Sarah Sjöström, the double Olympic sprint freestyle champion of Pars 2024, has confirmed she’ll make her competitive return at the Swim Open in Stockholm.

It's been seven months since she brought her first child, Adrian, into the world, but like Therese Alshammar before her, Sjöström - who in 2016 became Sweden's first female Olympic swimming champion when she won the 100m butterfly in world-record time in Rio - sees neither age nor motherhood as barriers to getting back to the thing she was passionate about since her own childhood.

She posted her confirmation on Instagram:

Sarah and husband Johan de Jong Skierus celebrated Adrian's arrival last August a year after the swimmer's soaring performances in Paris.

Just over a month after giving birth, Sjöström was back in the water on her way back to fitness. On April 9-12 in her home capital city, she'll complete stage 1 of her her competitive comeback with her first race.

Her announcement came in an interview with Svensk Simidrott, the national swim federation, in which the Olympic champion confirmed she would race one of her big events, the 50m free, and hopes to do so come the European Championships in Paris in August.

Sarah's words in full:

“It’ll be exciting to make a comeback. There’s been other things and there still are. But I still think swimming is so much fun, so I am going for it and thought why not make a comeback when it’s in Stockholm anyway? I’m very happy with where I am right now so I feel that I didn’t need to stress trying to be where I was, I’m just enjoying the process I’m in right now.

“I see progress every week but there’s no requirement that I have to get any specific placing or time. If there’s a time I want to make it’s just to qualify to the European Championships,” she said. “It’ a bit strange compared to what I might have set as a goal a few years ago. But now that’s my level. And the next step I maybe to compete for a medal at the Europeans but I’m not there yet.

"But in a few weeks I think I will have gotten closer. I’m driven by finding the right feeling and enjoying the everyday grind. The race I swim at a competition is such a tiny part of it all. But I really enjoy the day-to-day work and I’m not saying it’s the most exciting thing in the world to swim back and forth in a pool but I like the feeling of getting stronger.”

The 32-year-old has yet to top any butterfly in training but she aims to return to the dash in that event, and may yet do so as reigning world-record holder, her 24.43 from a day of clement weather in Bǒras back in July 2014 among the most spectacular of records on the books. The pioneering 'fly swimmer of the age is Gretchen Walsh - who has taken the speed of the 100m to the next level but has a tilt to go at the 50m yet:

Walsh’s Eye On ’Fly WR Double: Sjöström’s 100 Down, Borås 50 Feels First Breeze Of Challenge In 11 Years

Day 2 at U.S Nationals saw Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, Claire Curzan, Jack Aikins, Josh Matheny and Dare Rose take golden tickets to World titles in solo events, the frontline of 4x200 free relays also in place for the Singapore showcase, Luke Hobson ands Claire Weinstein leading the pace

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

High Six For Sjöström?

If Sarahj makes it to LA2028, she will be join an exclusive club of Olympic long-haulers: there's the ace sprinter before her at home, Therese Alshammar, who swam freestyle like she was travelling through a test-car tunnel, water flying off the tops of her fingers as she made art of her skill, their fellow Swede and 'flyer Lars Frolander, Tunisian distance free and medley ace Oussama Mellouli, Turkish backstroke and butterflies Derya Buyukuncu and Chilean distance swimmer Kristel Köbrich.

Sarah Fredrika Sjöström has been an Olympic swimmer since she was 14, racing at Beijing 2008 in the season that brought her to prominence when she claimed the European 100m butterfly crown in Eindhoven in the same year. Since then, the Swedish sprint queen has amassed the three golds and three other medals: silver jin the 200m free an arm-swing adrift Katie Ledecky in 2016, a bronze in the 50m free at the same Games, and then, in a Tokyo2020ne Covid-delayed season ruptured by a broken elbow, she managed to step up one place in the 50m free for silver behind Australia's Emma McKeon, hauler of a record seven medals at those Games.

