Sarah Sjostrom Busts 200 Free Meet Record in Relay Leadoff at Euros

2016 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Monday, May 16th – Sunday, May 22nd
  • Prelims: 10:00 AM (London Time) / 5:00 AM (Eastern Time)
  • Finals: 6:00 PM (London Time) / 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
  • London Aquatics Center, London, UK
  • Meet Central
  • Psych Sheet
  • Live Results
  • Live Stream

While Sweden has yet to put up a strong enough supporting cast around superstar Sarah Sjostrom to get their 800 free relay into medal territory at big-time meets, the 22-year-old world record holder took down the European Championship record in the 200 free leading off the Swedish relay.

Sprinting out to a huge lead out of lane 1, Sjostrom handled the rest of the field with ease and touched at 1:55.30 to take down Federica Pellegrini‘s 2010 meet record of 1:55.45. Pellegrini is still the world record holder in this event.

Here’s a comparison of Sjostrom’s splits from tonight and Pellegrini’s 2010 splits:

  • Pellegrini, Budapest, 2010: 27.88 – 29.28 – 29.26 – 29.03 (1:55.45)
  • Sjostrom, London, 2016: 27.06 – 29.12 – 29.69 – 29.43 (1:55.30)

Sjostrom made her move in the first 100, splitting a 56.18 which was significantly faster than Pellegrini’s first 100 in 2010 (57.16). Though she didn’t have the same kind of back half, she still held strong and turned in the final time of 1:55.30. That time is about a second off of her best, 1:54.31, which seeds her first for the individual 200 free.

Sweden would ultimately finish 6th in the final. Hungary won gold, followed by Spain with the silver and Netherlands with the bronze. The Dutch got a sharp 1:55.16 anchor leg from Femke Heemskerk to vault them from 6th to 3rd in just 200 meters.

According to the meet schedule, Sjostrom will have the 200 free semifinals towards the beginning of tomorrow night’s finals session, and then get about an hour of rest before the 100 fly final.

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About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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