What if the Stroke 50s Were in Paris? Another Gold for Sarah Sjostrom?
Last year, the International Olympic Committee approved the addition of the 50-meter stroke events to the Olympic program for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. For the first time, there will be 43 sets of medals awarded in the pool, and sprint-centric swimmers will have additional chances to shine on the Olympic level.
These races were previously added to the World Championships slate in 2001. Medalists in 50-meters events include some who also shined in 100-meter races while others include sprint specialists who have been virtually absent from Olympic competition in the past.
But what if the 50s had been added prior to the Paris Games? Who would have taken gold and filled out the medal stand? We will consider the potential podium finishers in the events based on results from other competitions throughout 2024 plus World Championships racing in 2023 and 2025. We will begin with the women’s events.
Women’s 50 Backstroke
Kaylee McKeown — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
This event would have looked very similar to the women’s 100 and 200 backstroke finals in Paris. Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won gold on both occasions at the expense of American Regan Smith, with U.S. swimmer Katharine Berkoff taking bronze in the 100 and Canada’s Kylie Masse rounding out the podium in the 200. It would have surely been those four swimmers battling in the one-lap race as well.
McKeown has held the 50 back world record since before Paris, clocking 26.86 at a World Cup meet in October 2023. Smith broke McKeown’s mark in the 100-meter event at the U.S. Olympic Trials, but she never raced the 50 back seriously in 2024. Still, she has never been under 26 in the event. Berkoff would post an impressive American record of 26.97 in 2025, and she backed that up with a world title in Singapore, but it came with an asterisk as McKeown opted out of the race. Masse, meanwhile, has always been a speedy backstroker, and she won the 50 back world title in 2023.
Projected podium:
Gold: Kaylee McKeown
Silver: Regan Smith
Bronze: Katharine Berkoff
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
Definitely not a 100-meter repeat here, not when South African gold medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker was a 200-meter specialist coming down to the 100. Instead, this would have been the chance for Ruta Meilutyte to shine and return to the top of an Olympic podium 12 years after her 100-meter gold in London. Meilutyte swam well in both the 50 and 100-meter races at the start of her comeback in 2022 and 2023, but her 100 fell off majorly in 2024. Meilutyte faded to 11th in the semifinals.
But the 50 remains elite, as evidenced by her four consecutive world titles from 2022 through 2025. Meilutyte set a world record of 29.16 at the 2023 Worlds, and she has remained a strong distance ahead of the field since. As for other contenders, assume China’s Tang Qianting would have been in the mix after taking World Championships silver in 2024 and 2025 along with Olympic silver in the 100 in Paris. Italy’s Benedetta Pilato and American Lilly King tied for fourth in the 100, and both were probably better positioned for 50-meter success in 2024.
Projected podium:
Gold: Ruta Meilutyte
Silver: Tang Qianting
Bronze: Benedetta Pilato
Women’s 50 Butterfly
American Gretchen Walsh has become the dominant 50 butterflyer over the past two years, winning a world title in dominant fashion while becoming the second-fastest swimmer in history. In Paris, Walsh entered as the 100 fly world-record holder, and she ended up taking silver in that event after holding a big lead in the early portion of the race. She recently earned a 50 fly win over world-record holder Sarah Sjostrom in Rome, but in 2024, Walsh would have had a hard time keeping pace with Sjostrom, with the star Swede having just won her sixth consecutive world title in the event in February 2024.
Sjostrom did not compete in the 100 fly in Paris, but she was brilliant in freestyle, pulling off a surprise gold medal in the 100 free before adding a second title in the 50 free. Sjostrom surely would have won the 50 fly as well, although she likely would have dropped the 100-meter race from her program to focus on the two sprints. Walsh would have been a safe bet for a medal behind Sjostrom, while 100-meter winner Torri Huske, China’s Zhang Yufei and France’s Melanie Henique could have contended.
Projected podium:
Gold: Sarah Sjostrom
Silver: Gretchen Walsh
Bronze: Zhang Yufei