Melanie Costa Schmid (ESP) wins thrilling gold in the 400m free

As in the men’s event, the absence of French stars, in this case Camille Muffat (world record holder since November 24), dictated an open race, with the first 350 metres being dominated by Lauren Boyle (NZL) and Elena Sokolova (RUS), with some advantage to the New Zealander, clear leader from the 200m to the 350m-mark. In lane 3, Melanie Costa Schmid (ESP) was following the leaders in third, but in the last 25m, a successful final acceleration gave her the gold in 4:01.08. Sokolova lost some speed and allowed Chloe Sutton (USA) to get silver in 4:01.20, while Boyle touched third for bronze in 4:01.24. The best results of the Spanish swimmer until Istanbul had been three medals at the 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships, while Sutton was third in Istanbul in the 800m free, an event won precisely Boyle.

World Record: Camille Muffat (FRA), 3:54.85 – November 24, 2012 in Chartres (FRA)
Championships Record: Katie Hoff (USA), 3:57.07 – December 17, 2010 in Dubai (UAE)
Best performance of the current season (since August 2012): Camille Muffat (FRA, 3:54.85 – November in Chartres, FRA) 
Last five (2002-2010) winners in this event: 2002 - Yana Klochkova (UKR, 4:01.26); 2004 - Kaitlin Sandeno (USA, 4:02.01); 2006 - Kate Ziegler (USA, 4:01.79); 2008 - Kylie Palmer (AUS, 3:59.23; 2010 - Katie Hoff (USA, 3:57.07)
The best in this event (1. most victories or 2. fastest time): Claudia Poll (CRC, 1995 & 1997)