Sjostrom’s complete race footage is courtesy of swimswam partner Universal Sports Network.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won the World Championship in the 100 fly in 2009, and broke the World Record, at just 15 years old. That was the last time she was on a podium at any meet bigger than the European Championships, until Monday.
The Swede, who went out with a very even pace (26.40), put up a winning time of 56.53 that is her best time since that World Championship in 2009.
The silver medalist was Australia’s Alicia Coutts in 56.97, recovering well from her disappointment as Australia’s 400 free relay anchor on the meet’s first day. The bronze medal went to American Dana Vollmer in 57.24, continuing a forever-long record of Olympic Champions in this event failing to ever again win a World Championship.
Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen-Gray didn’t go out quite as fast here as she did in the semi-finals, but maybe she needed to: she wound up 4th, just .03 seconds behind Vollmer for a medal.
Canada’s Katerine Savard was never able to match her speed from prelims, where her 57.31 was her National Record. She wound up 5th in 57.97, followed by Italy’s Ilaria Bianchi (58.11) and Canada’s Noemie Thomas (58.13).
American Claire Donahue, who had been so good all week long on her first 50, was the last to the turn this time, and it ended up costing her: she was 8th in 58.30.