Sarah Sjöström Named Sweden’s Female Athlete Of The Year For Seventh Time; Thanks Team For Having Belief
Sarah Sjöström thanked the team that always had faith in her despite her own self-doubt after she was named Sweden’s Best Female Athlete of the Year for the seventh time.
The 31-year-old was honoured at the sport gala in Stockholm following a year in which she won the 50/100m freestyle double at Paris 2024 as well as two world titles at Doha in February.
One of the most distinguished female sprinters of all-time, Sjöström now has three golds among six Olympic medals and is the most decorated individual medallist in World Championship history with 14 golds in a 25-strong haul.
Her award came days after she was named European Aquatics Female Swimmer of 2024 for the sixth time.
She posted to social media, saying: “Little Sarah would never have believed it if someone had told her we’d win the title of Best Female Athlete in Sweden 7 times. ⭐️🏆 I’ve been so fortunate to have the right team by my side all the way—because even when I didn’t believe in myself, they always did.”
Sjöström began the year in Doha where she won her sixth straight title in the 50 fly. Her winning time of 24.63 was the third-fastest in history, surpassed only by her WR of 24.43 set back in July 2014 and 24.60 at the 2017 worlds in Budapest.
The only woman inside 25secs with China’s Zhang Yufei the next fastest in 25.05., she owns the 26 swiftest times in history.
She followed that up with gold in the 50 free to complete the three-peat for her fourth world title in the event in 23.69 – then the joint fourth-fastest in history.
Sjöström swam the butterfly leg as Sweden won silver behind Australia in the women’s 4×1 medley, the second relay medal of her World Championship career following second at Kazan 2015.
Her intention had been that the 50 free would be her sole individual focus at the Olympics. However, learning that there were two full days between the 100 free final and the 50 prelims, Sjöström and coach Antonio Lutula decided she’d enter the longer race before making a final decision in Paris.
She was still uncertain about competing following the 4×100 free in which she led off in 52.53 as Sweden came fifth in a national record of 3:33.79.
Sarah Sjöström: Photo Courtesy: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala, Deepbluemedia
However, she heeded Lutula’s words as she told Swimming World: “He said it’s a good idea to do the 100 to have something to do but also remember the favourites never usually win. Also, we saw a lot of the fastest girls had the 200 free final the day before the 100 free starts so they will be a little bit more tired.
“I was like maybe we’re just going to dive in and see what happens because I’m never going to find out if I don’t do it. So that was the mindset, I was curious to find out what I can do but it wasn’t like I was thinking okay, let’s win, let’s win, let’s win. It was just like some curiosity.”
Fourth at the halfway point, Sjöström moved through the field to touch the wall first in 52.16secs ahead of Torri Huske (52.29) and Siobhan Haughey (52.33).
With that, she claimed her first global 100 free title after bronze at Rio 2016 and four silvers and a bronze across five World Championships between 2013 and 2022.
Next up was the 50 free in which she topped prelims in 23.85 followed by 23.66 in the semis, the third-fastest in history and 0.05 off her world record of 23.61 from the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka.
Come the final and Sjöström stopped the clock in 23.71 to claim her second gold of the Games ahead of Meg Harris (23.97) and Zhang Yufei (24.20), three years after silver in Tokyo where a broken elbow threatened her very participation.
With that she became the fifth woman in Olympic history to win the 50/100 double.
Following Paris, Sjöström got married to Johan de Jong Skierus and announced in December that she was planning to bypass competition in 2025 with a sixth Olympics at LA 2028 still a possibility.
