2022 BELGIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, November 12th & Sunday, November 13th
- Leuven, Belgium
- SCM (25m)
- Entry List
- Results
The 2022 Belgian Short Course Championships wrapped up over the weekend with 17-year-old Roos Vanotterdijk putting on a show across multiple women’s events. The teen took on a hefty schedule over the two-day competition, demonstrating her versatility in this short course format.
To kick things off, Vanotterdijk scorched a new lifetime best en route to taking the 200m freestyle gold. She first established a new PB in the heats, producing a time of 1:57.78. That represented the Belgian’s first time ever under the 2:00 threshold in the event, overtaking her previous career-quickest mark of 2:00.88 from 2 years ago.
But Vanotterdijk took things to an entirely new level in the final, touching in a time of 1:56.00. Opening in 57.37 and closing in 58.63, she finished just over a second shy of the national record.
The Belgian standard remains at the 1:54.97 Valentine Dumont scored during last year’s International Swimming League (ISL) season, but with Vanotterdijk’s exponential time drops, that record may not remain for very much longer.
Vanotterdijk also made some noise in the 100m backstroke, climbing atop the podium in a time of 58.77. As the only racer to dip under the 1:01 barrier, Vanotterdijk came within striking distance of her own lifetime best of 58.56 from just last month.
The women’s 50m fly was Vanotterdijk’s next victim, with the teen putting up a solid victory in 26.15. This performance checked in as the 2nd best of her young career, resting only behind the 25.98 she logged at this same meet last year.
Finally, Vanotterdijk did damage in the 100m IM, hitting a final result of 59.43. That also nearly overtook her own PB, a time of 59.34 she logged last month. That slightly quicker mark represents the current Belgian national record in the 1IM, one of five records Vanotterdijk owns.
Vanotterdijk is a shining star for Belgian swimming, having captured 5 individual medals at this year’s European Junior Championships. There in Otopeni, Romania, the Belgian took 100m fly gold, 100m back and 50m fly silver, as well as bronze medals in the 100m free and 50m back.
Additional Notes
- Thomas Thijs produced a time of 49.29 to take the men’s 100m free and also scored silver in the 200m free in a time of 1:47.91. Taking the victory in the latter event was Lucas Henveaux who grabbed gold in 1:46.04, a new lifetime best.
- The men’s 100m breast saw Constantin Malachi get under the minute mark, topping the podium in a mark of 59.68. He became Belgium’s 4th fastest performer in history with that result.
- Sarah Dumont collected gold in the women’s 400m IM in 4:42.29 and doubled up with the top prize in the 200m fly in 2:13.02.
- Florine Gaspard took the women’s 100m breast by nearly 3 seconds, hitting 1:05.46 for the gold.
- The men’s 50m free saw 3 separate ties within the final race. Lucas Gervais got to the wall first in 22.61, but then both Stan De Swart and Jerome Emo touched simultaneously in 22.64 for silver. The 4th place and 6th place were also characterized by ties.
