Swedish star Sarah Sjostrom is beginning her 2013 season with the domestic Swedish Grand Prix (long course); the first meet came in late January in Uppsala, and now leg two is this weekend in Stockholm. Sjostrom has already shown huge progress in just 5-weeks’ time, putting down season-bests in two events on Saturday, both of which are world leaders.
In the 100 fly, the event in which she was the World Record holder until the Olympics last year, Sjostrom swam a 57.9 – making her the first swimmer in the world under 58 seconds this year.
She added to that a 1:56.7 in the 200 free – which nips eight-tenths off of the previous world best by Camille Muffat, with American Missy Franklin moved to 3rd.
These early-season swims are not out of the ordinary for her, as fast as they were. Last year, she was even faster in early March in the 100 fly (at Britain’s Olympic Trials), though a bit slower in the 200 free. Her Olympics didn’t turn out well last year, though it seems that Sjostrom is taking a similar training cycle this season anyway and attacking these early meets.
The meet still has a day to go, and on Sunday Sjostrom will swim the 100 free, the 50 fly, and a bit of a new challenge: the 400 free. That’s a race that she played with a little bit when she was younger, in 2008 and 2009, but really hasn’t done anything with since.
Sjoestrom is so talented that she can swim so fast regularly in-season.
I just hope this year will be different, and she’ll be able to crank it up even faster in Barcelona.