FINA WORLD CUP – EINDHOVEN
- Friday, August 11th & Saturday, August 12th
- Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium, Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Short Course – 25m
- Event Site
- New Rules & Prize Money
- Day 1 Prelims Recap
- Start Lists/Results
On the heels of her own short course 100 freestyle World Record clocked yesterday in Eindhoven, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom fired off yet another best-ever time in the women’s 200 freestyle to close out FINA World Cup cluster #1.
Tonight in a field that included 2017 World Championships gold medalist Federica Pellegrini and always-threatening Femke Heemskerk, Sjostrom worked her front-end speed to go out ahead of the field and never look back, clocking a monster 1:50.43. Her outing registers as a new World Record, overtaking her own 1:50.78 from the 2014 Short Course World Championships.
Scorching an opening 100 split of 54.45, which included 25.99 in the opening 50 alone, Sjostrom closed in 55.98 to lead wire-to-wire and hack just under half a second off her 2014 WR mark. Comparative splits are below:
Sjostrom 2014: 26.29/28.37/28.38/27.74 = 1:50.78
Sjostrom 2017: 25.99/28.46/28.16/27.82 = 1:50.43
The Swede opted out of the 200m freestyle at the World Championships in Budapest and Pellegrini has said she will be retiring from the event in the near future. As such, the audience in Eindhoven were treated to a historic race tonight on multiple levels.
Here’s another look Sjostrom’s complete set of World Records as of today:
50 freestyle LCM – 23.67
100 freestyle LCM – 51.71
50 fly LCM – 24.43
100 fly LCM – 55.48
100 freestyle SCM – 50.58
200 freestyle SCM – 1:50.43
100 butterfly SCM – 54.61
Kromowidjojo has an incredible underwater. No hate but I think that’s why she won over Sjöström. Sarahs technique is much better than Kromos but she need to work on her underwater if she wants to win and be more superior.
Totally with you, when SS improves her turns/underwater… beware.
I just wonder what would happen with WR’s if Sjostrom develops a Dressel like start and first 15m.
even if they get worse… beware
no seriously she outmatches her competition in fly absolutely and in free nearly always
Sarah has been at this level for 8 years now, I don’t think you can just assume that her underwaters will get better. Some athletes have a talent for them (Phelps, Lochte, Dressel) and others can work really hard to get better at them but not really improve (Missy). I’m never going to rule out the possibility that she could get better at them, I just wouldn’t assume that it will happen.
I agree. She has improved her start though since working with Wallberg, and by all accounts is an extremely coachable athlete. When she first swam the 400 free, she was frustrated with her times because she had no experience in the race and didn’t know how to swim it. She asked her coach for detailed instructions on how she should swim the race, and then she went and did it to the letter. The result? She swam a 4:06 400 free at a midseason meet.
I’m not convinced at this point that there’s anything she CAN’T do. She’s quite simply the most naturally gifted female swimmer we’ve seen in decades, and she works very hard outside of the pool… Read more »
Is she going to break 1.50 on the 200 or 50 on the 100 first? AWESOME.
That might be the Swimming Photo of the Year.
Super Sarah with the glowing goggles and the expression, “I Just Set A(nother) World Record!”
SC is fun eh. Lost 50 fly but breaks WR in the 200 free.
It’s interesting; she was nearly as fast in the 50 fly long course at Worlds…
Her LC 50 fly tactic doesn’t work for SC and it seems like she can’t get it quite right just yet- it’s going to be interesting when she does!
23.99?
Or faster..
It looked to me that she didn’t have the best start. Her RT was fine but the entry and under waters didn’t seem as fast
Same when Kromo took the 50 free scworlds
She said in the post race interview that she hasn’t been training for the 200 free in the last year. I hope she keeps training the way she has been for the past year because training for the 50/100 free and 50/100 fly seems to help her across the board than focusing on the 200
at least in scm. not sure about lcm
She was MUCH faster in Budapest in everything but the 100 fly than she was in Rio since she dropped the 200. We’ll see how her 200 LC is but this seems to tell me that training for the 100 free helps her in the 200
She was fast in Rome the other day – beating La Fede and Hemskeerk…
She was always fast in the 200. Her problem is not to perform well in the race but the fact that 3 turn of 200 free dry out her energy.
Plus she had to do two 200’s on the relay so a total of 5 x 200 at that level of competition and she was drained by the time the 50 free came around.
That is indeed the issue for any swimmer with medal/Gold potential in multiple events who do NOT hail from the USA. Namely the legacy of multiple rounds in each event plus the reality that most countries relay teams have limited or no leeway for resting their top seeds in heats.
katie’s got competition!
Sarah quit 200 free internationally
Lcm anyway
Katie is going progressively a slower than in previous years. Sarah is going faster and breaking WR’s. There is no competition.
Maybe she already has … given that she was beaten over 200 at recent Worlds. As to who that competition may be remains to be seen given SS has stated that Rio was her last time she would compete LCM in this event internationally. Pellegrini has stated she has swum her last (indiv) 200fr internationally …. so they would have to go back on their words to be than threat. McKeon dead-heated with her at Worlds so she looks the current nearest candidate.
The key questions look to be:
– has Ledecky hit her “ceiling” as regards fastest times or was Budapest just an anomaly ?
– has McKeon hit her “ceiling” in this event or does… Read more »
I think you mean 1.54 lows.
You are correct, please excuse my lysdexic paws
i love her goggles in this picture
Powering up the laser
Does this mean she’s literally superwomam?