Sarah Sjostrom Will Most Likely Not Swim The 100 Freestyle At The 2024 World Championships

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Sarah Sjostrom revealed to Swedish media on Tuesday, February 13th that she will most likely not swim the 100 freestyle at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, after originally being entered into the event.

Sjostrom told SVT Sport, “It is easier to sign up first and regret it later…it will be a lot and I have been doing it for many years. It’s harder than you think.”

Sjostrom was entered in three races in Doha: the 50 free, 100 free, and 50 butterfly. She has not competed for Sweden as the country did not swim in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay on night 1, an event they already qualified for the Olympics. Sjostrom was the #2 seed in the 100 freestyle only behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey. She is the top seed in both the 50 free and 50 butterfly.

Notably, Sjostrom is the World Record holder in all three events as well as in the 100 butterfly, an event she has not raced at a major international meet since finishing 7th in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Late last week, Sjostrom had already revealed her plans to not race in the 100 freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics. At the time, she still had plans to compete in the race in Doha. She had stated that she is “happy with everything [she] has done in the 100 free, from the world record to all the silver medals.”  This was why she had originally planned to not swim the event in Paris. She also had said she planned to swim the event in Doha because it would “be good to have a race there.”

Sjostrom won silver in the event at the 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 LCM World Championships. She also won bronze in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her World Record in the event came at the 2017 World Championships while leading off Sweden’s 4×100 free relay.

Sjostrom did not race the 100 freestyle at the 2023 World Championships but led off Sweden’s 4×100 free relay in a 52.24, a time that would have been silver had she swam the individual event.