title: Swimming at the 1959 Pan American Games – Women's 100 metre freestyle
text: # 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 (preliminaries) and 4 September (finals). 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 | United States | 1:04.2 | Q, GR |
  | 2 | 2 | Joan Spillane | United States | 1:05.3 | Q |
  | 3 | 1 | Molly Botkin | United States | 1:06.2 | Q |
  | 4 | 2 | Margaret Iwasaki | Canada | 1:06.3 | Q |
  | 5 | 1 | Blanca Barrón | Mexico | 1:07.6 | Q |
  | 6 | 1 | Maria Luísa Sousa | Mexico | 1:08.2 | Q |
  | 7 | 1 | Helen Hunt | Canada | 1:08.5 | Q |
  | 8 | 2 | Sandra Scott | Canada | 1:09.4 | Q |
  | - | - | Maria Teixeira | Brazil | 1:11.6 | |
  | - | - | Glória Funaro | Brazil | 1:11.9 | |
  | - | - | Lílian Moreira | Brazil | 1:12.8 | |
  
  ### Final
  
  The final was held on September 4.
  
  | Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | | Chris von Saltza | United States | 1:03.8 | GR |
  | | Molly Botkin | United States | 1:05.7 | |
  | | Joan Spillane | United States | 1:05.8 | |
  | 4 | Margaret Iwasaki | Canada | 1:06.0 | |
  | 5 | Blanca Barrón | Mexico | 1:08.5 | |
  | 6 | Maria Luísa Sousa | Mexico | 1:08.8 | |
  | 6 | Sandra Scott | Canada | 1:08.8 | |
  | 8 | - | - | - | |
  