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World Championships: Torri Huske Blasts American Record in 50 Butterfly; Just Behind Sarah Sjostrom in Semis
The chase for a record fourth consecutive world championship in the 50 butterfly continues for Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, but this year’s final might be the most challenging yet with Torri Huske in the mix at record pace.
After cruising to the top seed in prelims, the 28-year-old Sjostrom did the same in the semifinals, touching the wall in 25.13 to hold off the field by two tenths.
But right on her heels was Torri Huske, who broke the American record in the event to touch the wall in 25.38, well within striking distance heading into the finals. Kelsi Dahlia held the record at 25.48.
It was not the first American record for Huske, who claimed the 100 butterfly mark at the Olympic Trials in 2021. She is proving to be a world force in the butterfly at different distances, not to mention her other events, mainly freestyle, which are among the world’s elite as well.
Huske claimed the world title in the 100 butterfly earlier in the meet and this showdown looks to be one of the most intriguing events of the World Championships.
Sjostrom won her first world title in the event at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, then repeated in 2017 in Budapest and again in 2019 in Gwangju.
Will it be her fourth in a row or Huske’s second of the meet?
The rest of the field will have something to say about it as well.
France’s Melanie Henique took the third seed in 25.41, followed by Egypt’s Farida Osman (24.46), China’s Zhang Yufei (25.54), France’s Marie Wattel (25.56), USA’s Claire Curzan (25.67) and Maaike de Waard of the Netherlands (25.75) rounded out the finalists.
