2024 Worlds Previews: Sjostrom, Haughey, And Jack Headline Loaded Sprint Free Fields

2024 World Aquatic Championships

• February 11th – February 18th (pool swimming)
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Official Entries

In the strangest World Championships in several generations, we’re going to do our best to pick the medalists and finalists for the 2024 World Championships. It’s going to be weird. There are going to be swimmers in finals that most of us have never heard of. We’re going to miss someone obvious who we didn’t expect to race. The list at the top is as valuable as the list at the bottom. Let us know in the comments, and we reserve the right to update picks if y’all inform us of an entry we missed! 

The women’s 50 and 100 freestyle events in Doha will both feature the world leader in each distance. World record holder and defending champion Sarah Sjostrom leads the way in the 50, entered with her world record time of 23.61. Sjostrom will also feature in the 100 free, where she also holds the world record, but hasn’t raced it individually at a championship meet since 2022.

Siobhan Haughey is the top entrant in the 100 free, entered with her season leading time of 52.02. Haughey claimed the silver medal in this event at the Fukuoka World Championships in July, where she touched in a time of 52.49.

Shayna Jack of Australia will also showcase her sprinting skills in both events, entered as the 2nd seed in the 50 and 3rd seed in the 100. She is coming off a big training block with her St. Peters Western teammates in Thailand, so it will be interesting to see where she checks-in at this point in the season.

Women’s 50 Free

By the numbers:

• World Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 23.61 (2023)
• World Junior Record: Claire Curzan, United States – 24.17 (2021)
• Championship Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 23.61 (2023)
• Defending Champion: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 23.62

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who owns several of the fastest times in the history of the 50 free, will have all eyes on her in Doha. Her world record time of 23.61, which she set just a few months ago in July, situates her as the only entrant seeded under the 24-second barrier. She set that world record in the semifinals in Fukuoka, just minutes after a gold medal performance in the 50 fly. She backed up her performance with a time of 23.62 in the final, just 0.01 off her marker from the previous night.

It’s hard to argue against Sjostrom in this one, given she owns the two fastest times in history and is already the top ranked swimmer in the world this season. In fact, she has clocked a sub-24 performance three times already this season:

January 2024, Luxembourg Euro Meet – 23.87

October 2023, Budapest World Cup stop – 23.97

October 2023, Berlin World Cup stop – 23.95

Someone who could play spoiler to Sjostrom is Australia’s Shayna Jack. Jack has already been 24.09 this season, which she posted at the Queensland Championships in December. She notably took on eight individual events at that meet, with the 50 free being her fifth of the eight.

Jack has been remarkably consistent in this distance over the past year, never swimming slower than a time of 24.4 in a final. She has swam 24.10 or faster four times over the past six months, indicating that she seems ready to challenge the 24-second barrier. It will most likely take a sub-24 second performance to challenge Sjostrom, but Jack appears to be capable of producing that mark sometime in 2024. See all her performances in the 50 from the past year below:

December 2023, Queensland Championships – 24.49 (relay lead-off)

December 2023, Queensland Championships – 24.43 (heat)

December 2023, Queensland Championships – 24.09 (final)

July 2023, World Championships – 24.02 (heat)

July 2023, World Championships – 24.01 (semifinal)

July 2023, World Championships – 24.10 (final)

June 2023, World Champ Trials – 24.54 (heat)

June 2023, World Champ Trials – 24.22 (final)

April 2023, AUS Championships – 24.85 (heat)

April 2023, AUS Championships – 24.45 (final)

March 2023, NSW Championships – 24.65 (heat)

March 2023, NSW Championships – 24.26 (final)

The only question mark for Jack is whether she will fully taper for Doha, given how competitive her three main events (50, 100, and 200 freestyles) will be at the Australian Trials in June. She will need to fully taper to have a shot at a prized individual position on the Aussie Olympic Team in the 50 or 100 free, and her coach, Dean Boxall, may not provide a full taper for Doha. Regardless, if she matches her time from the Queensland Championships (24.09), she is a very safe bet for the silver medal.

Jack tends to swim fast regardless of her current training cycle in the 50 and 100 events, showcased by her ability to swim 24.4 or faster in any final throughout the past year.

She is clearly trending in the direction of a 23-second performance in the 50 free, but is it the cards for Doha or will we have to wait until the Australian Olympic Trials? Given she clocked a non-fully rested 24.09 in December, it surely seems possible for Doha.

