Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and Denmark’s Pernille Blume went head to head down the entire length of the pool, and just when it looked like Blume, the Olympic gold medalist in the event, Sjostrom fought back. Sjostrom hit the wall in 23.74, seven-hundredths off her own world record of 23.67. She broke Blume’s championship record of 23.85 from the semi-finals.
Blume finished one-hundredth behind in 23.75, moving past Cate Campbell (23.78) as the third-fastest swimmer in history behind Sjostrom and Britta Steffen.
The Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in both the 50 and 100 free, took bronze in 24.21.
Russians Mariia Kameneva (24.40) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (25.04) took fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by the Netherlands’ Tamara Van Vliet (25.11), Greece’s Theodora Drakou (25.14) and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte (25.16).
