European Championships: Marrit Steenbergen Continues Dutch Freestyle Strength With 200 Free Win
The Netherlands has brought a plethora of sprint freestylers into the world’s limelight over the years, with multiple gold medals in the 50 and 100 events. The charge was initially led by Inge De Bruijn, and more recently paced by Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Femke Heemskerk. Marrit Steenbergen claimed the 100 freestyle title at the European Championships earlier this week in Rome.
But the Dutch haven’t had the same success in the 200 freestyle.
That changed on Sunday as Steenbergen claimed the gold medal in the 200 freestyle at the European Championships. Steenbergen touched the wall in 1:56.36 to hold off the field by a couple of tenths, earning her second gold medal of the meet individually. Steenbergen also helped the Netherlands win a pair of relays.
“It’s a tough week for me, swimming almost all day, all night,” Steenbergen said. “I cannot beleive that I swam a personal best in this race, so I cannot describe properly my feelings right now. It was an amazing race, a crazy one, very fast with an amazing swim. I’m extremely happy. This is a PB and a gold. What else do you need?”
Great Britain’s Freya Anderson earned the silver medal in 1:56.52 while Germany’s Isabel Goes claimed the bronze medal with a swim of 1:57.09.
Slovenia had a strong showing with two swimmers finishing just off the podium. Janja Segel finished fourth in 1:57.51, followed by compatriot Katja Fain (1:57.68).