Sarah Sjöström


Sarah Fredrika Sjöström is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialized in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is the current world record holder in the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle, the 200-meter freestyle, the 50-meter butterfly, and the 100-meter butterfly. She is the first Swedish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.
She won the Overall Swimming World Cup in 2017 and 2018 and she has won 10 individual World Championship gold medals. She currently represents Energy Standard in the International Swimming League.
Sjöström is the only female swimmer to win five individual medals at a single FINA World Aquatics Championships and as of 2019 she has won a total of 16 individual medals at long course World Championships, more than any other female swimmer in history. Only Michael Phelps has won more individual medals.

Career

On 22 March 2008, at the age of 14, she took the gold medal in women's 100 m butterfly at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. She was clocked for 58.44 seconds. In the semi-finals the day before, she set a new national record with 58.38 seconds, breaking Anna-Karin Kammerling's old one. At the Swedish championships in 2008 she swam at 58.55.
On 26 July 2009, at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Sjöström set a world record in the semifinals with a time of 56.44, surpassing Inge de Bruijn's nine-year-old record. On the next day, in the finals for the women's 100 m butterfly, she won the gold medal and improved her world record time to 56.06.
At the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, she defended her 2008 gold medal by winning the women's 100 m butterfly stroke.
At the 2013 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Herning, Denmark Sjöström won four individual and two team medals. On 5 July 2014 she broke the world record in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 24.43. The large margin of 0.64 seconds by which she broke the old record has been compared with Bob Beamon's 1968 long jump world record.
At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships she won five medals, including gold medals in the 50 m and 100 m butterfly events, during the latter she broke the world record twice. In 2015 she was awarded the Victoria Scholarship.
On 25 January 2016, Sjöström was awarded the Swedish public radio Jerring Award award for the second year in a row.

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Sjöström competed in four individual events, reaching the semi-finals of the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle, and finishing 4th in the final of the 100 m butterfly in a time of 57.17. Sjöström's world record was broken in this race by Dana Vollmer of the United States. In 2015 however Sjöström regained the world record by improving it twice at the world championships in Kazan.

2016 Summer Olympics

On 7 August 2016 Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics, setting a World record with a time of 55.48. When Sjöström went on to win silver and bronze medals in the 200 m and 100 m freestyle respectively, she became the second woman in history and the fifth swimmer overall, following Mark Spitz, Kornelia Ender, Matt Biondi and Michael Klim, to win medals in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and the 100 m butterfly at the same Olympiad, or World Championships.

2017

In January 2017, Sjöström competed in the 19th Luxembourg Euro Meet and won the 50 m freestyle event with a time of 24.01, the 100 m freestyle event with a time of 53.21, the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.02, and the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 57.12. In April 2017 Sjöström competed in the Stockholm Swim Open and won the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.63. She also won the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 56.26. She also won the 50 m freestyle event, setting a time of 23.83, the second fastest time ever. In the 100 m freestyle event she won first place with the time of 52.54, a new personal best and Swedish record.

2019

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Sjöström won five medals, the most for a woman in individual events at this Championships. She won a gold in 50 m butterfly, which is the third consecutive gold she has won in this event at the Championships; two silvers ; and two bronzes in 100m and 200m freestyle.
She was named FINA female swimmer of the meet, which she also won in 2017.
In the Autumn of 2019 she was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League competing for the Energy Standard International Swim Club of which she was co-captain. The team won the overall title in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December. At the first stop on the league in Indianapolis, USA she won the MVP title amassing 55.5 points over the competition, and after the final in Las Vegas, she was named overall MVP with 243.5 points over the season. During the inaugural ISL season she won the 50m Freestyle three time, the 100m Freestyle twice, the 50m Butterfly three times, and the 100m Butterfly in Indianapolis. She also won the 50m Freestyle Skins event three times - in.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Short course (25 m)

World records (50 m)

World records (25 m)

International championships (50 m)

International finals (50 m)

Only individual

Accomplishments

Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100 m butterfly at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on 7 August 2016, setting an Olympic and World record with a time of 55.48.
She also won a gold medal in 100 m butterfly in the World Championships in Rome 2009 and set the world record. She also participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics and finished 27th in the 100-meter butterfly and 29th in the 100-meter backstroke. She also participated in Sweden's 4×100-metre medley relay team. They managed to reach the final, but in the final they were disqualified for an over-long false start.