Katarzyna Wasick of Poland is another name to keep an eye on in this race. Wasick owns a best time of 24.11 in the event, and has been as swift as 24.18 in the event already this season. Wasick made the move to the SMU pro group this season, and is primarily working with Coach Ozzie Quevedo. The move seems to be working great for her, having posted 24.18, 24.21, and 24.31 in the event this season alone. Given that she was 24.71 at Worlds last year after scoring silver in 2022 (24.18 in the final, 24.11 national record in the semifinals), she appears to be on track to post her best ever time in 2024.

American Kate Douglass will also feature in this event, and it is one of her better events despite never competing in it internationally. This is mainly because of the schedule of the U.S. World Championship Trials, where the 200 IM and 50 Free are both on the last day of the meet in fairly close proximity to each other. Since the roster for this meet was selected from other criteria, it finally gives her the chance to compete on the world stage in it. It will be her sixth and final individual event of the meet, but if she can knock a few tenths off her 24.38 best time, she may have a shot at the podium.

Michelle Coleman of Sweden had a great 2023, highlighted by her 23.53 (SCM) 50 free victory at the European Short Course Championships in December. Her best time of 24.26 puts her right in the medal conversation, so if she can convert her SCM performance from December into a great LCM swim, she’ll be right with the top pack.

Team GB’s Anna Hopkin is a threat to make the final as well, owning a best time of 24.34.

Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands also deserves a mention, but she is more known for her prowess in the 100 and 200 free distances, as well as the 200 IM.

The Picks:

Darkhorse: It may be odd to see Claire Curzan listed as a darkhorse for an event, given she enters this meet with three top seeded entry times (100 fly, 100 back, and 200 back). However, she has not been able to replicate her best time (and World Junior record) of 24.17, which she set before the Tokyo Olympic Games at a local meet in North Carolina. If she can get back down to the 24.6 range, she will put herself in a great spot to make the final. Her best time from the 2023 season was 24.99, and her current season best is 24.92.

Women’s 100 Free

By the numbers:

• World Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden –  51.71 (2017)
• World Junior Record: Penny Oleksiak, Canada – 52.70 (2016)
• Championship Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 51.71 (2017)
• Defending Champion: Mollie O’Callaghan, Australia – 52.16

Siobhan Haughey has been on fire over the past year, with the highlight being her 52.02 World Cup record performance. She clocked the time in Berlin on October 8th, and it would’ve been good enough to win the world title in Fukuoka by 0.14. It also rocketed her to the #1 performer in the world in the event.

She has been quite consistent in the event since, posting times of 52.24, 52.49, 52.50, and 52.55 in 2023 as well.

Given her best times of 24.30 in the 50 free and 1:53.92 in the 200, it seems she has the perfect combination of pure speed and closing speed to challenge for a 51-second performance.

The world record holder in the event, Sarah Sjostrom, is also entered according to the entry book. She chose to focus solely on the 50s at the previous World Championships, but did lead off Sweden’s 4×100 free relay on day one in a blistering 52.24. She claimed silver in the event at the 2022 World Championships, posting a time of 52.80 in the final.

If she does opt to swim the event, she is a clear medal threat. Her season best time of 53.25 was posted at the World Cup in October, but she didn’t swim it at the Luxembourg Euro Meet in January when she reset her world leading time in the 50 free.

Shayna Jack is a threat in this event, for the same reasons mentioned in the 50. She is remarkably consistent in this race, and over the past year has been able to throw down 52s on a regular basis — something that was never able to do earlier in her career.

She’s in a similar situation to Haughey, seemingly having the perfect combination of pure speed (24.01 50 free best time) and endurance (1:55.37 200 free best time) to challenge for a 51-second performance. We’ll see if she can do it in Doha, or perhaps Aussie Trials or the Olympic Games (if she earns one of the coveted top 2 spots at Trials).

A lot of eyes have been on her teammate in this event, Mollie O’Callaghan, who won the previous two world titles in this event. However, Jack’s best time is only 0.20 behind O’Callaghan’s. Jack is someone to really keep an eye on over the next six months, together with teammate MOC, could both challenge Sjostrom’s 7-year-old world record.

American Kate Douglass will also feature in this event, but just like last year, it overlaps with the final of the 200 breaststroke. This final will come first in the schedule, but both finals are slated for night six of the competition. She did opt to swim both last year, but recently mentioned to USA Swimming that she may end up scratching an event or two, with the 100 breast likely being the first casualty.

Dutch speedster Marrit Steenbergen will line-up for this race, and is the reigning bronze medalist from Fukuoka. She already clocked a sub-53 performance this season in 52.96, but the Haughey-Jack-Sjostrom trio seems like a difficult obstacle to the podium if they are all in top form.

The Picks: