On the penultimate day of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom set a new world record in the women’s 50 freestyle semi-finals in a time of 23.61, surpassing her own 2017 mark by six one-hundredths of a second.
The following day, she won the gold medal in dominant fashion, coming in just .01 off her newly-minted record (23.62).
The fact that Sjostrom’s previous world record was from 2017, six years ago, already attests to her longevity at a high level.
This becomes more evident when we remember that her first world record was set 14 years ago, in 2009 – in the 100 butterfly, at the World Championships held in Rome. At the time, she was only 15 years old.
This brings up a question: has there been another swimmer who has broken world records across such a long time interval?
The answer: in long course meters, in individual events, no. Swimming Stats’ Instagram page has published the list of the swimmers with the biggest time intervals between their first and last world records.
In fact, Sjostrom tops the list hands down. The swimmer with the second-longest gap between world records also happens to have broken one in Fukuoka: Lithiania’s Ruta Meilutyte. She set her first world record during the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona (100 breaststroke), which means she set her first and last world records 10 years and one day apart, having lowered the 50 breast mark in Fukuoka.
Meilutyte also holds the distinction of breaking world records in the same event over the longest time period, having set the 50 breast world record a few days after she set the 100-meter record in 2013. The time between her 50 breast records is nine years, 11 months and 28 days.
The list brings up some of the greatest names in the history of swimming: Michael Phelps, Duke Kahanamoku, Dawn Fraser, Franziska van Almsick, Murray Rose, Jenny Thompson, Aaron Peirsol and Vladimir Salnikov.
If this ranking also considered world records in short course meters, other names would appear – for example, Therese Alshammar broke world records in 1999 and 2009, that is, ten years apart. But still, in individual events, no one would surpass Sjostrom’s 14 years.
If relay events were included, one swimmer would top Sjostrom: American Dara Torres. She set her first world record, in the 50 free, in 1983. Her last world record came at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, in the 4×100 medley relay. A time interval of 17 years and 238 days.
To overcome Torres, Sjostrom will have to break a world record after March 20, 2027. I wouldn’t count her out. Would you?
Great debate and quality points raised by this chat. IMO, I think Sjostrom is slightly better as a Free/Fly sprinter based on individual times and WR. Both have longevity and grit for sure. If SS wins gold in Paris in either 50 Free or Fly regardless of a WR, would that convince the Torres fans of Sjostrom’s superiority? If not, what would tip the scales?
Sjostrom would have won a lot more individual and relay medals including golds had she swum for USA or Australia.
She always have to swim all relays prelims and finals. She was so spent in Rio she didn’t even advance to 50 free final.
And she isn’t even as famous as Phelps. Thanks swimming and national media for doing her WRONG
Phelps’ fame comes primarily from his 8 golds in the 08 Olympics. Not setting world records over eight years apart.
I could consider Sarah Sjostrom to be a very well-known name around swim circles. I would be curious to know if she is a household name in the Netherlands. The only household names in the United States are likely Phelps, Lochte, and Ledecky in recent years. If you ask the older generation, then they may include Spitz.
I don’t think she’s a household name in the Netherlands to be honest, but maybe in Sweden! Don’t think they generally win a ton of Olympic medals in the Summer Olympics so she may have a decent shot
My mistake – I meant to say Sweden.
I would go as far as saying that she is probably a household name for a large part of Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland), which in total has about the same population as Florida.
She definitely is in Sweden! Everyone knows of her here
95% of the population doesn’t know anything about swimming outside the Olympics and Phelps’ Olympics performance is so far ahead of anyone else it’s ridiculous
Yep Phelps 13 individual golds against Sjostrom’s 1 gold. No-one is even near Phelps here.
Weissmuller did his and the world’s best 100 yard free time in his mid-to-late 30’s – roughly 48.5 – but all of his early 20s (age) WR times, as I recall, were metric, from the Olympics. The 48.5 was swum as an exhibition… I’m wondering whether the SCY was what made it exhibition status.
He & Arne Borg went pro 1929 and weren’t allowed to break records
Dara Torres was 0.1s from breaking the 50 free WR in 2008, which would have put the distance between individual WRs at 25 years!
Ruta did break the 50 breast world record in 2013, too (29.48). It just wasn’t her first, and she hasn’t held it this whole time. So she would top the list of same event world records farthest apart, not Kiefer.
Much more interesting will be statistics of biggest time interval between first and last world record in same event. It gives some data to think about for how long a swimmer can stay around the top of his/her biological abilities and how the competition has been progressing in this event.
Both Sarah and Ruta made their first world record in 100m distance and the last one in the event with twice less distance. There is no surprise about that. Plus Ruta’s last record was done in none-Olympic event where competition isn’t that much developed as in the longer distances. If Ruta breaks the world record of Lilly King then it will be sensational.
I would further extend it to “faster than anyone else” and not necessarily a proper world record. If Ledecky continues to pump out sub 8:10 800 frees or Sjostrom continues to pump out sub 25.0 50 flys while no one else is able to break that barrier, I’m not gonna fault them for being unable to break their own WR that they set in their physical prime.
Phelps breaking the 200 IM WR at 17 at then going 1:54.6 at 29 is some ridiculous longevity, even if his world record span was only 6 years in the event
Phelps was 31 in Rio, not 29
On the graphic, wasn’t the 1999 Thompson record for the 100 fly rather than 100 free? She took .05 off MT’s 1981 57.93 to record a 57.88.