EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, December 9. AFTER taking some time to switch over to a short course format after completing long course swimming at the Dutch Open, the Netherlands' quartet of Hinkelien Schreuder (53.40), Femke Heemskerk (52.95), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.88) and Marleen Veldhuis (51.62) dropped a world-record time of 3:30.85 to leave the crowd with a strong memory to close the meet.
The foursome eclipsed the previous record of 3:31.66 set by Australia in September as Libby Lenton (51.91), Melanie Schlanger (53.23), Shayne Reese (53.27) and Alice Mills (53.25) had owned the old standard.
The Netherlands previously held the record with a time of 3:33.32 as the contingent of Inge Dekker (53.52), Schreuder (53.63), Chantal Groot (54.00) and Veldhuis (52.17) broke the record at the 2006 Shanghai World Championships. Today's performance returned the record to the Netherlands.
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