2023 FLANDERS SWIMMING CUP
- Saturday, January 21st – Sunday, January 22nd
- Olympic Aquatic Centre Wezenberg, Antwerp, Belgium
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships-qualifying meet
- SwimSwam Preview
- Start Lists
- Results
The 2023 Flanders Swimming Cup concluded from Antwerp over the weekend with a visiting Dutch contingent putting up strong showings on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Two-time Olympic silver medalist Arno Kamminga was among the competitors with the 27-year-old reaping gold across the men’s 100m and 200m breaststroke events. In the former, the Dutchman logged a time of 59.77 while in the latter he touched in 2:11.34.
Kamminga has already been under the 59-second threshold in the 1breast event this season, having produced a mark of 58.90 at the Rotterdam Qualification Meet last month. He was also quicker in the 2breast at that domestic meet, posting 2:10.39.
Teammate and 100m IM short course world champion Marrit Steenbergen was also a multiple event winner at this competition, grabbing gold in both the 200m free and 200m IM.
Steenbergen punched a 2free result of 1:59.41 while in the 2oom IM she hit 2:13.53 to beat the field by over 3 seconds.
Steenbergen has already produced a 200m free season-best of 1:57.02, a time which renders her the #2 swimmer in the world this season. Her 200m IM result of 2:11.52 from the Rotterdam Qualification Meet was also good enough to rank the 23-year-old 3rd in the world.
Spain was another country represented at this Flanders Swimming Cup, with multi-World Junior Championships gold medalist Carlos Garach putting on a show in the men’s freestyle. The 18-year-old swept the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events to dominate the discipline.
He clocked a time of 1:50.72 in the 200m free and produced a mark of 3:57.71 in the 400m free. Winning the 800m free by more than 12 seconds, the teen logged 8:00.88 for the win before collecting gold in the 1500m free in a result of 15:11.79.
This summer in Lima, Peru, Garach became the word junior champion in the 800m free, posting a time of 7:52.73 to claim the title. His lifetime best of 15:00.90 in the 1500m was also a podium-topping swim at the competition, while the Spaniard just missed the podium in the 400m free with a PB of 3:51.16.
Additional Notes
- Kim Busch of the Netherlands won the women’s 50m free in a time of 25.03 after hitting 24.98 in the semi-final. She was also victorious in the 100m free, collecting gold in 55.53.
- Her teammate Janna van Kooten was successful in the 400m free, logging a winning effort of 4:14.24.
- Spaniard Angela Martinez took the women’s 800m and 1500m free events, posting 8;42.59 in the former and 16:40.55 in the latter.
- Roos Vanotterdijk of the host nation topped the women’s 100m fly podium in 59.05. She owns a personal best of 57.85 in this event from when she became the European Junior champion last year.
- Dutchman Thomas Verhoeven grabbed gold in his bread-and-butter 50m fly event, hitting 23.70 to beat his countryman Kenzo Simons who touched in 23.95. Simons was victorious in the 50m free, however, hitting 22.35 after a slightly quicker semi-final result of 22.32.
- Stan Pijnenburg and Sean Niewald, both of the Netherlands, tied in the men’s 100m free with identical marks of 50.22.
- Maaike de Waard was a multi-event winner, taking the 50m back in 28.25, the 100m back in 1:00.83 and the 50m fly in 26.15.
- The women’s 50m breast saw 16-year-old Maria Ramos get to the wall first in a time of 31.85. That was within .17 of the 31.68 she put up for silver at the 2022 World Junior Championships.
Worth mentioning that Belgian swimmer Stan Franckx broke the Belgian national record in the 100m backstroke in a time of 55.01, a record that had been put up by Emmanuel Vanluchene back in 2013.