50 m butterfly, women

What to remember

No Olympics, no World Championships that day: it was at the Swedish Championships in Borås, on July 5, 2014, that Sarah Sjöström swam the 50 m butterfly in 24.43 s, in a long course pool.

Born in Salem, the Swede is a sprint specialist in butterfly and freestyle. She won the Olympic 100 m butterfly title in 2016 and also held the world record over that distance. She set other world records too, such as the 100 m freestyle leading off the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, or the 50 m freestyle in a semifinal in Fukuoka in 2023.

Her career reads in totals: by 2024 she had won 23 individual medals at long course World Championships, more than any other swimmer. In 2019 she became the first woman to win five individual medals at a single World Championships. The 50 m butterfly has been raced at the long course World Championships since 2001.