Sjostrom Posts World’s Top Time in the 50 Freestyle

Sarah Sjostrom followed up a strong first two days of racing at the Swedish Short Course Championships by posting the world’s top time in the 50 freestyle and breaking the meet record in the 200 butterfly.

Sjostrom won the women’s 50 freestyle in a time of 23.55. Her times beats the top ranked time of 23.64, which Dutch star Ranomi Kromowidjojo recorded in October.

The time was also a competition recrod beating Therese Alshammar‘s 2009 mark of 23.72 and is a lifetime best for Sjostrom whose previous personal best of 23.79 was posted at the 2013 European Short Course Championships.

Earlier in the evening Sjostrom also had an impressive showing in the women’s 200 butterfly taking the event in a time of 2:04.23. Her time ranks third in the world and broke Martina Granstrom‘s meet record of 2:04.71.

It is the first time that she has swum the event since 2010 and had a personal best of 2:08.24 which she posted in 2009.

Oscar Ekstrom, who broke the Swedish junior record in the 100 butterfly early in the competition, had a historic swim in the men’s 200 freestyle. Ekstrom took the event in a time of 1:44.58 and in the process broke Anders Holmertz‘s national record of 1:44.69, which has stood since 1992.

Michelle Coleman won the women’s 100 backstroke in a time of 57.55, which places her 10th in the world. Coleman was only one one-hundredth off her lifetime best and only 12 one-hundredths off of Sjostrom’s Swedish record of 57.43.

Laura Lajunen crushed the meet record in the women’s 1500 freestyle winning the event in a time of 16:30.32, breaking Erica Dahlgren‘s 2013 mark of 16:45.31. Her time also places her 11th in the world rankings.

Simon Sjodin took the men’s 200 backstroke in a time of 1:54.40 breaking Kristian Kron’s competition record of 1:54.70.

Johannes Skagius won his second event of the competition taking the men’s 50 breaststroke in a time of 27.02.

Full meet results can be found here.