Sarah Sjostrom Planning to Bypass Competition During 2025; A Sixth Olympics Still Possible
Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom, who swept the sprint-freestyle events at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, has revealed that she has no plans to compete during 2025. The news was broken by Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper which recently ran a feature on the five-time Olympian and future Hall of Famer.
While Sjostrom will not compete during the 2025 season, she told the newspaper that she will continue to train, albeit at a reduced capacity. As the year progresses, Sjostrom intends to increase her workload in the pool and will determine her next steps in the sport. An Olympian for the first time during the 2008 Games in Beijing, Sjostrom has not ruled out pursuing a sixth Olympic appearance, and is taking a long-term look at her future.
“As it is now, I have no competitions planned,” Sjostrom told DN. “I will train, but at a low load and then slowly increase. I think that is the best way to last in the long run…Just qualifying for a sixth Olympics would be awesome.”
A six-time Olympic medalist, including three gold medals, Sjostrom has won 96 international medals during her career. She owns the most individual world championships and has set world records in the 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly, 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. She has won six consecutive world titles in the 50 fly, but that streak will end unless Sjostrom changes her mind about 2025, which will feature the World Championships in Singapore in the summer.
Last summer, at the age of 31, Sjostrom was spectacular at the Olympic Games. While she was favored in the 50 freestyle, and delivered gold in that event, she pulled off a surprising gold medal in the 100 freestyle. The performances further solidified her status as one of the greatest athletes the sport has seen.
“I never thought that a 30-year-old woman could win this event,” Sjostrom said in Paris. “I thought that you had to be 20 or something. I’ve done many things in my career, but I’ve never ever surprised myself as much as I did here.”