Courtesy: Steve Thomas
She has been flying under the radar a little at this early stage in her swimming career, but 14-year-old Hannah Huisman might have caught the eye of the scribes around the pool earlier if it were more widely known she is the daughter of three-time Dutch Olympian Marleen Veldhuis.
Coached by Cameron Reynolds at the Warringah Aquatic Swim Club on the Northern beaches of Sydney where her family has settled, Huisman has shown some impressive form at the Australian National Age Championships. Her mother, Veldhuis, is acting as Manager for the club this week.
Huisman notably claimed victories in the 14-year-old girls’ 50 free (26.19) and 100 free (56.62), the two events her mother specialized in during her career. She also claimed a gold medal in the 50 fly (28.28), a bronze in the 100 fly (1:03.43), and had a 6th place finish in the 200 free (2:08.96), all in new personal best times, and her event program looks remarkably like her monther’s.
Veldhuis previously held world records in the women’s 50 free in both long course and short course, and she also held the all-time mark in the 50 fly (LC).
During Veldhuis’ career, from 2004 to 2012, the Dutch women’s 400 free relay squad was a main rival of the Australians, along with the United States, as the trio battled it out for medals at seemingly every international meet.
Veldhuis and the Dutch team settled for bronze in Athens with the Aussies winning gold, but the Netherlands claimed gold in Beijing and followed it up with a silver in London. Veldhuis won her lone individual Olympic medal in 2012, earning bronze in the women’s 50 free.
She also won eight LC World Championship medals in her career, was a six-time SC world champion, and was a 20-time European champion (three LC, 17 SC).
Given her genes, and the ability she’s shown early in her swimming career, Huisman will be a name to watch moving forward.
