Sarah Sjostrom Strikes Again! Sixth 50 ‘Fly World Title For All-Time Top 23 Dashes
Sarah Sjostrom claimed a sixth straight 50m butterfly world title in Doha this evening, the Swedish Dash Queen’s 24.63 the second fastest of all her six efforts since 2015. And then she dropped a quasi repeat feat of the stellar moment t she delivered back in Fukuoka last July, when she followed the 50m ‘fly victory with a ticket to lane 4 for 50m free showdown.
Sjostrom’s semi-final of the freestyle was not quite the sizzler of half a year ago, a 23.61 World record but on 23.90, the 2016 Olympic 100m butterfly champion was the sole sub-24sec sprinter into the final tomorrow, Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick closest on a national record of 24.01.
The Sjostrom sequence of six ‘fly crowns includes the string of three championships in successive years courtesy of a decision to honour covid-catch-up contracts. Even so, six championships, the world record in her hands since 2014, at 24.43, and an unbeaten record in a single event that has few parallels in the sport.
Championship Finals – Doha, Day 7
Women’s 50m butterfly – Sjostrom Goes Six In Six
24.63 – 6th straight world title and 3rd swiftest career and all-time out of the fastest 23 efforts all-time in the 50 butterfly – all belonging to 1 swimmer: Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom.
Today’s ‘fly victory for Sjostrom was the second-fastest of her five wins: 24.96, 2015; 24.60, 2017; 25.02, 2019; 24.95, 2022; 24.77, 2023; 24.63, 2024. No other woman has ever swum as fast as any of those wins, China’s Zhang Yufei taking silver Fukuoka 2023 for China in 25.05, the second-fastest all-time 0.02sec ahead of Sweden’s other great sprinter, Therese Alshammar.
Men’s 50m freestyle
Cameron McEvoy went through the rounds at sizzling speeds of 21.1 and 21.2 but come the showdown, the lights on, the nerves tingling, anything can happen to favourites and the Australian, despite a rocketing 0.56sec reaction off the blocks, could not retain the title he claimed in Fukuoka last summer.
The crown passed to Ukraine and Vladyslkav Bukhov, his 21.44sec blast a moment for a war-torn nation and its supporters around the world to celebrate as Putin and the Kremlin continue their murderous war against a sovereign country.
McEvoy fell just 0.01sec shy, silver his in 21.45, with Great Britain’s 2022 World and European and England’s Commonwealth champion Ben Proud, a whisker away for bronze in 21.53.
Women’s 200m backstroke
American Claire Curzan thumped her opponents with a sharp 2:05.77 victory to complete a triple of backstroke victories in Doha and match the feat first delivered by Australian Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown in Fukuoka last year. Different circumstances, of course, and another reminder of the impact governance decisions have on a history book of swimming littered with asterisks and explanations that make the sport of swimming less accessible to the wider audience with every passing moment that puts organisers and money ahead of athlete and swimming interest.
Not Curzan’s fault, of course, and the Paris 2024 prospect will head home a multiple winner on her way to the tougher test if U.S. Olympic trials in June. Closest to her was Jaclyn Barclay, am Aussie newcomer to world long-course titles, on 2:07.03 for silver, with Anastasiya Shkurdai, a neutral athlete who hails from the nation assisting Putin with his criminal aggression in Ukraine, third in 2:09.08.
Men’s 100m butterfly
Diogo Ribeiro made history for Portugal when he claimed the non-Olympic 50m crown earlier this week. Now he;’s a double World champion, a 51.17 Portuguese record good for gold over 100m in Doha ahead of Austria’s Simon Bucher, in 51.28, and Jakub Majerski, of Poland, in 51.32.
Ribeiro will head home a national hero and a young man with a shot at making an Olympic final in Paris. For an historic medal at that level, he is likely to need to axe another second off a national standard he first claimed in 2022, took down to 51.61 by the end of that year, at 17, before improving to 51.45 by April last year.
Now 19, Ribeiro took the standard down to 51.30 in semis yesterday and now sands at the cup of the sub-51 club inhabited by 33 men, including the crest-of wave Paris podium prospects.
Women’s 800m freestyle
Simona Quadarella and Isabel Gose ended 16 lengths of stroke-for-stroke scrapping separated by just 0.09sec, gold to the Italian in 8:17.44, silver to the German in 8:17.53. Quadarella claimed the 1500m title earlier in the week, while Gose made the 400m podium behind gold for the third swimmer home in the 800m today.
The bronze went to the 400m champion Erika Fairweather, who matched the leading pace to half way before feeling the pace and steadily fading back from the gold hunt. In 8:22.26, the first Kiwi to claim a world title had done enough to add a bronze to a collection that included the 200m silver this week.
A fine evening for New Zealand beyond her, too: Eve Thomas was fourth in 8:24.86. That time left her just shy of the then sensational 8:24.77 clocked by her mother, Sarah Hardcastle, when she claimed the 1986 Commonwealth title for England at a European and Commonwealth record pace just 0.15sec outside the world record held by Australian Tracey Wickham, of Australia.
Mixed 4x100m freestyle
Semi-Finals
Women’s 50m breaststroke – semis
Women’s 50m freestyle – semis
Men’s 50m backstroke – semis
