By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
Swedish sprinting legend Sarah Sjostrom is welcoming the world’s best to Stockholm next month to come take aim at world and European Records in short course meters.
In collaboration with the Swedish Olympic Committee, Swedish Swimming and Södertörns SS (Sjostrom’s home club), Sjostrom is hosting the inaugural Sjostrom Invitational next month in Stockholm, with the event set to run August 12.
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(@sarahsjostrom)The competition is geared towards world-class swimmers who have records in mind, but it will also have an age group component with 16 & unders invited to race the same schedule of events.
The one-day meet will bring Sjostrom’s unique skillset to the table, as she is not only one of the best sprinters in history, but also has an uncanny ability to reel off fast swims in succession.
We’ve seen her do it in the International Swimming League’s (ISL) skins events, and she’s also thrived at the Monaco leg of the Mare Nostrum Tour.
Now, Sjostrom is bringing the multi-round elimination-style 50-meter races to her own invite, as the one-day meet will feature quarter-final, semi-final and finals of each stroke 50.
The 16 & under swimmers will also race each stroke 50 and the 100 IM in a timed final.
The meet will be held at the Eriksdalsbadet pool in Stockholm, with the races to be run in short course meters.
Set to represent Sweden at her fifth Olympic Games later this summer in Paris, Sjostrom is the predominant favorite in the women’s 50 freestyle, having won three straight world titles in the event and breaking the world record last year in Fukuoka (23.61).
A four-time Olympic medalist, Sjostrom won gold and broke the world record in the women’s 100 butterfly in 2016, adding a silver in the 200 free and a bronze in the 100 free, and three years ago in Tokyo, she claimed silver in the 50 free to complete a remarkable comeback after breaking her elbow earlier in the year.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Sarah Sjostrom Hosting “Sjostrom Invitational” In August To Take Aim At SCM World Records