15 year old Marrit Steenbergen took the women’s 100 freestyle at the first Challenger meet in Drachten. Steenbergen’s winning time of 55.91 set a new Dutch age group mark.
She broke the record of 56.81 set by Amy Langen in 2012. Steenbergen also destroyed her own lifetime best of 56.93 which she swam in December of last year.
In her career Steenbergen has been setting age group records on a consistent basis. Last year in April she set the 14 year old mark posting a 57.32. Her time is fantastic, especially compared to where her fellow country women, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who at the same age posted a 57.18.
Steenbergen also took the women’s 400 freestyle in a time of 4:24.87.
Her record breaking 100 freestyle swim can be seen here.
Full meet results can be found here.
The Challenger meet in Drachten is one of four Grand Prix type events in the Netherlands. The next three events are:
- KNZB Challenger February 20-22 – Hague
- KNZB Challenger March 14 & 15 – Dordrecht
- KNZB Challenger July 12 – Alkmaar
These series of competitions was an initiative by the Royal Dutch Swimming Federation to expose more of the country’s young swimmers to the nation’s top athletes. Each competition will include the country’s top swimmers who will be involved in these local events.
All countries of the world should go to Netherlands to see how that little country can produce so many great sprinters year after year, especially girls. That’s really impressive.