| Event: | Women's 100 metre backstroke |
| Games: | 1968 Summer |
| Venue: | Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez |
| Date: | 22 October 1968 (heats & semi-finals) 23 October 1968 (final) |
| Competitors: | 41 |
| Nations: | 24 |
| Win Value: | 1:06.2 (WR) |
| Gold: | Kaye Hall |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Elaine Tanner |
| Silvernoc: | CAN |
| Bronze: | Jane Swagerty |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 1964 |
The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place between 22 and 23 October.[1] This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:10.2 | ||||
| 2 | 1:10.2 | ||||
| 3 | 1:10.5 | ||||
| 4 | 1:12.5 | ||||
| 5 | 1:13.0 | ||||
| 6 | 1:14.5 | ||||
| 7 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:09.9 | ||||
| 2 | 1:10.2 | ||||
| 3 | 1:11.3 | ||||
| 4 | 1:11.8 | ||||
| 5 | 1:13.8 | ||||
| 6 | 1:14.1 | ||||
| 7 | 1:20.5 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:07.6 | ||||
| 2 | 1:09.4 | ||||
| 3 | 1:10.7 | ||||
| 4 | 1:11.6 | ||||
| 5 | 1:12.6 | ||||
| 6 | 1:17.7 | ||||
| 7 | 1:19.2 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:10.5 | ||||
| 2 | 1:11.7 | ||||
| 3 | 1:11.8 | ||||
| 4 | 1:12.4 | ||||
| 5 | 1:13.0 | ||||
| 6 | 1:15.9 | ||||
| 7 | 1:21.5 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:10.4 | ||||
| 2 | 1:11.3 | ||||
| 3 | 1:11.6 | ||||
| 4 | 1:13.5 | ||||
| 5 | 1:15.2 | ||||
| 6 | 1:17.8 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:09.8 | ||||
| 2 | 1:10.0 | ||||
| 3 | 1:11.9 | ||||
| 4 | 1:11.9 | ||||
| 5 | 1:12.0 | ||||
| 6 | 1:15.3 | ||||
| 7 | 1:16.0 |
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:09.0 | ||||
| 2 | 1:09.6 | ||||
| 3 | 1:10.1 | ||||
| 4 | 1:10.2 | ||||
| 5 | 1:10.6 | ||||
| 6 | 1:10.8 | ||||
| 7 | 1:11.0 | ||||
| 8 | 1:11.0 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:07.4 | ||||
| 2 | 1:08.2 | ||||
| 3 | 1:08.6 | ||||
| 4 | 1:09.0 | ||||
| 5 | 1:09.9 | ||||
| 6 | 1:10.7 | ||||
| 7 | 1:10.8 | ||||
| 8 | 1:12.1 |
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:06.2 | WR | ||||
| 1:06.7 | |||||
| 1:08.1 | |||||
| 4 | 1:08.3 | ||||
| 5 | 1:09.1 | ||||
| 6 | 1:09.1 | ||||
| 7 | 1:09.3 | ||||
| 8 | 1:10.6 |
Key: WR = World record