Sarah Sjöström

Sarah Fredrika Sjöström (born 17 August 1993) is a Swedish competitive swimmer specialising in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events.

In the history of swimming, Sarah is one of the most decorated swimmers in the world of all time.

As of 2024, she has won a total of 23 individual medals at long course World Championships, more than any other swimmer in history.

On 22 March 2008, at the age of 14, Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with a time of 58.44 seconds.

In the semi-finals the day before, she set a new Swedish record of 58.38 seconds, breaking the previous record of 58.71 seconds by Anna-Karin Kammerling.

Three days earlier, she won her first medal of the Championships in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, contributing a split time of 56.17 for the third leg of the relay in the preliminary heats before being substituted out for the finals relay and winning a bronze medal for her efforts when the finals relay placed third in 3:41.28.

At the Swedish championships in 2008 in the same event, she finished in a time of 58.55 seconds.

Sjöström earned a spot on the Swedish Swim Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, where she finished 27th in the preliminary heats of the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 59.08 and 29th in the preliminary heats of the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 1:02.38, failing to advance to the semi-finals in both races.

She also swam the backstroke leg of the 4×100 metre medley relay in the preliminaries, in which the Swedish team qualified in seventh place for the finals, though the team went on to be disqualified in the final for a false start.

On 26 July 2009, at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Sjöström set a world record in the semifinals of the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 56.44 seconds, surpassing Inge de Bruijn's nine-year-old record.

The next day, in the final of the event, she won the gold medal and improved her world record time to 56.06 seconds at just 15 years, 348 days of age.

The day of the 4×100 metre medley relay final coincided with Sjöström's 15th birthday.

At the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Sjöström defended her European title in the 100 metre butterfly by winning the event.

With a split time of 53.77 seconds for the third leg of the 4×100 metre freestyle relay in the final, she helped win the bronze medal in a time of 3:38.81.

For the 4×100 metre medley relay, she anchored the relay in the final with a time of 53.73 seconds to help finish in 4:01.18 and win the silver medal.

In December 2011, she broke the Swedish record when she won the 100 metre freestyle at the Open Dutch Championships in Eindhoven.

However, she failed to win a medal at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China, Sjöström competed in five events, first placing fourth in the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 57.38 seconds, which was 0.32 seconds behind bronze medalist Lu Ying of China.

In her next event, the 200 metre freestyle, she placed fourth, finishing less than nine-tenths of a second behind world record holder in the event and gold medalist Federica Pellegrini of Italy with a time of 1:56.41.

The following day, she helped achieve a time of 8:02.30 and overall placing of twelfth in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay, splitting a 1:57.84 for the third leg of the relay in the preliminaries.

Two days later, on the final day of competition, she contributed to an overall placing of tenth in the 4×100 metre medley relay, swimming the backstroke portion of the relay in 1:01.24 in the preliminaries to help achieve a time of 4:02.71 that did not qualify the relay to the evening final.

Later in the day, she finished outside the podium in her third and final individual event, this time tying Lu Ying for fourth-place in the final of the 50 metre butterfly with a 25.87.

For Sjöström, 2012 was a year of both successes and setbacks.

At the 2012 European Aquatics Championships, held in early summer in Debrecen, Hungary, she achieved double gold medals in her individual events, with one in the 50 metre butterfly and one in the 100 metre freestyle.

In her relay event, the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, she helped win the silver medal in a final time of 3:38.40, swimming the third leg of the relay in 54.04 seconds.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Sjöström competed in four individual events, reaching the semi-finals of the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle and 200 metre freestyle, and placing fourth in the final of the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 57.17 seconds.

Sjöström's world record was broken in this race by Dana Vollmer of the United States.

On 29 July 2013, Sjöström won the gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, in Barcelona, Spain, with a time of 56.53 seconds, which was 0.44 seconds faster than silver medalist Alicia Coutts of Australia and 0.71 seconds faster than bronze medalist Dana Vollmer.

Four days later, she won a silver medal in the 100 metre freestyle, finishing 0.55 seconds behind a first-time world champion in the event, Cate Campbell of Australia, with a time of 52.89 seconds.

In 2015, Sjöström regained the world record by improving it twice at the World Championships, held in Kazan, Russia.

She won the Overall Swimming World Cup in 2017 and 2018.

In 2022, she became the first swimmer representing a country in Europe to win 10 individual World Championships gold medals.

She currently represents Energy Standard in the International Swimming League.

Sjöström is the only female swimmer to win five individual medals at a single FINA World Aquatics Championships, a feat she accomplished in 2019.

In 2021, Sjöström achieved a career total of over 1000 most valuable player points in the International Swimming League and became the first swimmer in history to do so.

In 2022, she became the first swimmer from any country to win a total of 28 medals at LEN European Aquatics Championships.

She has won 112 medals at Swimming World Cups.

She is the current world record holder in the 50 metre freestyle (long course), the 100 metre freestyle (long course), the 50 metre butterfly (long course) and the 100 metre butterfly (long course).

She is a former world record holder in the 50 metre freestyle (short course), 100 metre freestyle (short course), 100 metre butterfly (short course), 200 metre freestyle (short course), and the 4×50 metre medley relay (short course).

She is the first Swedish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.