Marrit Steenbergen Crushes 1:55 200 Freestyle Among Three Wins at Dutch Championships
After winning European titles in the 100 and 200 freestyle plus four European Championships relay medals (two gold) last year, the Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen is on track for a big 2023 with a chance of putting a scare into more established names at next month’s World Championships. At the Dutch Long Course Championships, the 23-year-old Steenbergen posted three victories over the last two days, all with world-class times.
Steenbergen won the 200 free Friday in 1:55.58, faster than the bronze-medal-winning time in the event from last year’s Worlds (a meet where Steenbergen was eliminated in the semifinals after a 15th-place finish). Steenbergen’s time ranks eighth in the world this year. One day later, she won titles in the 100 free and 200 IM. Her maiden sub-53 performance in the 100 free (52.98) ranks fourth globally, behind only Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey and Australians Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack. Steenbergen also recorded a strong time of 2:10.88 to comfortably win the 200 IM.
NC State standout Nyls Korstanje recorded a pair of victories himself. After a runnerup finish in Friday’s 50 butterfly, where Korstanje clocked 23.40 to finish just behind Thomas Verhoeven (23.22), he touched first in the 100 fly Saturday with a time of 51.49. An hour later, Korstanje touched in 22.20 in the 50 free, edging Kenzo Simons by four hundredths.
Meanwhile, Tes Schouten followed up her 2:21.71 200 breaststroke with a strong time of 1:06.45 in the 100-meter race, which put her less than a tenth away from the top-10 times in the world this year. On the men’s side, Arno Kamminga won the 200 breast in 2:10.13. Kamminga was the silver medalist in the event two years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, but he withdrew from the semifinals at last year’s Worlds.