SwimSwam’s Giusy Cisale met Sarah Sjostrom during the 2022 global sales meeting organized by arena in Sardinia, Italy.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sarah Sjostrom won the gold medal and broke the World Record in women’s 100m butterfly with a time of 55.48. She was the first woman from Sweden to win an Olympic gold medal. One year later, at the FINA World Aquatics Championship in Budapest, she set another two world records that are still standing, in the women’s 50 free and 100 free with times of 23.67 and 51.71, respectively.
The gold medal in the women’s 100-meter butterfly in 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics is one of the favorite memories in her career.
Sjostrom said:
“I’m very proud of how I handled the Olympic final in 100m butterfly. I had a lot of pressure on me. In my mind the only thing I could think of was like ‘Ok, this your moment to win a gold medal at the Olympics. If I don’t win now, probably never win”.
She’s also very proud of her world Record in 50m butterfly. Sjostrom set that World Record in 24.43 during the 2014 Sweden National Championship.
“I’m very proud of my world record in 50m fly”, Sjostrom said. “Probably my world record in 100m fly will be beat very soon” . “I feel like my world record in 50 meters fly is something that I leave to swimming”
My favourite swimmer in the world. Always baffled by the fact that she only has one Olympic gold.
Put her in US or Australia team, she’d have won a dozen golds.
Also, since Sweden team is very shallow, she had to swim prelims (as well as finals) of all relays, whose effect you saw in Rio when she was spent by her final event, 50 free, where she didn’t even advance to final.
She has been on top of the world since 2009 with no signs of slowing. The devastating injury she sustained last year would have called it a career for many a swimmer, but for Sarah, it only confirmed how hungry she still was after winning everything there is to win, and against all odds, she eked out an individual Olympic silver just months later. Sarah Sjöstrom is the closest thing swimming has to a true-blue superhero.
Honestly it’s amazing no one has been able to replicate that kind of sprint fly stroke. No one has even come close
Her world record is next level. She could have won US Trials in the 50 free swimming butterfly.
In the top 30 performances in the 50 fly, she owns 27 of them. Crazy !!!
#GOAT #24.43 #Monopoly #Dominance #UntouchableForDecades
38 out of the 45 fastest swims (25.26 or faster) have been done by Sarah.
Therese Alshammar’s former world record from 2009 (25.07) is still the 2nd fastest performer ever and 25.07 and faster have been done 20 times (Top 20 all-time performances).