Dutch veteran Femke Heemskerk swam a 1:54.68 in the 200 long course meter free on Saturday at the 2015 Eindhoven Swim Cup, which broke the Meet Record, her own Dutch National Record, and moved her into 4th-place on the all-time rankings (7th-fastest performance).
Above, watch a video of Heemskerk’s swim, courtesy of zwemsport. NOtice how controlled she looks on the front-half of this swim, as compared to her normal sprint-from-the-start.
Click here to read more about Heemskerk’s swim and what made it so impressive.
Translation of her post-race interview, thanks to Martin de Wildt:
Q : a 1.54, did you think that was possible already ?
A : No, absolutely not. I told Marcel (Wouda, her coach) wouldn’t it be nice if I could do a couple of 1.55’s and then make a step to a 1.54? And I thought (during the race) I was going to slow, I had so much left the last 50… So i think I did a great (flat) race.
Q : that’s what we all think too, everyone was like ‘hey, what happened’ and then the crowd exploded. We all saw your explosion after the race, so the next question is immediately : can you go even faster ?
A : it’s too soon to say, i’m still a bit in shock over this time. It’s just great!
It’s Femke Heemskerk not Hemke Feemskerk!
powerful long strokes, strong kick … beautiful.