He raced to victory in the 100m breaststroke semifinals to secure his gold medal bid in Monday evening’s final but he was upstaged by Great Britain’s world record-holder Adam Peaty who posted a faster time in the other semifinal.
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Last year Peaty captured the European and Commonwealth titles and set a new world record in London in April.
The 20-year-old City of Derby swimmer was trailing Cameron van der Burgh for much of the final, with the South African under world record pace at the turn.
Earlier Monday, American teenager Katie Ledecky bettered her own world record in the 1,500 freestyle preliminaries.
At this point, a day before the start of the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, the point might be all but moot.
Sjostrom led at the turn and won by a body length, touching in 55.64 seconds.
However, Peaty overhauled Van der Burgh in the final 25m to win in 58.52 seconds.
Fellow Brit Ross Murdoch took the bronze in 59.09 – a Scottish record.
“I knew I had some catching up to do but I kept fighting right to the end and it paid off”. “About 25 meters out he was still in front so I was a bit skeptical”.
Van der Burgh’s strategy was to go out fast and try to make Peaty catch him.
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Peaty and Van der Burgh had broken the championship record three times between them in the heats and semi-finals in Kazan en route to the final, and the duo will continue their battle in next summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
