Sjostrom 23.75 In Rome Is Her 9th Sub-24 24 of 2024, All Inside All Others Bound For Paris Freestyle Dash, So Far
Sarah Sjostrom and a showstopping 23.75 meet mark in the 50m free stole the headline in the last session at the 60th Settecolli International in Rome as the Swedish sprint queen makes it 9 dashes faster than any other bound for the dash at the Paris Olympics this year on the deadline for entries to the Games.
The world record holder, on 23.61, now has the seven swiftest textile times (and best 5 ever all suits) in history, today’s dash the seventh fastest of Sjostrom’s career performances, a speed shared with 2016 Olympic champion Pernille Blume, of Denmark. Sjostrom’s best five ever, all in textile, are followed by Britta Steffen‘s 2009 shiny suits 23.73.
The latter was then a World record for the German, and still standing the test off time, as is the case for a great many 50m sprints from the 23-month shiny suits era that ended when performance-skewing non-textile materials were banned from January 1, 2010.
Sjostrom Heads To Paris With The Art Of Speedy Dashes Well-Practised
The only woman ever to race inside 23.7, Sjostrom has done that five times, between her world mark and 23.69 on two occasions, 2017 to 2023. Now she’s has the seven fastest times in the world in 2024, topped by her 23.69 at World titles in February, a month out from the Paris Olympic Games, a gauntlet reinforced by nine dashes inside 24sec and another two on 24 flat.
Only three others in the world have gone sub-24 so far this year, all on 23.9s, American Kate Douglass, whose 23.91 is a snap with the two slowest of those 9 sub-24s from Sjostrom, Pole Katarzyna Wasick and Australian Shayna Jack*.
The picture could change later on deadline day: the women’s 50m free final at U.S trials will unfold a little over seven hours after Sjostrom’s swim in Rome and will go without Douglass, who withdrew from the race before heats in Indianapolis. Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske led the way to the showdown in 24.06 and 24.09 respectively.
In the Rome dash, Sjostrom topped Sweden teammate Michelle Coleman, 24.59, and Italian Sara Curtis, 24.64. On Saturday, the Swedish ace set a meet mark of 52.57 in the 100m free ahead of Hong Kong’s Olympic silver medallist of Tokyo 2020ne, Siobahn Haughey, on 52.78, Britain’s Anna Hopkin thiord in 53.53.
Another highlight of the last session in Rome saw Germany’s Lukas Märtens top the 200m free in 1:45.79 ahead of Britain’s 2015 World champion James Guy, 1:46.21, and his teammate, Olympic silver medallist Duncan Scott, 1:46.63, Italian Carlos D’Ambrosio (Fondazione Bentegodi) wiping 1.62sec off his lifetime best to finish fourth in 1:46.78.
The closing four finals of the meet all produced solid efforts from podium contenders heading to Paris:
Italy’s Simona Quadarella took the 400m free in 4:06.43, Japan’s Daiya Seto topped the 200IM in 1:57.66 and Britain’s Abbie Wood clocked 2:09.26 ahead off Olympic champion Yui Ohashi, of Japan, in 2:11.25, Italy’s Sara Franceschi on 2:11.75 in third.
Olympic marathon champion Florian Wellbrock, of Germany, claimer the last victory of the Olympic warm-up meet with a 14:46.37 in the 1500m free ahead of Italy’s Luca De Tullio, whose 14:48.77 is a lifetime best. World champion of 2024 Daniel Wiffen, of Ireland, finished third in 14:53.39.
The art of final preparations now takes over, before taper into the Paris Olympics.
In other finals in the curtain-closing session so far:
Men
200m backstroke: Matteo Restivo (ITA) 1:57.42; Luke Greenbank (GBR) 1:58.34; Benedek Kovacs (HUN) 1:58.50
200m breaststroke: Caspar Corbeau (NED) 2:09.28; Arno Kamminga (NED) 2:10.59; Edoardo Giorgetti (Esercito/CC Aniene) 2:11.37
50m butterfly: Thomas Ceccon (ITA) 23.01; Nyls Korstanje (NED) 23.03; Lorenzo Gargani (CUS Udine) 23.36
Women:
200m backstroke: Honey Osrin (GBR) 2:09.09; Katie Shanahan (GBR) 2:09.35; Margherita Panziera (ITA) 2:10.39
200m butterfly: Keanna Macinnes (GBR) 2:08.88; Laura Stephens (GBR) 2:09.80; Airi Mitsui (JPN) 2:10.28
Other Saturday highlights:
Women:
800 free: Simona Quadarella (ITA) 8:18.95 Meet mark; Isabel Gose (GER) 8:19.20; Leonie Märtens (GER) 8:27.92
50 breaststroke: Benedetta Pilato (ITA) 29.71; Sophie Hansson (SWE) 30.68; Lisa Angiolini (ITA) 30.70
100m butterfly: Louise Hansson (SWE) 57.34; Rikako Ikee (JPN) 57.36; Viola Scotto di Carlo (ITA) 57.87
400m medley: Ellen Walshe (IRL) 4:37.18 Irish record; Sara Franceschi (ITA) 4:38.77; Freya Colbert (GBR) 4:40.15
Men:
100 free: Alessandro Miressi (ITA) 48.08 meet mark; Matthew Richards (GBR) 48.45; Guilherme Santos (BRA) 48.80
800 free: Lukas Märtens (GER) 7:43.52; Luca De Tullio 7:45.80 PB; Daniel Wiffen (IRL) 7:46.83
50 backstroke: Michele Lamberti 24.40 equal Italian record (with Thomas Ceccon, 15/08/2022); Thomas Ceccon, 24.55; Guilherme Basseto (BRA) 24.86
50 breaststroke: Nicolò Martinenghi (ITA) 26.65; Ludovico Blu Art Viberti (ITA) 26.80 PB; Simone Cerasuolo (ITA) 27.05
200 butterfly: Giacomo Carini (ITA) 1’54.34 personal best; Federico Burdisso (ITA) 1’55.20; Alessandro Ragaini 1:56.28, also a PB.
400 medley: Daiya Seto (JPN) 4:09.68; Max Litchfield (GBR) 4:14.51; Charlie Hutchinson (SCO) 4:14.90
Day 1 in Rome: Pilato Punches A 1:05.33 Italian 100 Breaststroke Record At State Colli