Heemskerk Stakes Claim On 50 Free OLY Berth With 24.28 Lifetime Best

EINDHOVEN QUALIFICATION MEET (NED)

Dutch Olympian Femke Heemskerk dropped the hammer in the women’s 50m freestyle prelims this morning in Eindhoven, with the sprint ace scorching a personal best time of 24.28 to lead the field.

Heemskerk’s Olympic berth in this splash n’ dash is on the line, with the veteran having to beat Valerie van Roon and her 24.63 tentative Olympic-qualifying mark. So far she has accomplished the feat, with 24.28 a tough mountain for van Roon to climb considering 24.63 represents her career-best.

You can read more on the background of their qualification situation. in our SwimSwam Preview link above.

Entering this meet, Heemskerk’s lifetime best in this 50m free rested at the 24.54 she established on the World Cup circuit back in 2018. That outing rendered her as the Netherlands’ 6th fastest woman in history.

However, with her 24.28 head-turner this morning, Heemskerk now frog hops the likes of Hinkelien Schreuder and Inge Dekker to rank as the 4th fastest Dutch woman in history. She just has to hang on to ensure that van Roon doesn’t capture a quicker time in the final tonight.

Bigger picture-wise, Heemskerk now sits just outside the top 20 performers worldwide all-time, while her outing here inserts Heemskerk into slot #5 among the season’s world rankings, tying Olympic champion Pernille Blume of Denmark.

2020-2021 LCM Women 50 Free

EmmaAUS
McKeon
08/01
23.81
2Cate
Campbell
AUS23.9406/17
3Ranomi
Kromowidjojo
NED23.9705/18
4Pernille
Blume
DEN24.0605/17
5Sarah
Sjostrom
SWE24.0708/01
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X Glide
3 years ago

Not being disrespectful but you always struck me as over 50 lol

Hswimmer
3 years ago

Dang

Sly
3 years ago

She’s getting the spot

Chalmers > Dressel
3 years ago

Oof

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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