Kamminga, Steenbergen Post Multiple Victories At Flanders Swimming Cup

2023 FLANDERS SWIMMING CUP

• Saturday, January 21st – Sunday, January 22nd
• Olympic Aquatic Centre Wezenberg, Antwerp, Belgium
• LCM (50m)
• World Championships-qualifying meet
• SwimSwam Preview
• Start Lists
• Results

The 2023 Flanders Swimming Cup concluded from Antwerp over the weekend with a visiting Dutch contingent putting up strong showings on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Two-time Olympic silver medalist Arno Kamminga was among the competitors with the 27-year-old reaping gold across the men’s 100m and 200m breaststroke events. In the former, the Dutchman logged a time of 59.77 while in the latter he touched in 2:11.34.

Kamminga has already been under the 59-second threshold in the 1breast event this season, having produced a mark of 58.90 at the Rotterdam Qualification Meet last month. He was also quicker in the 2breast at that domestic meet, posting 2:10.39.

Teammate and 100m IM short course world champion Marrit Steenbergen was also a multiple event winner at this competition, grabbing gold in both the 200m free and 200m IM.

Steenbergen punched a 2free result of 1:59.41 while in the 2oom IM she hit 2:13.53 to beat the field by over 3 seconds.

Steenbergen has already produced a 200m free season-best of 1:57.02, a time which renders her the #2 swimmer in the world this season. Her 200m IM result of 2:11.52 from the Rotterdam Qualification Meet was also good enough to rank the 23-year-old 3rd in the world.

Spain was another country represented at this Flanders Swimming Cup, with multi-World Junior Championships gold medalist Carlos Garach putting on a show in the men’s freestyle. The 18-year-old swept the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events to dominate the discipline.

He clocked a time of 1:50.72 in the 200m free and produced a mark of 3:57.71 in the 400m free. Winning the 800m free by more than 12 seconds, the teen logged 8:00.88 for the win before collecting gold in the 1500m free in a result of 15:11.79.

This summer in Lima, Peru, Garach became the word junior champion in the 800m free, posting a time of 7:52.73 to claim the title. His lifetime best of 15:00.90 in the 1500m was also a podium-topping swim at the competition, while the Spaniard just missed the podium in the 400m free with a PB of 3:51.16.

Additional Notes

• Kim Busch of the Netherlands won the women’s 50m free in a time of 25.03 after hitting 24.98 in the semi-final. She was also victorious in the 100m free, collecting gold in 55.53.
• Her teammate Janna van Kooten was successful in the 400m free, logging a winning effort of 4:14.24.
• Spaniard Angela Martinez took the women’s 800m and 1500m free events, posting 8;42.59 in the former and 16:40.55 in the latter.
• Roos Vanotterdijk of the host nation topped the women’s 100m fly podium in 59.05. She owns a personal best of 57.85 in this event from when she became the European Junior champion last year.
• Dutchman Thomas Verhoeven grabbed gold in his bread-and-butter 50m fly event, hitting 23.70 to beat his countryman Kenzo Simons who touched in 23.95. Simons was victorious in the 50m free, however, hitting 22.35 after a slightly quicker semi-final result of 22.32.
• Stan Pijnenburg and Sean Niewald, both of the Netherlands, tied in the men’s 100m free with identical marks of 50.22.
• Maaike de Waard was a multi-event winner, taking the 50m back in 28.25, the 100m back in 1:00.83 and the 50m fly in 26.15.
• The women’s 50m breast saw 16-year-old Maria Ramos get to the wall first in a time of 31.85. That was within .17 of the 31.68 she put up for silver at the 2022 World Junior Championships.