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Sarah Sjostrom Pleased with 100 Fly Return, “Not Convinced” of it for Tokyo Yet

58TH SETTE COLLI TROPHY

Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom said she was surprised about how well she did to close her 100 fly on Saturday in Rome, but also that she’s “not convinced” about swimming it at the Olympic Games just yet.

Speaking after her first long course 100 fly since the 2019 World Championships on Saturday, Sjostrom both said that she was pleased with the way she split her race (26.6/31.0) given the break and that she still had a lot of work to do in that event.

Sjostrom has maintained that the freestyle races would be her focus on her return to racing after surgery. She has cited the imbalance in her butterfly stroke as a particular challenge given the muscular atrophy in her injured left arm.

Sjostrom is both the defending Olympic gold medalist and the World Record holder in the 100 fly.

She went on to say that she’s pleased with her “big step” as compared to her swim in her first meet back in early June in Canet, France. In Canet, she swam 54.84, but on Saturday she lowered that to a 53.47. That 100 free came about an hour after her 100 fly.

Watch Sjostrom talk about her races, and the comeback attempt by her countrymate Therese Alshammar, below.

Video interview courtesy SwimSwam Italia’s Giusy Cisale:

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swimgeek
3 years ago

wow. Her100 free (an hour after 100 fly) would have won US Trials

Stefan
Reply to  swimgeek
3 years ago

Another thing about Sette Colli is that Sarah was 3-0 in h2h vs Kromo (50/100 free and 50 fly) That’s pretty solid.

Jamie5678
3 years ago

Love the way she’s teasing us with the, ‘Well if I go low 57, I’ll swim the fly, but if I go 59 then no’ and then chalks up a mid 57 which is just fast enough to keep everyone guessing. It’s probably driving Huske, MacNeil, Zhang and McKeon slightly nuts.

Brilliant stuff.

Last edited 3 years ago by Jamie5678
oxyswim
Reply to  Jamie5678
3 years ago

If you’re one of those other top flyers there’s no sense in worrying about it. If you want to win, the plan should be to break the world record, obviously no guarantee that anyone will do that or that 55.47 means you’ve locked up gold, but it puts you in a phenomenal spot.

Can’t control what happens in another lane. While Sarah said there was a lot wrong with that race, her taking off 2 seconds in another month is hard to see.

Awsi Dooger
3 years ago

Sarah is saying all the right things but you can tell she doesn’t want to swim the butterfly in Tokyo. I don’t blame her. Broken elbows are nothing to mess around with scant months later. Different activities apply different pressure. I was a hot shot junior golfer when I broke my elbow in two places while submarined playing pickup basketball. Five months later the doctor said I could begin hitting some shots, but while teed up only. Nothing off the ground. Divots jar the elbow, just like butterfly is more taxing than freestyle. But after a month I was feeling good and decided to play a round in Lake Tahoe. What an idiot. I hit the opening tee shot in… Read more »

Justin Thompson
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
3 years ago

It’s too bad because as a hot shot junior golfer you could have made the tour later in your career.

Last edited 3 years ago by Justin Thompson
Stefan
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
3 years ago

If Sarah doesn’t want to swim the 100 fly in Tokyo, there was really no reason for her to swim it in Rome either. She could simply have informed the media that her elbow isn’t ready for the 100 fly yet and noone would have questioned it.

Guerra
3 years ago

This is great! Go Sarah and “Clear Eyes, Full Heart…CAN’T LOSE!

SwamFly
3 years ago

Wishing her the best

Shane Potsdam
3 years ago

Beast

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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