Sarah Sjostrom Clocks Fourth-Fastest 50 Fly Performance (24.74) Ever In Worlds Semis

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sarah Sjostrom continues her streak of dominance in the women’s 50 fly, clocking a time of 24.74 in the semi-finals of the event at the 2023 World Championships. Her time was the fourth-fastest performance of all-time, only behind three of her other performances.

Sjostrom now has 23 out of the 24 fastest performances ever in the women’s 50 fly.

All-Time Top Performances, Women’s 50-Meter Butterfly:

  1. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.43
  2. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.60
  3. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.69
  4. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden —24.74
  5. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.76
  6. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.79
  7. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.87
  8. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.89
  9. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.90
  10. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.95 (2x)
  11. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.96 (3x)
  12. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.98
  13. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 24.99
  14. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 25.04 (2x)
  15. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 25.05
  16. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden — 25.06
  17. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (3x)/Therese Alshammar (2009)  — 25.07

Headed into finals, Sjostrom will be the top seed by 0.43 seconds. For some context on how dominant that is: Zhang Yufei swam a 25.17 in semis and became the fifth-fastest performer of all-time, and yet she would still be a body length behind Sjostrom if they swam head-to-head.

If Sjostrom takes victory in the 50 fly on Saturday night, it will be her fifth-straight world title in the event.

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Andy
9 months ago

One day, I wish Sjostrom would swim butterfly in a 50 free race (even if it was just a heats swim) just because she’d still be fast enough to qualify

Curious
9 months ago

I wonder if swimming next her in an adjacent lane has a positive, negative or neutral effect on her competitors. What’s the crowd think?

Jasmine
9 months ago

Love her longevity!! What a remarkable athlete.

JVW
9 months ago

Let’t not forget that she dropped a 52.2 leadoff leg in the 400 free relay too. Fastest swim of the meet other than Mollie O’Callaghan. I kind of hope she’ll swim the butterfly leg on the Swedish medley relay, since it would be interesting to see what she could do there. I’m guessing she will contest those individual events next year in Paris.

Boknows34
Reply to  JVW
9 months ago

She’s said she can no longer do a 100 fly after her elbow fracture.

Last edited 9 months ago by Boknows34
JVW
Reply to  Boknows34
9 months ago

Oh man, that sucks.

Dan
Reply to  Boknows34
9 months ago

I am not sure she said that she cannot do the 100 fly anymore but more that she wants to focus on shorter events. It is like Michelle Coleman (also from Sweden) who swam in the 200 Free final at the 2016 Rio Olympics (7th) and is now also focusing on the 50 Free (although she did make the 100 Free Final today).

bubble bubble bubble
Reply to  Boknows34
9 months ago

she swam 56high last year. I don’t think fracture affects her 100fly. She just said she would not swim 1fly in a major meet and wanna focus more on free and 50s.

Tencor
9 months ago

At this rate Sjostrom will be 40 and still be winning the Golds in this event

Abcedfg
9 months ago

Fabulous swimmer. Sarah’s longevity in the sport is unbelievable.

Anything but 50 BR
9 months ago

LA 2028 here we come!!

OldNotDead
Reply to  Anything but 50 BR
9 months ago

Not an Olympic event, but surely she can contend in 50 free.

Anything but 50 BR
Reply to  OldNotDead
9 months ago

Hopefully it will be soon.

KSW
9 months ago

jeez talk about dominance. Im confident that she could easily win this event for the next 10 years if she wanted

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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