SOS TIMELINE

On This Day In History - When Evans & Bernard Rewrote The Books

Timeline - The SOS Daily Trawl of official World long-course records (plus all pre 1954 standards, all pools and metrics) set this day throughout history.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Also in the March Vortex:

• Christou Draws Shortt To 30th Irish Record of 2025-26
• Matsushita 4:06.9 Leads Kojima To Next WJR, 4:08.8, in 400IM at Japanese Championships.
• Virginia Cavaliers Make It A Record Sixth Straight NCAA Crown
• Steenbergen On A Roll & Shortt Cracks Irish 200 Back Mark At The Paris Open
• Shortt Takes Ireland's Shortest Time Over 200 Back
• WJRs For Shin Ohashi and Yumeki Kojima at Japan Swim
• Double Trouble From Steenbergen and Grousset As Evans Rattles Her record Again
• Evans Gathers Momentum For A Scottish Summer of Plenty
• Grousset Grabs Another Win Over Ponti As Giant Open Looms On Paris Horizon
• Stars Head to The Giant Open ...
• Freya Colbert Takes British 200 Free Record Below 1:55 In Edinburgh
• Filip Nowacki At The Double; Peaty Fourth In First Race Since Paris 2024 Silver
• Maxime Grousset Growls - 22.78 50 'fly in Lausanne
• Angharad Evans Scares Her Own British Record At Edinburgh International
• Florine Gaspard & Mary-Sophie Harvey At The Double In Lausanne
• Target Practice For A Summer Of Divided Speed
• Speed Unending From McKeown As Perkins Hauls Four Golds at the NSW Championships in Sydney
• Tuning Up In Westmont: Gretchen Walsh, Summer McIntosh, Katie Ledecky, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Sam Short, Léon Marchand, Carson Foster, Chris Guiliano were among those on the crest of the big-wave surfers starting their steady tune-up a the Swim Pro Series - Westmont

In other coverage

Over at The China Open:

Ponti Upholds ’Flyers Pride But Dash Of Day Was A Zhang Of An Outlier - Fastest 800 Finish Ever

The China Open was striking for four reasons: McEvoy’s master-class 20.88; money magnets that drew foreign stars to a charm offensive that doubled as domestic championships; the speed of Zhang as he beat Märtens in the 200, 400 & 800 free; and the very young age of many Chinese finalists

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Walsh Owns 11 Of Swiftest 100 ’Fly Swims Ever: No7 In At 55.22

China Open, Day 3: Gretchen Walsh Nails Her 16th & 17th Sub-56 100 ’Fly Swims; Zhang Outstrips Märtens With 3:41 Best 400 free; & Chalmers & Alexy Snap On 47.7 in 100 free

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Cameron McEvoy - 20.88 World Record 50m Free - Cielo’s 2009 Shiny Suit Standard Sunk

At The China Open in Shenzhen, Australian Olympic and World 50m freestyle champion has cracked the 20.91 global mark set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in the dying days of the short-lived shiny suits crisis in 2009

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

O’Callaghan Adds To Aussie Party With 1:53 Power Play For 200 Win At China Open

As Australian Mollie O’Callaghan delivered the second-best swim of the day, after a WR from teammate Cameron McEvoy, the China Open is the place to be for fast finalists aged 11-14 and racing for their Chinese clubs

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Zhang Just 0.14sec Shy Of Sun To Beat Märtens In 200 Free At China Open

China Open Day 1 : Zhang Zhanshuo scares disgraced Sun Yang’s China 200m free record 0.7sec ahead of Germany’s Olympic 400m champion Lukas Märtens; and Tang Qianting sets Asian 50m breaststroke record

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

U.S. Masters On Watch After Swimmer Threatened With Lifetime Ban For Backing Rules Protecting Women’s Category

Angie Griffin lost a woman’s Masters title to a male & called for U.S. Masters to adhere to the World Aquatics rule that preserves the women’s category for females only. Now, she faces a disciplinary, and U.S. Masters has in turn been put on notice by the Aquatics Integrity Unit.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

SOS FORUM:

FORUM: Does McEvoy Tell Us Dressel Will Be The Last Man To Claim The 50-100 Olympic Double?

Pieter van den Hoogenband was a 100 and 200m Olympic champ who made the 50 podium and Ian Thorpe a 200 and 400m Olympic champion who made the 100 podium. But has Cam McEvoy made it clear that the 50 and 100 are diverging into separate clubs of sprinters?

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord