American swimmer Torri Huske won silver in a stunning performance in the women’s 100-meter freestyle Wednesday night at the Paris Games, coming in just a tenth of a second after Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom.
Having been ranked seventh out of eight finalist swimmers going into the race, Huske came out strong, emerging as the leader early into the race despite being all the way on the edge of the pool in lane one.
After the turn, Huske was still leading, exploding through the water towards the wall.
As the athletes neared the end, Sjostrom burst forward, getting her fingers to the wall first.
Both Huske and Sjostrom, who was only the sixth place swimmer going into the final, looked shocked when they touched the wall and saw their names on the scoreboard.
Huske’s jaw dropped, while Sjostrom smashed her fist against the water while cheering out.
Sjostrom touched just .13 seconds before Huske, who won the gold for the United States in the 100-meter butterfly on Sunday.
“This is unbelievable. I didn’t think I would swim the 100 free, honestly,” Sjöström said. “After the freestyle relay the first day I told my coach straightaway, I was like, ‘No, I don’t think 100 free’s for me, I want to do the 50, I want to rest until the 50.’ And he was like, ‘No way, you need to go out there and see what you can do no matter the outcome.’”
The Swede holds the world record in the event from her blazing swim back in 2017 where she hit the wall at only 51.71 seconds.
The sprint event left fans screaming as they craned to see who would make it to the wall first.
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Both Sjostrom and Huske defied the initial rankings and claimed spots at the top of the podium, touching just ahead of the top seed, Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong.
Haughey clocked in at 52.33, just .04 seconds behind Huske, to win the bronze medal.
This is Sjostrom’s fifth Olympic games, as the 30-year-old Swedish swimmer has won a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal throughout her career so far.
Huske, who didn’t qualify for the 100-meter freestyle in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo, made a stunning comeback on Sunday in the 100-meter butterfly.
The 21-year-old won the gold medal in the butterfly after missing the podium by only 0.01 seconds in Tokyo.
She was followed by American swimmer Gretchen Walsh, who claimed silver in the event. Walsh competed on the opposite side of the pool from Huske Wednesday night in the 100-meter freestyle as well, touching the wall in eighth place.
Huske will compete in the women’s 50-meter freestyle for her final individual event of the 2024 Games on Aug. 4.