The women's 100 metre backstroke

Backstroke

The backstroke, also sometimes called the back crawl, is one of the four swimming styles regulated by FINA, and the only regulated style swum on the back. This has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimmers not being able to see where they are going. It is also the only...

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 1928 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics

At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Saturday August 4, 1928 to Saturday August 11, 1928.There were 182 participants from 28 countries competing...

 programme. It was the second appearance of the event, which was established in 1924. The competition was held on Thursday August 9, 1928 and on Saturday August 11, 1928.

Twelve swimmers from seven nations competed.

Medalists

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:22.0	Willy den Turk	Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...  (NED Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... )	July 10, 1927
Olympic Record	1:23.2	Sybil Bauer Sybil Bauer Sybil Bauer was an American swimmer.Bauer attended Schurz High School in Chicago, Illinois and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. From 1921 to 1926, she set twenty-three world records in women's swimming, mostly in the backstroke...	Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...  (FRA France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... )	July 20, 1924

In the first heat Ellen King

Ellen King

Ellen Elizabeth King was a Scottish swimmer who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1930 British Empire Games...

 equalized the world record with 1:22.0 minutes. In the second heat Marie Braun

Marie Braun

Maria Johanna Philipsen-Braun was a Dutch swimmer. She won the gold medal in the women's 100 meter backstroke at the 1928 Summer Olympics....

bettered the world record to 1:21.6 minutes.

Heats

Thursday August 9, 1928: The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced to the final.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		1:22.0	QF =WR
2		1:24.0	QF
3		1:25.4	qf

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		1:21.6	QF WR
2		1:23.0	QF
3		1:27.8
4

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		1:23.6	QF
2		1:24.2	QF
3		1:26.2
4		1:31.5
5

Final

Saturday August 11, 1928:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		1:22.0
2		1:22.2
3		1:22.8
4		1:24.2
5		1:24.4
		1:24.4
7		1:24.4