In an Instagram post from Friday, Swedish swimming star Sarah Sjostrom announced that she and Johan de Jong Skierus are now engaged after ten years of dating.
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Sjostrom teased in her Instagram caption, “First I said get up you’ll get cold…And then I said YES.”
According to Sjostrom’s Instagram stories, it appears that she and her now-fiance are on a group cross country skiing and camping trip. According to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the couple is currently in Jokkmokk, which is located about 12 hours north of Stockholm and the current temperature is 10 degrees fahrenheit.
De Jong Skierus is a fencer on the Swedish national team. At National Championships through the years, he’s won one gold, four silver, and four bronze medals. De Jong Skierus competed at the 2017 World University Games and placed 15th as a member of Team Sweden, and 68th in the individual fencing competition. At the World University Games in 2015, de Jong Skierus finished 53rd individually. He also works at Danske Bank.
Sjostrom is the world record holder in the long course meters 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly. In short course meters, she is part of the world record holding 4×50 medley relay. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sjostrom became the first Swedish woman to win a gold medal in swimming when she touched first in the 100 butterfly. She also took home silver in the 200 freestyle and bronze in the 100 freestyle.
In February 2020, Sjostrom slipped on ice and broke her elbow just months before the Tokyo Olympics, which required surgery to repair. At the Olympics, Sjostrom finished with a bronze medal in the 50 free. Leading up to the games, Sjostrom was out of the water for three weeks post surgery and was unable to train butterfly until June.
After the Olympics, Sjostrom bounced back and competed for ISL season 3 champions, Energy Standard. She is the ISL’s all-time leader in MVP scoring with 1,006 points.
At the Short Course European Championships in November 2021, Sjostrom won six medals, of which four were gold.
Sjostrom took home seven medals from the Short Course World Championships in December 2021, with gold medal performances in the 50 free, 4×50 medley relay (WR), and 4×100 medley relay.
Earlier this month, Sjostrom was named SwimSwam’s 2021 European Female Swimmer of the Year.
A sad day for the male sex 😩
when she loses (not often) she is the most graceful, selfless loser ever, she is way up there in the “how to be kind and humane” department
Its like she was defeated and he won the war. Kind of like her own Waterloo.
Well…. her only chance was giving up the fight…..
“IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MEEEE”
It will be, about 3 months from now
God I wish that were me
She is obviously one of the greats as a swimmer but she seems to be very special as a person. Congrats!
Johan is down to earth, easy going and great to hang out with. I am sure he is a terrific support for Sarah in swimming and life, and that they will have a future stuffed with fruitful endeavors.
“12 hours north of Stockholm”~ just outside of Stockholm, in the Southern half of the county, where people go for a day trip, without a winter coat
I was always sure if you drive 12 hours north from Stockholm you end up in Narnia or something
I wouldn’t know, but when my Swedish friends tell me “I drove 13 hours north to a cabin from Stockholm” and I would ask “you forgot the winter coat, right?”
What a lucky guy!
I want to understand the downvotes, from the bottom of my heart
Denied admirers
I think you’ve never seen her life….