Sjöström Posts a 24.22 to Win the 50 Freestyle in Stockholm

2016 STOCKHOLM OPEN

• Wednesday March 30th – Saturday April 2nd
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Prelims – 9:30 am local (3:30 am EST/12:30 am PST)   Finals – 4:30 pm local (Friday – 4 pm) (10:30 am EST/7:30 PST)
• Results

Swedish star Sarah Sjöström has had an extremely impressive Stockholm Open so far taking the 50 butterfly in a 25.15, the 100 butterfly in a 55.68 and the 200 freestyle in a 1:54.87. Sjöström continued to perform well posting a 24.22 to win the women’s 50 freestyle on the third night of competition.

She was five one-hundredths of a second off her season’s best of 24.17, which she posted in January at the Arena Pro Series in Austin. Although she was still a ways from her lifetime best of 23.98 her time in tonight’s final was the fifth fastest that Sjöström has ever recorded in the event.

Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus finished second in a time of 24.71. Herasimenia’s time ties Brazilian Etiene Medeiros and American Madison Kennedy for the seventh fastest time in the world. Sjötröm’s Swedish teammate Therese Alshammar finished third in a time of 24.96.

Russian Andrey Grechin won the men’s 100 freestyle in a time of 49.18. Isak Eliasson finished second in a time of 49.39, setting a new Swedish junior record in the event. Eliasson destroyed his lifetime best of 50.66 by over a second.

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen of Finland finished third in the event putting up a time of 49.61. Liukkonen was just off of his Finnish record of 49.44, which he set last weekend in Helsinki.

Simon Sjödin of Sweden took the men’s 200 butterfly in a time of 1:57.43. Sjödin’s time was the fourth fastest that he has ever recorded and was not far off his national record of 1:57.01 or his textile best of 1:57.14. Evgeny Koptelov of Russia finished second in a time of 1:58.16 followed by Stefanos Dimitriadis of Greece who hit the wall in a time of 1:59.43.

Viktoria Zeynep Gunes of Turkey won the women’s 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:23.97, which is the fastest she has been in the new calendar year. Jenna Laukkanen of Finland finished second in a time of 2:27.24 followed by Jessica Eriksson of Sweden who posted a 29.22.

Italian Federico Turrini took the men’s 400 IM with relative ease, touching in a time of 4:17.45. The race for silver was an intense dual between Adam Paulsson of Sweden and Henrik Christiansen of Norway who were both chasing their country’s national records. Paulsson eventually hit the wall first in a time of 4:20.33 followed by Christiansen who touched in a time of 4:20.34. Although Paulsson got the best of Christiansen he missed Simon Sjöin’s national mark of 4:19.68 while Christiansen broke his own Norwegian record of 4:21.67.

Apostolos Christou of Greece won the men’s 100 backstroke in a time of 54.59 followed by Tomasz Polewka of Poland won posted a 55.73 and Matteo Milli of Italy who hit the wall in a time of 55.80.