Arno Kamminga On Going To The Doha Worlds, Fukuoka Silver & European Short-Course Championships
Arno Kamminga will turn his attention to the Doha worlds following the upcoming European Short-Course Championships in Romania.
David Popovici, Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky are among the high-profile names to bypass the 2024 World Championships in February which fall weeks before trials season for the Paris Olympics begin.
Double Olympic silver medallist Kamminga though will be making the trip where he’ll reunite once more with Nicolo Martinenghi and Nic Fink, the trio having shared an historic three-way tie for silver in the 100m breaststroke at the Fukuoka worlds.
He told Swimming World:
“Oh yes I am.
“I don’t understand why people won’t go there. It’s always funny – you read those articles with a lot of people saying I won’t go there and then in the end most people still go there.
“I think it’s harder to stand up and say I go there, I think it’s a great competition than being on the negative side and saying it’s a really bad competition.
“Of course the timing is debatable: if we learned one thing from Covid it’s that some things happen, just accept it and then adjust your plans to make the best out of it.
“We as a team now have a great atmosphere, a great team, we’ve already got our plans worked out for months ahead.
“We know what’s coming, we know how to be in shape in Doha and I just love racing and I love racing at the highest level against the biggest competitors so why not go to Doha?”
Eyes Opened To Potential By Success At Glasgow 2019 & Fukuoka Silver
Before then, the Netherlands swimmer will compete at the European Short-Course Championships running in Otopeni, Romania, from 5-10 December.
The 28-year-old won his first international medal at Copenhagen 2017 with gold in the 4×50 medley relay.
Arno Kamminga: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
But it was in Glasgow two years later where Kamminga realised he had the potential to succeed on the international stage after he claimed gold in the 100 and 200m breaststroke, silver in the 4×50 mixed medley and bronze in the 50m.
He said:
“It showed me what my possibilities were and it definitely opened my eyes – like alright I am capable of winning and I am capable of beating all those amazing guys.”
In Otopeni he will reunite once more with Martinenghi with whom he has shared Olympic, world and European podiums.
Most recently that was in Fukuoka, where the pair – along with Fink – each got their hands to the wall in 58.72 behind Qin Haiyang and his Asian record of 57.69.
It followed illness and burnout in 2022 which Kamminga described as “a real struggle” and which saw him arrive in Japan with no winter block of training.
He said:
“For me it was really weird because I normally try to go to competitions prepared completely and with every box ticked off and perfectly organised going in there, knowing what I am capable of and what my level is.
“Going into there I was still on the way up instead of normally when you go to a competition, you are at that high level.
“I was feeling that I was still getting there, I was still pushing in practice to get fit.
“So I got there and we rested of course and it just felt weird because we were doing something else than normal.
“For me then racing and especially hitting the silver was I think a bag of mixed feelings.
L-r: Nicolo Martinenghi & Arno Kamminga: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
“Obviously proud and happy because I got the silver but also kind of relieved after such a horrible year to still make a medal, a medal at worlds.
“Up to a couple of years ago I was only dreaming about it but now I do it after I come back from a burnout and I’m not even fit at the level I want to be.
“To do it in a three-way split was really surreal but also a lot of fun, which I think only made it more special what I did.
“What I really like is the way I swam that race: I came back on the last 10, 15m so strong and that really showed me how much more there is in my race to gain compared to what I was showing there.”
Following worlds, Kamminga went on holiday before returning to the competition at the World Cup series.
At the final stop in Budapest, he posted 58.68 in the 100 for a time swifter than Fukuoka and produced his fastest 200 in a little under two years in 2:08.87.
He said:
“Now we’re at the level we want to be and now we are slowly building again.
“My level was really behind, I was just so happy with it and also the way it felt and the way I felt in the water, it’s coming back together.”
2023 European Short-Course Championships
The six-day meet in Otopeni will feature some fine racing at the venue 10kms north of the capital Bucharest.
The men’s 200 free will feature European champion and third-fastest man all-time Popovici, British duo Tom Dean and Matt Richards – Olympic and world champions respectively – plus James Guy, who the pair joined up with as part of the 4×2 that claimed the title in Tokyo and Fukuoka as well as Danys Rapsys.
Thomas Ceccon – fresh from booking his spot on the team for Paris 2024 – undertakes an extensive programme with the 100 back, 50 and 100 fly and the 100 and 200IM.
Maxime Grousset – winner of 100 fly gold and two bronzes at the 2023 worlds – will face teammate Florent Manaudou as well as 2022 world, European and Commonwealth champion Ben Proud in the 50 free.
Zsuzsanna Jakabos: Photo Courtesy: Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary will compete in the 200 fly and 400IM, 18 years after winning her first international medals at Trieste 2005.
Lana Pudar – who has history in her sights at Paris 2024 as she aims to be the first swimmer from Bosnia and Herzegovina to win an Olympic medal in any sport – will conclude a year that has brought world and European junior titles.
The 17-year-old – fourth in the 200 fly in Fukuoka – will compete in the 100 and 200 fly.
The women’s 100m breaststroke will feature Benedetta Pilato, who was on superb form as she secured a trip to her second Olympics at the recent Italian Winter Championships, teammate Martina Carraro, Sophie Hansson and 16-year-old Eneli Jefimova.