The women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place on 4 and 6 August at the Empire Pool.[1] This swimming event used freestyle as a relay, with swimmers typically using the front crawl. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each of the four swimmers completed two lengths of the pool. The first swimmer had to touch the wall before the second could leave the starting block; timing of the starts was thus important.
Marie Corridon Thelma Kalama Brenda Helser Ann Curtis | Eva Arndt Karen Harup Greta Andersen Fritze Carstensen | Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher Margot Marsman Marie-Louise Linssen-Vaessen Hannie Termeulen |
| Place | width=620 | Swimmers | width=90 | Time | width=90 | Qual. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:33.5 | |||||
| 2 | 4:34.1 | |||||
| 3 | 4:36.1 | |||||
| 4 | 4:50.0 | |||||
| 5 | 4:59.5 | |||||
| 6 | 5:04.5 |
| Place | width=620 | Swimmers | width=90 | Time | width=90 | Qual. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:31.3 | |||||
| 2 | 4:38.5 | |||||
| 3 | 4:47.5 | |||||
| 4 | 4:51.4 | |||||
| 5 | 4:54.9 |
| Place | width=620 | Swimmers | width=90 | Time | width=90 | Qual. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4:29.2 | OR | |||||
| 4:29.6 | ||||||
| 4:31.6 | ||||||
| 4 | 4:34.7 | |||||
| 5 | 4:44.8 | |||||
| 6 | 4:49.1 | |||||
| 7 | 4:49.8 | |||||
| DQ |