Swimming at the 1959 Pan American Games – Women's 100 metre freestyle
The women's 100 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 1959 Pan American Games took place on 1 September and 4 September. The last Pan American Games champion was Helen Stewart of Canada.
This race consisted of two lengths of the pool, both lengths being in freestyle.Results
All times are in minutes and seconds.
| KEY: | q | Fastest non-qualifiers | Q | Qualified | GR | Games record | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |
Heats
The first round was held on September 1.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Chris von Saltza | | 1:04.2 | Q, GR |
| 2 | 2 | Joan Spillane | | 1:05.3 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Molly Botkin | | 1:06.2 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Margaret Iwasaki | | 1:06.3 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Blanca Barrón | | 1:07.6 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Maria Luísa Sousa | | 1:08.2 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Helen Hunt | | 1:08.5 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Sandra Scott | | 1:09.4 | Q |
| - | - | Maria Teixeira | | 1:11.6 | |
| - | - | Glória Funaro | | 1:11.9 | |
| - | - | Lílian Moreira | | 1:12.8 | |
Final
The final was held on September 4.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Chris von Saltza | | 1:03.8 | GR |
| Molly Botkin | | 1:05.7 | |
| Joan Spillane | | 1:05.8 | |
| 4 | Margaret Iwasaki | | 1:06.0 | |
| 5 | Blanca Barrón | | 1:08.5 | |
| 6 | Maria Luísa Sousa | | 1:08.8 | |
| 6 | Sandra Scott | | 1:08.8 | |
| 8 | - | - | - | |
