Sjöström to the semi-finals of the 50 meter freestyle at the swimming European Championships

Sjöström swam in a time of 24.21 and is therefore ready for the semi-finals.

The fastest time in the sixth heat and the second fastest in the trials. Dutch Milou van Wijk was fastest with 24.13.

- Good morning swimming, states Sjöström in SVT's interview.

- I think that I will have a similar journey in terms of time as I had on butterfly, that I will get better and better all the time.

The other Swedes – Sofia Åstedt, Sara Junevik, Louise Hansson – were not among the 16 fastest and missed the semi-finals.

Heavy for Sara Junevik, who opted out of the opportunity to re-swim and the chance for the semi-finals of the 100 freestyle yesterday, in order to save her strength for today.

Praised to the skies: "A superwoman"

Sjöström has said that the 50 meter freestyle is her favorite distance at the moment.

She is ranked number one in Europe at the distance this year with her time, 23.86, from the competitions in Rome in June.

- She is a superwoman. I'm probably her biggest fan, so it will be fun to meet her, says Italian European runner-up Sara Curtis about Sarah Sjöström.

She took gold in the 50m butterfly earlier this week – her 18th EC gold.

Bergman to the semi-finals

The semi-finals start at 19.18 tonight and the final at 18.37 on Saturday.

Later on Friday morning, Hanna Bergman advanced to the semi-finals with the 15th best time in the 200 meter medley.

- My focus is on my race plan, to do what I have to do and since the last 50 it's just head down and race, says Bergman to SVT Sport.

This year's swimming EC is organized in Paris.