Sebastiaan Verschuren
Born Oct. 7, 1988 in Amsterdam Sebastiaan Verschuren is an Olympic swimmer from the Netherlands. Growing up Verschuren was a distance swimmer, specializing in the 800m and 1500m freestyles, but he began to drop distance starting in 2007. He began to focus on the mid-distance events, and he dropped seconds in a short amount of time. Verschuren is sponsored by Arena, and he keeps an updated blog on his personal website.
Training
Standing 6’4″ Verschuren incorporates cross training into his practice schedule in addition to pool time. Training under Coach Martin Truijense, he writes on his site that he typically swims 50 kilometers in 20 hours of swimming each, and he also incorporates strength training, judo and boxing.
Early Career
Verschuren focused on the distance events early in his international career – he swam the 1500m freestyle at the 2006 European Championships, finishing 19th. Around the time that he began swimming the 200m freestyle, he competed in the event at the 2008 European Championships in his home country, finishing 13th.
Adjustment to shorter events
He swam at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, swimming in the 200m freestyle. Around 2010 he began to focus on the sprint events, swimming the 100m freestyle at the 2009 European Short Course Championships – a year later he proved that he belongs with the best when he finished sixth in the event at the 2010 European Championships.
London Olympics
In 2012 Verschuren qualified for his first Olympic Games, competing in three events – the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle relay and 100m freestyle. Verschuren finished fifth in the 100m freestyle and 11th in the 200m freestyle. He also was a member of the 400m freestyle relay that finished seventh.
2015
Verschuren is among the world’s top-10 fastest swimmers in 2015 in the 100m and 200m freestyle.