New Mom Sarah Sjostrom Hits 24.62 50 Free Morning Swim In First Race Back (Video)

2026 MALMSTEN SWIM OPEN STOCKHOLM

• Thursday, April 9th – Sunday, April 12th
• Prelims at 9:30am local (3:30am ET)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon ET)
• Stockholm, Sweden
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Entries
• Live Results

The 2026 Malmsten Swim Open Stockholm saw one of the most decorated female swimmers in history dive in for the prelims of the 50m freestyle.

32-year-old Sarah Sjostrom made her racing debut in her first meet back since the post-Olympic  Sjostrom Invitational in August 2024. In August 2025, she and her partner Johan de Jong Skierus welcomed their first child, Adrian.

Sjostrom wasted no time proving she’s coming back to swift form, putting up a top-seeded performance of 24.62.

That represented one of two sub-25-second efforts on the morning, with Hong Kong Olympic multi-medalist Siobhan Haughey joining her under the barrier in 24.93.

Fellow Swede Louise Hansson will also flank Sjostrom after producing a heats outing of 25.30 for the 3rd seed.

Sjostrom is a five-time Olympian and six-time Olympic medalist, all individual awards. She has three gold medals: the 100 fly from Rio, the 50 free from Paris, and the 100 free from Paris.

She has set numerous World Records in her career and currently holds the all-time marks in the 50 free (23.61), 100 free (51.71), and 50 fly (24.43) in long course.

She first broke through at the 2008 European Championships when she was only 14, setting a new Swedish Record in the 100 fly. After making her Olympic debut that year, still 14, the following year at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, she set the World Record in the 100 fly.

Later in her career, she shifted her attention mostly to sprint freestyles, though she won six straight World Championships in the 50 fly (LCM) as well until missing the 2025 meet.