2018 FINA World Cup Kazan: Sjostrom Rocks 23.83 Series Record

2018 FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – KAZAN

• Friday, September 7th – Sunday, September 9th
• Aquatics Palace, Kazan, Russia
• LCM
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Entries List
• Results

While competing on day 1 of the first stop of the 2018 FINA World Cup Series, Swedish speedster Sarah Sjostrom fired off a new series record in the women’s 50m freestyle. After establishing herself as the top seed with a morning effort of 24.39, the 25-year-old fired off a finals time of 23.83 to not only snag gold, but overtake the previous World Cup Record of 24.30 set by Aussie Cate Campbell back in 2015.

Sjostrom has already been as fast as 23.74 in this sprint event in 2018, a time that rendered her the winner of the European Championships gold over rival and Olympic champion Pernille Blume from Denmark. Blume fell just .01 shy of Sjostrom in that Glasgow race, finishing in 23.75.

In tonight’s outing in Kazan, Sjostrom’s 23.83 represented the only sub-24 second result of the field, with Dutch racers Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Femke Heemskerk taking respective silver and bronze in times of 24.55 and 24.64.

The 23.83 seen tonight in Kazan ranks as the 8th fastest performance ever, tying Sjostrom with her own exact mark from the 2017 Swim Open in Stockholm. Sjostrom set the World Record in this 50m free event en route to 2017 World Championships gold – 23.67.

8 Fastest women’s 50m freestyle performances ever:

1. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 23.67, 2017 Budapest
2. Britta Steffen, GER, 23.73, 2009 Rome
3. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 23.74, 2018 Glasgow
4. Pernille Blume, DEN, 23.75, 2018 Glasgow
5. Cate Campbell, AUS, 23.78, 2018 Gold Coast
6. Cate Campbell, AUS, 23.79, 2018 Gold Coast
7. Cate Campbell, AUS, 23.81, 2018 Tokyo
8. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 23.83, 2017 Stockholm & 2018 Kazan