Sarah Sjostrom Breaks Olympic Record With 23.66 50 Free In Semifinals, #3 Performance All-Time

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

WOMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE – SEMIFINALS

  • World Record: 23.61 – Sarah Sjostrom, SWE (2023)
  • World Junior Record: 24.17 – Claire Curzan, USA (2021)
  • Olympic Record: 23.81 – Emma McKeon, AUS (2021)
  • 2021 Winning Time: 23.81 – Emma McKeon, AUS
  • 2021 Time to Advance to Finals: 24.32
  1. Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) – 23.66 (Olympic Record)
  2. Gretchen Walsh (United States) – 24.17
  3. Katarzyna Wasick (Poland) – 24.23
  4. Zhang Yufei (China) – 24.24
  5. Shayna Jack (Australia) – 24.29
  6. Meg Harris (Australia) – 24.33
  7. Qu Qingfeng (China)/Neza Klancar (Slovenia) – 24.40 (TIE)

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom swam to a 23.66 in the women’s 50 freestyle semifinal on Saturday night. That broke the previous Olympic Record of a 23.81 that Emma McKeon of Australia swam at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sjostrom enters tomorrow night as the top seed by about half a second. She will be in search of her 2nd gold in Paris as she already won the women’s 100 freestyle. She also looks to return to the podium in the event after winning silver in Tokyo.

Sjostrom holds 8 out of the 10 fastest performances in the 50 free in history. No other woman has ever been under the 23.7 mark, a time that Sjostrom has now done five times.

Top 10 Women’s 50 Free Performances All-Time

  1. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.61 (2023)
  2. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.62 (2023)
  3. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.66 (2024)
  4. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.67 (2017)
  5. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.69 (2024)
  6. Britta Steffen, 23.73 (2009)
  7. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.74 (2018)
  8. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.75 (2024)
  9. Pernille Blume, 23.75 (2018)
  10. Sarah Sjostrom, 23.78 (2019)

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Chlorinetherapy
3 months ago

I hope to wake up tomorrow morning and read that Sarah has won the gold medal in world record time! 🥇🏊‍♀️❤️

Facts
3 months ago

She’s like Tom Brady and entering her 3rd prime

Fraser Thorpe
3 months ago

Sarah and KL seem to have been the most consistent of the all time greats.

They’ve maintained their levels year in and year out for over a decade. It’s crazy how good they both are.

Tracy Kosinski
3 months ago

Is Sarah the only one who doesn’t breathe? There must be a few others in her company.

Splash
Reply to  Tracy Kosinski
3 months ago

Her training partner Coleman, also doesn’t breathe.

Dan
3 months ago

Sarah has been under 24 seconds 37 times, Cate Campbell has done it 8 times and next is Pernille Blume (Denmark) with 4 swims.

justanopinion
3 months ago

Sarah doing Sarah things.

200fly
3 months ago

Sjostrom has another 23.69 swim from finals of the 2017 world championships!

Dan
3 months ago

I watched the 50 Free again, looking for opinions, did Sarah ease up the last 4+ meters or did she try to time the finish better for this race?

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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