After ten years together Sarah Sjostrom and coach Carl Jenner have announced that they are parting ways. Sjostrom first began training with Jenner when she was just eleven years old, before quickly becoming the European queen of butterfly when she rocketed to gold in the 100 fly at the European LC Championships. Her abilities only continued to climb as she went on to defend her 100 fly title at each following European LC Championships, adding in wins in the 50 fly for good measure.
When the 2012 London Olympics rolled around, however, the outcome was not as Sjostrom and Jenner predicted. The then 18-year-old failed to make it past semi-finals of the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles, while finishing fourth in the 100 fly. Sjostrom explained that, “we did agree after the London Olympics, when it did not go so well. And it was close that we ended already.”
The two rebounded and in 2015 Sjostrom re-gained her world record in the 100 fly at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, before further lowering it to a 55.48 at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. It was there that Sjostrom earned her three Olympic medals (one of each color) and became the first female Swedish swimmer to earn an Olympic gold medal.
Sjostrom explained to SVT Sport that the “we want[ed] to finish on top. To get an even longer elite career, it is important to go ahead and get new inspiration.”
Beginning in the new year Sjostrom will train under Johan Wallberg, who will be head coach at the national swim center in Stockholm. The three-time Olympic medalist noted that one of her inspirations is six-time Swedish Olympian Theresa Alshammar who has trained under a variety of coaches throughout her long career, including Wallberg, who is her partner and to their son.
Jenner, meanwhile, will move into a new role within the Swedish Swimming Federation where he will work with young swimmers. He responded to SVT Sport by saying that “Sarah feels she needs to change in everyday life, and it feels like a good decision that will lead to even better results for Sarah. We both know that there is a natural way to go. To go ahead and do something that will be sustainable.”
Roughly translated, Sjostrom’s announcement on instagram reads,
Prior to 2017, I make changes in my workout routines. Me and my coach Carl Jenner has had many years of great cooperation that has given me many and great successes. Olympics in Rio was obviously the culmination of our cooperation. I have always looked at the Olympics in Rio as a diploma, but also as a starting point for something new before my next four years until the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. Already in Rio when I swam clear, I had conversations with Carl and announced that I want do things differently in the future. I will continue to be connected to the NEC (FINA Swimming Federation elite center) and then under Johan Wallberg as head coach.
Johan has recently been in charge of Swimming Federation NEC t.o.m activities until 2020. Johan has extensive training and experience from international training environments.
This will be a new start for me and the kick I want. This means that Stockholm will continue to be my permanent base.I want to thank Carl for all these years and also like to thank my second coach Andrei Vorontsov for 4 fun and challenging year at the NEC!
Read more from SVT Sport [in Swedish] here.
Its good to now!