Sjostrom Flexes Her Muscles In Eindhoven Winning The 50 Freestyle And 100 Butterfly

Since Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden won the 100 butterfly at the World Championships in Barcelona last summer she has been on a tear, which continued today at the Swim Cup in Eindhoven.

On the first evening of the competition Sjostrom took the 50 freestyle title away from Olympic Champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo posting a 24.15 the second fastest time in the world next to Australian Cate Campbell’s 24.13. Her winning time was a lifetime best by three tenths of a second. Kromowidjojo, who took gold in the event in Barcelona, finished in a time of 24.35 which places her third in the world rankings.

Danish star Pernille Blume and Inge Dekker of the Netherlands tied for the bronze both posting a time of 24.73. They also matched the time of Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belrus putting all three women in a deadlock for the seventh position in the world rankings.

Sjostrom also won the 100 butterfly in a time of 57.01. She failed to match her season’s best of 56.53, which tops the world’s rankings, but is the second fastest time done in the world this year. Dekker finished second in a lifetime best of 57.33 beating her previous best of 57.62 which she posted in 2011. Her time also puts her third in the world rankings.

Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark picked up the bronze posting a season’s best of 57.78 which places fifth in the world rankings.

In the women’s 200 IM it was no surprise to see Dutch swimmer Femke Heemskerk came away with the victory, but it was a surprise that she posted a time of 2:10.21. Heemskerk broke her own Dutch national record by almost three seconds, better the mark of 2:12.93 which she posted in February. She takes over the second position in the world rankings with only Alicia Coutts (2:08.89) having swum faster.

Austrian Lisa Zaiser finished second in a time of 2:12.33 followed by Wendy van der Zanden who posted a 2:14.31. Cynthia Verkaik who finished sixth in a time of 2:18.03 set a new Dutch record in the 18 year old age group.

The top performance in the men’s events was easily Ukrainian Andriy Govorov who took the men’s 50 butterfly in a time of 23.17. His time put Govorov in the third place position in the world rankings. Joeri Verlinden of the Netherlands finished second in a time of 23.71 followed by Russian Evgeny Korotyshkin who recorded a 24.04.

Michelle Coleman of Denmark took the women’s 200 backstroke in a lifetime best of 2:10.56. Jordis Steinegger of Austria finished second in a time of 2:12.49 followed by Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands who collected the bronze in a time of 2:13.71.

Mattias Carlsson of Sweden won the men’s 200 backstroke in a time of 1:59.29. Emmanuel Vanluchene of Belgium finished second in a time of 2:01.39 followed by teammate Landers Hendrickx who finished third in a time of 2:02.63.

Sebas van Lith of the Netherlands won the men’s 400 IM finishing nine one-hundredths of a second ahead of Erik Persson of Sweden who finished second in a time of 4:19.82. Louis Croenen of Belgium finished third in a time of 4:24.30.

Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherland was the fastest qualifier for the men’s 100 freestyle final posting a 48.94.

Full results can be found here