Sarah Sjostrom wins 200m freestyle crown in Stockholm: 2011 Swedish Short Course Nationals
The 2011 Swedish Short Course Nationals kicked off in thrilling fashion in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday, November 24. The initial evening session of the meet organised several attention grabbing events.
Swedish veteran, Sarah Sjostrom went on to win the Women’s 200m freestyle title over her rivals, Nathalie Lindborg and Josefin Lindkvist by thumping the finishing divider in a scintillating time of 1 minute and 52.58 seconds. The swimming effort of Sjostrom
was ahead of her best meet record of 1 minute and 52.92 seconds, set in 2011. Unfortunately, she was not able to break Allison Schmitt’s meet record of 1 minute and 52.08 seconds, set earlier this year.
The good news was that she maintained her second spot in the current world ranking of swimming. Sarah Sjostrom claimed gold medal in the Women’s 100m butterfly race at the 2009 World Championships edition, in Rome. In addition, she won two gold medals in
the respective race at the 2008 and 2010 European Championship editions, in Eindhoven and Budapest, respectively.
In the meantime, Nathalie Lindborg earned silver medal in 200m freestyle by hitting the finishing barrier in a time of 1 minute and 58.82 seconds and Josefin Lindkvist claimed bronze title in a blot of 1 minute and 59.61 seconds.
The Women’s 200m butterfly crown was secured by Martina Granstrom in a winning time of 2 minutes and 04.71 seconds. More importantly, Granstrom broke her previous best meet record of 2 minutes and 05.33 seconds, set back in 2009. The effort moved her to
fourth place in the current rankings of swimming.
Choi Hye Ra retains the number one spot in the respective race rankings with a record breaking time of 2 minutes and 03.65 seconds, while Gong Jie maintains her second position in a time of 2 minutes and 03.91 seconds. Jiao Liuyang holds third place honours
in the current ranking with a meet record of 2 minutes and 04.49 seconds.
Meanwhile, Ida Marko-Varga grabbed silver medal in the respective race in a time of 2 minutes and 06.73 seconds, whereas, Petra Granlund settled third in 2 minutes and 07.93 seconds.
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