Five-time Olympian Sarah Sjostrom was recognized As Sweden’s Sportswoman of the Year at the country’s Sports Gala this week in Stockholm. The honor marks her seventh year receiving the award, the most of any athlete.
Thirty-one-year-old Sjostrom shared a picture of her receiving the award on Instagram as well as a montage of all the years accepting the award: four straight from 2016 until 2019, and then the last three from 2023-2025.
Although Sjostrom is one of the sport’s most seasoned veterans, boasting current or former world records in four long course events she took the swimming community by surprise with her 100 free Olympic gold this summer. The victory came after an 11th hour decision to swim the race. The Swede followed up the surprise gold with a more expected win in the 50 freestyle, an event in which she set the current world record in 2023.
“Since 2013, I have swum the 100 meters freestyle without winning. But during my fifth Olympics, the coach (Antonio Lutula) wanted to see me, he was curious about what I can achieve,” Sjostrom said at the Gala (translated from Swedish). “I had no thoughts of winning, but everything changed when I hit my hand on the tile. Thank you for believing in me.”
Sjostrom also took the chance to thank her family and fans while reiterating her plans to train for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“This year I have planned to take time off, but I will be back.”
Sjostrom enters 2025 as Sweden’s most decorated swimmer ever as well as the overall swimmer with the most individual hardware from the Long Course World Championships.
The Gala took place this Monday at the Strawberry Arena. Swedish-American pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis won the Sportsman of the Year award.
