.0
33	–	Adriana Camelli	ARG	1:16.5
34	–	Marianne Erismann	SUI	1:19.9
DNS	–	Vivian King	CAN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:07.9	Q
2	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:08.3	Q
3	–	Brenda Helser	USA	1:09.0	q
4	–	Josette Arène	FRA	1:09.7
5	–	Eileen Holt	ARG	1:12.0
6	–	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:12.5
7	–	Marianne Erismann	SUI	1:19.9

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:06.5	Q
2	–	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:07.5	Q
3	–	Denise Spencer	AUS	1:10.0
4	–	Eleonora Schmitt	BRA	1:10.8
5	–	Mária Littomeritzky	HUN	1:13.0
6	–	Adriana Camelli	ARG	1:16.5
DNS	–	Vivian King	CAN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.7	Q	2
2	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.4	Q
3	–	Marjory McQuade	AUS	1:08.5	q
4	–	Piedade Coutinho-Tavares	BRA	1:08.6	q
5	–	Pat Nielsen	GBR	1:09.4	q
6	–	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:12.1
7	–	Enriqueta Duarte	ARG	1:14.9

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:06.9	Q
2	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:07.0	Q
3	–	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:09.0	q
4	–	Margaret Wellington	GBR	1:09.8
5	–	Kay McNamee	CAN	1:13.3
6	–	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	1:15.8
7	–	Maria da Costa	BRA	1:16.0

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.1	Q
2	–	Marie Corridon	USA	1:08.4	Q
3	–	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:09.0	q
4	–	Hannie Termeulen	NED	1:09.8
5	–	Fernande Caroen	BEL	1:12.1
6	–	Irene Strong	CAN	1:13.5
7	–	Gisèle Vallerey	FRA	1:14.0

Semi-Finals

Date	31 July 1948 — 19:00
Format	Top two in each heat and the next four fastest advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:05.9	QOR
2	–	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:07.5	Q
3	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:07.6	Q
4	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:07.7	q
=5	–	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:08.4	Q
=5	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.4	q
7	–	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.6	q
8	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.7	q
9	–	Marie Corridon	USA	1:08.9
10	–	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:09.3
=11	–	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:09.5
=11	–	Piedade Coutinho-Tavares	BRA	1:09.5
=13	–	Marjory McQuade	AUS	1:09.6
=13	–	Pat Nielsen	GBR	1:09.6		3
15	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:09.7
16	–	Brenda Helser	USA	1:10.0

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:05.9	QOR
2	–	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:07.5	Q
3	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:07.7	q
4	–	Marie Corridon	USA	1:08.9
5	–	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:09.5
6	–	Marjory McQuade	AUS	1:09.6
7	–	Pat Nielsen	GBR	1:09.6		4
8	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:09.7

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:07.6	Q
2	–	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:08.4	Q
3	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.4	q
4	–	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.6	q
5	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.7	q
6	–	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:09.3
7	–	Piedade Coutinho-Tavares	BRA	1:09.5
8	–	Brenda Helser	USA	1:10.0

Final Round

Date	2 August 1948 — 19:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:06.3
2	–	Ann Curtis	USA	1:06.5
3	–	Marie-Louise Vaessen	NED	1:07.6
4	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:08.1
5	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.4
6	–	Irma Schuhmacher	NED	1:08.4
7	–	Elisabeth Ahlgren	SWE	1:08.8
8	–	Fritze Carstensen	DEN	1:09.1