The women's 300 metre freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

was a swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, ten swimming events were contested. The women's 300 metre freestyle event was new since the previous Games in 1912. The competitions were held from Sunday August 22, 1920 to Sunday August 29, 1920...

 programme. It was the first appearance of the event, which was later adjusted to 400 metres to match the men's competition.

A total of 16 swimmers from seven nations competed in the event, which was held on Thursday, August 26 and on Saturday, August 28, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	4:56.2	Fanny Durack Fanny Durack Sarah Frances "Fanny" Durack was an Australian swimmer. From 1910 until 1918 she was the world's greatest female swimmer of all distances from freestyle sprints to the mile marathon.-Life and career:...	?	1912
Olympic Record	-	none	-	-

In the first semi-final Ethelda Bleibtrey

Ethelda Bleibtrey

Ethelda Bleibtrey was a swimmer from the United States notable for winning three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.Bleibtrey started swimming to help recover from polio, which she caught in 1917...

set a new world record with 4:41.4 minutes. She bettered her own record in the final with 4:34.0 minutes.

Semifinals

Thursday, August 26, 1920: The fastest two in each semi-final and the fastest third-placed from across the semi-finals advanced.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		4:41.4	Q WR
2		4:57.8	Q
3		5:07.0
4		5:07.2
5

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		4:56.6	Q
2		5:04.6	Q
3		5:04.8	q
4
5

Semifinal 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		5:02.0	Q
2		5:03.2	Q
3		5:29.6
4		5:33.0
5
6

Final

Saturday, August 28, 1920:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		4:34.0 WR
2		4:42.8
3		4:52.0
4		4:52.4
5
6
7