Wasick, 34, Gold 0.02 Up On Sjöström, 33, As Douglass Drops 23.49WR Bomb At Pan Pacs
The age of the Thirty Something swim champion is well and truly established ... Katarzyna Wasick, of Poland, pips comeback mum Sarah Sjöström for the European 50 free crown... but the youngsters are not done - Sarah Curtis takes bronze ... as Kate Douglass set Pan Pac heats on fire ...
Kate Douglass over at Pan Pacs must have heard the roar for Johannes Liebmann over in Paris - not Texas, the real one - and decided she'd join the party within a couple of minutes off the teenage German's pioneering 1500m free: 23.49, a 50m freestyle prelims bomb that ricochet across The Pond even faster, in these digital days.
Different day, different conditions, a time trial over there, no sensed of time trial over here, the place still buzzing from Liebmann's epic, the pressure pot of a title tilt about to boil over, Katarzytna Wasick, of Poland, finally got the big win she'd been looking for in long-course waters; 23.82 for gold, 0.02sec ahead of Sarah Sjöström, the Olympic champion and former world record holder from Sweden.
Wasick, coach by Ozzie Quevedo at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, looked up at the scoreboard with a mixture of delight and shock. Polish record inn the bag for a sprinter who'd dipped below 24 before. In major long-course competition? Always the bridesmaid. Mo wore. She'd done it! Said Wasick:
"My biggest dream, which I hadn't even thought about today, has come true. I focused on myself to perform at my best. When I saw the scoreboard, I'm still shaking my head. Today I improved my personal record, becoming the oldest competitor at these championships. It's incredible and further proof that you can't give up. Sometimes many people don't believe in you, but if you have a dream, it's worth pursuing."
Quevedo, who has served as an assistant coach for Poland's Olympic swim team and is the primary coach for Kasia Wasick, was here in the venue today to witness the moment his pupil stepped up in the same city two years after 5th at the 2024 Olympics when Sjöström stole the sprint show. What the coach saw and celebrated:
Under Quevedo's guidance, Wasick had won bronze in the dash at the 2024 World Championships, in 23.95. That had stood as her national record until today. Wasick had had silver medals at the European Championships twice – in 2020 and 2022. She also claimed silver at the 2022 World Championships, adrift the Swedish sprinter.
Two years ago at the Games here in Paris, Wasick emerged from a fifth-place finish with tears in her eyes. Today she told Polish media in the mixed zone:
"Of course, I wanted to win a medal at the Games, but then I made it to the final. Today, two years later, I can say I'm very proud of that. As we saw in that race, anything can happen in the 50 metres. So I don't have bad memories of the Paris Games, but after today's race, Paris will probably be my favourite city. I have a day off on Sunday, so I think I'll finally see the Eiffel Tower."
The race in Europe was top-brow, which makes events across The Pond all the more astonishing. Kate Douglass - heats at Pan Pacs: 23.49WR. A reminder of the pathway to the first sub-23.5 50 free for women:
Craig Lord
And later that day, we add this - an analysis of two world records, the 23.19 from Kate Douglass the one that can be described as 'off-the-chart':
Craig Lord
The Paris Result in full...
Wasick's gold was Poland's second medal and first win of the championships, after Justina Kozan took bronze in the 400m medley behind Ireland's Ellen Walshe and British 16-year-old Amelie Smith.
Craig Lord
At 33, Sjöström had to settle for the silver medal behind an older swimmer. Such is the shift in the fast lane in 2026.
The race left Therese Alshammar as the most titled athlete in the race at European L/C titles, with four crowns, to her fellow Swede's three, Sweden at the top of tyre all-time medals table. Sjöström remains the fastest winner of the title, on 23.74 back in 2018.
The Swedish swimmer tied the record with Germany's Franziska van Almsick with her victory in the women's 50m butterfly on Wednesday to claim her 18th gold. She now has eight silvers and four bronzes for a record total of 30 European long-course honours since she claimed her first gold aged 14 over 100m 'fly at Eindhoven 2008.
Speaking to Swedish media after the race, Sjöström said:
“It was a really tough final. There were a lot of fast girls in there. I think I’m sure that was the first time I was in a European Championship final with three girls under 24 seconds. Given that and where I am, I’m really happy with my performance. It’s actually much better than I thought I was able to be right now. It's good news for the future. I’m glad that I was able to still do a really good time I’m not as strong, not as fast as I was before, but somehow I managed to swim a really good time. It motivates me as I work to get back to the strength and speed and feel for eater I had before [the birth of her first child]."
The history file follows ...
