{"id":212070,"date":"2016-07-12T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=212070"},"modified":"2016-07-12T08:16:17","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T15:16:17","slug":"difference-makers-why-sarah-sjostrom-dominates-the-100-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/difference-makers-why-sarah-sjostrom-dominates-the-100-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Difference Makers: Why Sarah Sjostrom Dominates the 100 Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder<\/em><\/p>\n

Sarah Sjostrom<\/strong> will attempt a daunting schedule at the Olympics with legitimate medal hopes in four individual events\u00a0plus relays, in which she will\u00a0be key to any Swedish medal hopes.<\/p>\n

The 200 free figures to be one of the best races of the week as Sjostrom faces off with Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and Federica Pellegrini<\/strong>, and in the sprints Sjostrom will have to fend off speedy Australian sisters Cate<\/strong> and Bronte Campbell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But Sjostrom is the clear favorite in the 100 fly\u2014no one has swum within seven tenths of a second of her best time this year.<\/p>\n

Sjostrom has won three of the last four world titles in the event. In Rome in 2009, Sjostrom came in as the European champion but still a relative unknown at just 15 years old after not making the semifinals in any event at the Olympics in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Rome, of course, was the World Championships of the polyurethane bodysuits that helped athletes set 42 world records over the week, and the very first came in the second semifinal of the women\u2019s 100 fly, when Sjostrom touched in 56.44 to break Inge de Brujin\u2019s<\/strong> nine-year-old world record of 56.61.<\/p>\n