2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Sarah Sjostrom simply can’t steer clear of the 100 freestyle.
After saying again in February that she wouldn’t be swimming the 100 free on the Paris Olympics, the 30-year-old Swedish dash star seems to have modified her thoughts as she’s seeded third on the preliminary entry listing launched Friday.
Sjostrom didn’t contest the 100 free individually on the 2023 World Championships, however she led off Sweden’s 4×100 free relay with a time of 52.24 that will have gained silver behind Mollie O’Callaghan (52.16). She skipped the 100 free once more on the 2024 World Championships, telling Swedish media that she “wished to go all in” on the 50 free as a result of she felt her door within the 100 free had closed.
Sjostrom’s efficiency on the Sette Colli Trophy final month might have made her rethink her Olympic lineup. On the annual meet held in Rome, Italy, she clocked a 52.57 to beat Hong Kong standout Siobhan Haughey (52.78) and take down her meet file from final yr (52.64) alongside the best way. Sjostrom ranks sixth on the earth this season behind Kate Douglass (52.56), Meg Harris (52.52), O’Callaghan (52.27), Marrit Steenbergen (52.26), and Haughey (52.02). Douglass and Harris are usually not swimming the 100 free individually in Paris, making Sjostrom a severe menace to disrupt podium favorites Haughey, Steenbergen, and O’Callaghan.
Simply because Sjostron is signed up for the 100 free doesn’t essentially imply she is going to swim the occasion in Paris. She was entered within the 100 free on the 2024 World Championships earlier than dropping out and saying, “It’s simpler to enroll first and remorse it later.”
Sjostrom made the rostrum in any respect 5 World Championships between 2013-22, selecting up silver medals in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2022 whereas additionally including a bronze in 2019. She missed the rostrum by simply .16 seconds on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 on her approach to a Fifth-place end in 52.68.
On the Rio Olympics again in 2016, Sjostrom snagged bronze behind Simone Manuel and Penny Oleksiak‘s tie for gold. On the 2017 World Championships, she earned a runner-up end in 52.31 behind Manuel (52.27) earlier than happening to interrupt the world file main off Sweden’s 4×100 free relay in 51.71 — which nonetheless stands to at the present time.
Sjostrom is the heavy favourite within the 50 free as the highest performer on the earth this season at 23.69. Solely three different ladies have damaged 24 seconds within the occasion this season: Douglass (23.91), Kasia Wasick (23.95), and Shayna Jack (23.99).
