Sjostrom Back To Form With 100 Free Olympic Record Lead-off

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
  • Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
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The women’s 4x100m freestyle relay concluded the first finals session of these 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and it was a sight to behold. The Australian foursome of Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell combined to fire off a monster collective effort of 3:29.69, breaking the World Record en route to gold.

Further down the line, however, was the Swedish squad, who shot out to the lead on the first leg, courtesy of Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom.

27-year-old Sjostrom had already raced in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m fly tonight, posting the 4th fastest time of 56.40 to make the final. But she then prepared to lead-off her team’s 400 free relay where she did additional damage to the tune of a 52.62 lead-off leg.

Splitting 25.61/27.01, Sjostrom roared to the wall in a new Olympic record-setting effort. Her split of 52.62 shaved .08 off of the previous Olympic standard of 52.70, a mark set by dual Olympic champions Simone Manual of the United States and Penny Oleksiak of Canada when they tied for gold in Rio.

Sweden ultimately finished in 7th place in this women’s 400 free relay final in a time of 3:34.69.

Sjostrom owns the World Record in the individual 100m free with the 51.71 she produced at the 2017 FINA World Championships. Despite her leadoff this evening sitting nearly a second off that result, the fact that the Swede is displaying this kind of speed early on bodes very well for her elbow recovery.

As a reminder, Sjostrom broke her elbow earlier this year and wasn’t sure what kind of shape she’d be in for these Games. However, taking on a double tonight, she logged the fastest 100m fly time since her surgery and now registered an Olympic Record, so it appears the speedster is in fine shape for these Tokyo Games.