Last weekend’s Short Course National Championships in the Netherlands served as the final opportunity for senior and junior Dutch swimmers to snag a spot on their nation’s SC World Championships roster. Several up and coming athletes wound up making the cut, as the squad’s line-up headed to Windsor was just announced this week.
Athletes were able to qualify during the period of December 2, 2015 through November 6, 2016, a time span which included last year’s European Short Course Championships in Netanya Israel. The Olympic Games, International Swim Meeting in Aachen and all FINA World Cup stops also served as qualification meets, in addition to the aforementioned National Championships.
At that most recent meet, sprinter Jesse Puts improved upon his own national record in the men’s 50m freestyle, taking it down to 21.05. As such, Puts is slated to contest the splash n’ dash event in Windsor. He’ll be joined on the men’s roster by one-time SwimMAC Elite-trained swimmer Dion Dressens, as well as Nyls Korstanje. Korstanje is another potential young phenom in the making who scored a new age group record for 17-year-olds in the 100m freestyle last weekend. (47.97).
For the women, several familiar names compose the roster, including 2012 double Olympic Champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Although she has been battling a back injury the past several months, she is ready to contest the 50m and 100m freestyle events. In the shorter sprint, she’ll be joined by 18-year-old Kim Busch, the woman who scored several age group records in Hoofddorp.
2016 Olympic Champion in the open water event, Sharon van Rouwendaal will also be in Windsor representing the orange, as will 16-year-old relay swimmer from Rio, Marrit Steenbergen.
Of the roster, new KNZB Technical Director Andre Cats says, “It’s great to see that the youth has evolved so. We go with a strong team to Windsor, a nice mix of experienced swimmers and novices. We certainly have chances for finals and medals.”
Below are the complete men’s and women’s line-ups with associated events, as well as the qualifying times for Dutch senior swimmers.
Women
Kim Busch (50free, 100 butterfly)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (50 free, 100 free)
Maud van der Meer (relay)
Robin Neumann (relay)
Sharon Van Rouwendaal (400 free, 800 free)
Marrit Steenbergen (100 free, 200 free, 100 IM)
Kira Toussaint (100 back)
Tamara van Vliet (relay)
Maaike de Waard (50 back, 50 fly)
Men
Maarten Brzoskowski (relay)
Dion Dreesens (relay)
Nyls Korstanje (50 free, 100 free)
Jesse Puts (50 free)
Ben Schwietert (relay)
Kyle Stolk (100 free, 200 free, 100 IM, 200 IM)
The accompanying staff consists of Marcel Wouda (coach), Mark Faber (coach), Elsbeth van Threshing (doctor), Patrick Martens (physiotherapist) and Sander Ganzevles (racing analyst).
Hup Holland!
Those are some pretty hard qualification times. Some of them look like medal times.
Many of the swimmers on the schedule haven’t made these senior qualification times. There is a seperate qualifying time for Olympic Talent Team swimmers (male born in 1996 or later, female born in 1998 or later). The majority of the team only made it through these seperate standards. Otherwise only a team of Kromowidjojo, van Rouwendaal, Toussaint and Puts would have made it. With some additions for the relays..