When four-time world champion Sarah Sjostrom set a new world record in the 50m butterfly in July 2014, it was – says her coach Carl Jenner – the “closest thing to perfection”.
Those present in Boras that day witnessed Sarah go half a second inside compatriot Therese Alshammar’s old mark in a mindboggling 24.43 seconds.
For Carl it was a thing of beauty in a stroke he believes can transport the swimmer to another world.
“Once you get the timing and the strength of the stroke then it is butterfly and it feels like you are flying,” he says.
“I think it is the most beautiful stroke when people get it right, when people float and fly through the water. It is like an art form.”
Carl started coaching Sarah when she was 13 in Stockholm and he has helped guide her to four world and six European titles in the 50m and 100m butterfly as well as podium finishes in the freestyle and relays.
He is, she says, a butterflyer who is good at freestyle, with physical attributes of being tall with relatively big hands and feet and good co-ordination in the water.
She is also blessed with a naturally high body position.
“When she floats, she floats incredibly high,” he says. “She is quite a big lady, she has got quite a lot of muscle, she is quite…
