{"id":136623,"date":"2015-06-16T09:24:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T16:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=136623"},"modified":"2015-06-16T09:24:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T16:24:20","slug":"swimming-world-performance-of-the-week-sarah-sjostrom-100-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-performance-of-the-week-sarah-sjostrom-100-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Performance of the Week: Sarah Sjostrom\u2019s 100 Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Sarah Sjostrom<\/strong> stepped up to race the 100 butterfly at the Sette Colli meet, she was already pegged as the heavy favorite for the world championship title. But once the race was over, it was clear that the Swede was going to be unstoppable when the world championships begins in six weeks.<\/p>\n

Sjostrom\u2019s first 50 meters at Sette Colli in Rome was 26.41, putting her just two hundredths of a second off Dana Vollmer\u2019s<\/strong> world record pace. But since this was an in-season meet and not the world championships, perhaps there were only a few people who thought Sjostrom was rested enough to maintain the pace. Boy, were we surprised when the final time on the scoreboard read 56.04, just six hundredths off the world record!<\/p>\n

That was Sjostrom\u2019s best time in the 100 fly, and a European record. The last time she recorded a lifetime best in the 100 fly was, coincidentally, in the same pool at the 2009 world championships. As a 15-year-old unknown in 2009, Sjostrom shocked the world as one of the first to rewrite the world records at that infamous meet with a 56.06 to mark her first world title. Six years is a long time to wait for a lifetime best, but Sjostrom stayed with the sport when many thought her best performances were behind her. The past year has marked a major turnaround for Sjostrom, including a 50 fly world record<\/a> last July and major improvements in freestyle. The issue for Sjostrom now is to replicate or improve on the times she\u2019s been posting through the year, something that has plagued her for the past five years.<\/p>\n

Video: Sarah Sjostrom sets lifetime best in 100 butterfly<\/strong>
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