Sarah Sjöström

On 22 March 2008, at the age of 14, she took the gold medal in women's 100 m butterfly at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands.[4][5] She was clocked for 58.44 seconds. In the semi-finals the day before, she set a new national record with 58.38 seconds, breaking Anna-Karin Kammerling's old one (58.71 seconds). At the Swedish championships in 2008 she swam at 58.55.

On 26 July 2009, at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Sjöström set a world record in the semifinals with a time of 56.44, surpassing Inge de Bruijn's nine-year-old record. On the next day, in the finals for the women's 100 m butterfly, she won the gold medal and improved her world record time to 56.06.[6][7][8]

At the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, she defended her 2008 gold medal by winning the women's 100 m butterfly stroke.[9] In December 2011 She broke the Swedish record when she won the 100m freestyle at the Open Dutch Championships in Eindhoven. However, she failed to win a medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai. [10]

2012 was a year of both successes and setbacks. At the early summer European Championships in Debrecen, Sjöström swam home double gold in the 50 butterfly and 100 meters free.[11][12]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Sjöström competed in four individual events,[13] reaching the semi-finals of the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle, and finishing 4th in the final of the 100 m butterfly in a time of 57.17. Sjöström's world record was broken in this race by Dana Vollmer of the United States.[14] In 2015 however Sjöström regained the world record by improving it twice at the world championships in Kazan.[15]

At the 2013 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Herning, Denmark Sjöström won four individual and two team medals.[16]

Sjöström at the 2015 European Short Pool Championships.

On 5 July 2014 Sjöström broke the world record in the 50mbutterfly (long course) with a time of 24.43. The large margin of 0.64 seconds by which she broke the old record has been compared with Bob Beamon's 1968 long jump world record.[17]

At the 2014 European Aquatics Championships in Berlin later that summer Sjöström won three gold and four silvermedals. On August 18, she and the rest of the Swedish relay team won gold in the 4x100 freestyle and the next day she also won the final of the 50m butterfly. On August 20, the she won a new gold medal, this time in the 100 m freestyle. During the championships, she won a total of seven medals, including silver in the 4× 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 50 m freestyle and 4 × 100 meters medley.[18][19]

At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships she won five medals, including gold medals in the 50m and 100m butterfly events, during the latter she broke the world record twice. She went on to win her third medal when she won her first world championship gold in the long track in the 50m butterfly.

Sjöström also became the first Swedish swimmer to win two world championship gold medals during the same long track championships. The final championship day ended with a bronze in the 50m freestyle and a silver in the team race in the 4 × 100 meters medley. Thus Sjöström won medals in all four individual starts, and in the three team races there was a silver and two fourth places. In all, she won two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal during world championship week; more medals than any Swede has previously won at the same world championships. In 2015 she was received the Jerring Prize and a Victoria Scholarship.[20][21]

In 2015, Sarah Sjöström was named the first Swedish swimmer by Swimming World Magazine to be named "Swimmer of the Year in Europe"; she was also awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year", with the words "For explosive willpower, double world records and a historic gold cavalcade".[22][23]

On 25 January 2016, Sjöström was awarded the Swedish public radio Jerring Award for the second year in a row.[24]

On 7 August 2016 Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the Rio Olympics, setting a World record with a time of 55.48.[25] When Sjöström went on to win silver and bronze medals in the 200 m and 100 m freestyle respectively, she became the second woman in history and the fifth swimmer overall, following Mark Spitz (1972), Kornelia Ender (1975, 1976), Matt Biondi (1986, 1988) and Michael Klim (1998), to win medals in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and the 100 m butterfly at the same Olympiad, or World Championships.[26]

In January 2017, Sjöström competed in the 19th Luxembourg Euro Meet and won the 50 m freestyle event with a time of 24.01, the 100 m freestyle event with a time of 53.21, the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.02, and the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 57.12.[27] In April 2017 Sjöström competed in the Stockholm Swim Open and won the 50 m butterfly event with a time of 25.63.[28] She also won the 100 m butterfly event with a time of 56.26.[29][30] She also won the 50 m freestyle event, setting a time of 23.83, the second fastest time ever.[31] In the 100 m freestyle event she won first place with the time of 52.54, a new personal best and Swedish (national) record.[32]

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea, Sjöström won five medals, the most for a woman in individual events at this Championships. She won a gold in 50 m butterfly, which is the third consecutive gold she has won in this event at the Championships;[33] two silvers (in 100 m butterfly and 50m freestyle); and two bronzes in 100m and 200m freestyle.

She was named FINA female swimmer of the meet, which she also won in 2017.[34]

In the summer of 2017 Sjöström broke four world records in two weeks (in Budapest and later at World Cup competitions in Moscow). As a simultaneous holder of eight world records on the short and long course, she became the most record holder in international swimming. [48] In early August Sjöström improved her time in the 50 m freestyle on the short course, at races in Berlin, from 23.10 to 23.00. In the race, however, she was second behind Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who with the time 22.93 took from Sjöström one of her eight records.

In the Autumn of 2019 she was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League competing for the Energy Standard Swim Club of which she was co-captain (with Chad le Clos). The team won the overall title in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December.[35] At the first stop on the league in Indianapolis, USA she won the MVP title amassing 55.5 points over the competition, and after the final in Las Vegas, she was named overall MVP with 243.5 points over the season. During the inaugural ISL season she won the 50m Freestyle three time (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas), the 100m Freestyle twice (Indianapolis and Naples), the 50m Butterfly three times (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas), and the 100m Butterfly in Indianapolis. She also won the 50m Freestyle Skins event three times - in (Indianapolis, Naples and Las Vegas).

In the ISL season Sjöström placed 5th overall in points in 2020, due in part to a back injury that made her sit out of a full match.[36] She ranked second to Caeleb Dressel in points-per-match with 59.4, noted 16 individual wins, including three in the skins.[37] And while neither are official world records, Sjöström also featured on Energy Standard’s women’s and mixed 400 free relays that were both the fastest of all-time.[37]

Only individual

• 2014: The Swedish Jerring Award[50]
• 2015: The Swedish Jerring Award[50]
• 2015: Female European Swimmer of the Year, announced by Swimming World Magazine[51]
• 2015: The Swedish Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal[52]
• 2015: The Victoria Award[53]
• 2017: The Swedish Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal[54]
• 2017: Female World and European Swimmer of the Year, announced by Swimming World Magazine[55]
• 2017: Best Female Athlete from Europe, announced by Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)[56]
• 2019: MVP in International Swimming League[57]