De Groot Takes Down Kamminga Record, Steenbergen Impresses Again At Dutch Championships

2025 DUTCH LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, June 12th – Sunday, June 15th
• Amersfoort Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Dutch Long Course Championships began with a bang as two national records bit the dust to open the competition.

Both new benchmarks came on the men’s side and both were produced during the morning heats.

We reported how Kai van Westering established a new Dutch standard in the prelims of the 100m backstroke, logging a top-seeded effort of 53.51. He added slightly in the final but still came away with the victory and World Championships qualification with a gold medal-worthy mark of 53.63.

You can read more about this performance here.

The other record came in the 50m breaststroke heats with Koen de Groot putting up the best time of his career, posting 26.78.

That overtook Olympic medalist Arno Kamminga‘s former record of 26.80 notched at the 2021 Eindhoven Qualification Meet. As a refresher, 29-year-old Kamminga is taking a break from competition, having recently moved his training base to Hong Kong.

Come tonight’s final, de Groot was a hair slower, ultimately touching in 26.84 to still grab the gold and qualify for Singapore.

Joining him on the podium was Caspar Corbeau who also nabbed a World Championships-worthy effort of 26.99 while Jason van den Berg rounded out the podium in 27.86.

De Groot’s 26.78 performance checks him in as the 6th-best performer in the world this season.

World champion and national record holder Marrit Steenbergen demonstrated once again why she is one of the most consistent freestylers on the planet at the moment.

The 25-year-old ripped a winning effort of 52.78 to take the 100m freestyle, beating the field by over a second in the process.

Steenbergen opened in 25.75 and closed in 27.03 to nearly match the season-best of 52.77 she already notched at last month’s AP Race International. That rendered her the #2 performer in the world this season and the performance represented the 5th-swiftest of her career.

Tonight, Milou van Wijk secured the silver medal in a time of 54.00. However, van Wijk was quicker in the morning, clocking a top-seeded swim of 53.38 to fall just .20 off her lifetime best of 53.18 logged in Antwerp earlier this season. Both outings cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 54.25 needed for Singapore.

Tessa Giele finished 3rd this evening in 54.66, just off her morning outing of 54.62, while Sam van Nunen captured 4th place in 54.82 to most likely qualify as a member of the Dutch 4x100m free relay.

Giele was back in the water to race the women’s 50m fly, posting 25.93 as the victor. However, she wasn’t alone, as Maaike de Waard touched simultaneously to share the top of the podium.

Britta Koehorst collected bronze in 27.06.

Both Giele and de Waard dipped under the ‘A’ cut of 26.23 needed for the World Championships.

Additional Winners

• Marte Hieke van der Kamp clocked a time of 4:53.20 to take the women’s 400m IM event.
• The men’s 400m free saw Tiago Fonsesca Gomes get it done for gold in 3:54.24.
• Lotte Hosper nabbed women’s 200m back gold in 2:11.56, coming within striking distance of the ‘A’ cut of 2:11.08.
• Thomas Jansen reaped gold in the men’s 200m IM in 2:00.99.
• The women’s 800m free saw Imani de Jong claim the top prize in 8:42.08, the 3rd-best outing of her career.