Talent, Grace and Class: As Paris Games Call, Sarah Sjostrom Every Bit a Role Model – Athletically and Beyond
As 2023 nears its end, Sarah Sjostrom is riding her latest wave of momentum. She heads into the Olympic campaign with two more global titles and every bit the favorite to add another Olympic crown to her overflowing portfolio.
She should have faded by now. Maybe even retired. Such is life as a 30-year-old in a sport that continually features rising phenoms ready to bump the old guard off the throne. But Swedish star Sarah Sjostrom—year after year—has repelled her challengers, age be damned.
The scary thing? There’s evidence she’s getting better. And the beautiful part of Sjostrom’s story is how her talent is complemented by undeniable grace and class.
A SUPER SUMMER
The summer ahead of an Olympic year is widely considered an important measuring stick. So, it wasn’t a surprise that the World Championships, held in July in Fukuoka, featured 10 world-record performances and countless other swims that qualified as superb. Sjostrom worked in the delivery department.
In search of a more manageable week than in previous years, the Swede scaled back her schedule to a pair of sprint events and relay duty. Individually, Sjostrom entered only the 50 meter butterfly and 50 freestyle, events in which she was the world record holder. The decision turned out perfectly, as Sjostrom not only doubled the one-lap dashes, but accomplished the feat in dominant fashion.
Sjostrom’s initial title arrived in the 50 butterfly, where she popped a winning time of 24.77, following a mark of 24.74 in the semifinals. It was Sjostrom’s fifth consecutive gold medal in the event, and she now owns the 22-fastest times in history. Meanwhile, she ripped the two-fastest efforts of all-time in the 50 freestyle, a world record of 23.61 highlighting the semifinals and a mark of 23.62 locking down the gold medal.
“In the end, I’m very happy that I actually chose to have a light program,” Sjostrom said. “I realized the circus around the races. That’s what’s the most exhausting part—it’s not the actual race…it’s all the other points we need to do to prepare for the race and afterward.”
Sjostrom’s latest two solo medals handed her a career record, one that was formerly held by the legendary Michael Phelps. From the 2001-11 World Championships, Phelps captured 20 individual medals spanning five events. Sjostrom now has 21 career medals from the World Champs, a collection that began in 2009.
Sjostrom, too, has won her medals over five events: 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 butterfly. In addition to 12 gold medals, she owns six silver medals and three bronze. To better a standard held by Phelps was meaningful to the Swedish standout.
“I never really look at the stats too much,” Sjostrom said. “But of course, I’m super proud when I hear about all the stats, and I enjoy this. It’s great that I keep winning medals, and I think I can win more in the future. Maybe Michael will want to come back now. He’s the hero of swimming, and what he has done for swimming is amazing.”
HALL OF FAME CAREER
The moment Sjostrom enters retirement, the clock on her enshrinement in the International Swimming Hall of Fame will begin ticking. Sjostrom is a first-ballot lock for induction, having achieved everything she has chased. She owns titles from multiple global competitions. She set world records in four different events. She has medaled internationally at three different distances.
No one has ever tallied 100 career medals from major international competitions, but Sjostrom is knocking on the door. Through the summer, she owns 91 medals among the Olympic Games, World Championships (long course/short course) and the European Championships (long course/short course). Hungarian Katinka Hosszu possesses 97 medals from the same five meets, and if Sjostrom continues on her current arc, she should surpass Hosszu’s mark and move into triple figures.
For all the hardware Sjostrom has taken home, she deserves a gold medal for the way she has comported herself around the world. She is the epitome of class and grace, routinely recognizing the efforts of the opposition, connecting with fans, and providing access to the media. Through injuries, she has maintained a positive outlook, and when she was frequently just off the podium during the early 2010s, Sjostrom simply battled—confident her work would eventually be rewarded.
At the World Champs in Fukuoka, Sjostrom exhibited her selfless demeanor when she discussed the story of Japan’s Rikako Ikee, a butterfly rival who won a battle with leukemia. When Ikee qualified for the final of the 50 butterfly, Sjostrom lauded the effort.
“It’s just remarkable,” Sjostrom said. “I have no words for how amazing her comeback is already. I can’t even put words to what she has done. Medals and records and things like that don’t really matter when you go through the kind of challenge that she has gone through. That’s what everyone has to remember.”
A SCHEDULING ADJUSTMENT
As Sjostrom prepares for the Paris Games, her training will be geared around a schedule different from the one she managed at the World Championships. With the 50 butterfly not part of the Olympic program, Sjostrom is expected to once again attack the 100 freestyle, an event in which she is the world record holder.
The bigger question, though, is whether she will again embrace the 100 butterfly, the event that vaulted Sjostrom onto the international scene as a 15-year-old in 2009 and made her an Olympic champion in 2016. After reaching the final of the event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo—not long after recovering from a fractured elbow—Sjostrom has bypassed the event at the past two editions of the World Champs.
Yet, the opportunity to give the discipline another go on the biggest stage is enticing. In Fukuoka, Sjostrom hinted that a return is under consideration. Should she race the 100 fly in the French capital, it could mean clashes with the likes of Canadian Maggie Mac Neil, the reigning Olympic champ, and the past two world champs in American Torri Huske and China’s Zhang Yufei.
Obviously, the event would be a can’t-miss showdown.
THE DAYS AHEAD
If Sarah Sjostrom walks off deck tomorrow, her legacy is firmly established. Fortunately, she still maintains a love of her sport, and a passion for competition. So, in the months ahead, she’ll log the necessary hours in the pool to remain a force…as well as a threat to the world-record book.
The Games in Paris are calling, and Sjostrom is well-positioned to make her fifth Olympiad a spectacular one. As she preps for that competition, count on Sjostrom enjoying the ride.
“I just do the work every day and go to practice, and try to stay humble,” she said. “I’m not forcing anything to come to me. Back in the day, I was forcing. When I started breaking world records and I started to improve my best times, I wanted more all the time.
“But now I’m like, I can be calm with where I am at the moment and just hope for the best sometimes. You try to relax with everything, and it comes to me naturally.”