Steenbergen Takes On Tough 100 Free/100 IM Double And Impresses In Each

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day three was a big one for the Dutch contingent at the 2022 Short Course World Championships as the nation wrangled up 4 medals on the night.

In addition to the men’s and women’s 4x50m free relays each taking bronze, Tes Schouten captured 100m breast silver (1:03.90) while Marrit Steenbergen secured bronze in the women’s 100m freestyle.

Steenbergen’s new 1free personal best of 51.25 renders her the Netherlands’ #2 performer all-time, sitting only behind retired Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo who owns the national record in 50.95.

Entering this meet, Steenbergen’s career-quickest rested at the 51.92 she logged at the 2021 European Short Course Championships when she took bronze.

But Steenbergen also doubled up to take the top seed in the women’s 100m IM, establishing a new national record in the process.

After snagging the 2nd seed out of the heats with a morning swim of 58.87, Steenbergen stepped things up a notch to land lane 4 for tomorrow night’s final. She punched a result of 57.65 as a new lifetime best, overwriting her previous PB of 58.15 from the 2021 European Championships.

With her first-ever sub-58 second outing, Steenbergen topped the old Dutch national standard of 57.74 Hinkelien Schreuder put on the books over a decade ago in 2009. In doing so, the 22-year-old became the 8th fastest performer all-time in this women’s 1IM event.

All-Time Women’s SCM 100 IM Performers

#1 Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 56.51 2017
#2 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 57.10 2017
#3 Beryl Gastaldello (FRA) – 57.30 2020
#4 Alicia Coutts (AUS) – 57.53 2013
#5 Anastasiya Shkurdai (BLR)/Mariia Kameneva (RUS)/Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (GBR) – 57.59 2020/2019/2015
#8 Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 57.65 2022

In addition to Steenbergen taking on the tough double tonight, the versatile Dutch ace has contributed to the nation’s relay cause here in Melbourne.

Although both the 4x100m free and 4x200m freestyle relays fell short of the podium in 5th and 4th places, respectively, Steenbergen put up some eye-catching splits. She produced a mark of 50.90 as the former’s anchor and 1:51.94 on the latter’s 2nd leg.

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DutchinUSA
1 year ago

Finally people start paying attention to Steenbergen, who is improving herself it seems with every race, and still with such margins that clearly she is not finished yet; Paris is calling. But the same this year applies to Tes Schouten, even if here on swim swam still ignore her.

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Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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