Kromowidjojo, Kamminga Crack New Dutch Records In Amsterdam

2017 SWIM CUP AMSTERDAM

• Friday, October 20th – Sunday, October 22nd
• Optisport Sloterparkbad, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 25m
• Meet Site
• Meet Preview
• Entry Lists/Live Results

The 2017 Swim Cup Amsterdam kicked off today, with competition taking place this year in short course meters format. Meet organizers say that this is partially in preparation for the European Short Course Swimming Championships that will be held in Copenhagen from December 13th-17th, though in past years preceding the European Short Course Championships the meet has remained in a LCM course.

The meet, as always, features a Paralympic program in addition to the standard FINA World Championship schedule, with events intermingled throughout the finals session.

Tonight, Dutch sprinter Ranomi Kromowidjojo was the star of the show on the women’s side, cracking off a new national record in the 50m butterfly event to start the evening. Headed into the meet, Kromo’s fastest was the 24.54 she threw down at the Eindhoven stop of the 1st World Cup cluster this year, a time that not only beat Swedish speedster Sarah Sjostrom by .01 in the race, but one that also established a new Dutch senior record.

Tonight, Kromo found another .01 to shave off, winding up at the wall first with a new Dutch standard of 24.53. Both she and Sjostrom are heading closer and closer to the elusive World Record in the event, which stands at 24.38 set by Therese Alshammar back in 2009. Kromo is sticking to a light schedule at this meet, only slated to swim the 100m freestyle as her next and last event, which is on tomorrow’s agenda.

Kromo wasn’t the only Dutch athlete to enter her name into the national record books in tonight’s session, as breaststroking ace Arno Kamminga also fired off a quick swim to make heads turn at the Optisport Sloterparkbad. Racing in the men’s 200m breaststroke, Kamminga fired off a swift time of 2:04.35 to take the gold, knocking almost .4 off of his own national record in the process.

His personal best and Dutch national record heading into this meet was the 2:04.74 he registered at the Eindhoven stop of the World Cup cluster this year, but Kamminga’s opening slit of 59.87 helped give him the edge and put him into 2:04-low territory for the first time in the 21-year-old’s career.

A visiting Irish contingency made its presence known, courtesy of Conor Ferguson‘s win in the men’s 100m backstroke. Entering the meet, the 18-year-old’s fastest 100 SCM time was the 52.77 he earned in December 2016 in Sheffield. Tonight, however, the Irishman was the only swimmer of the field to clock a sub-25 second opening split of 24.98 to ultimately produce an effort of 52.40. That checks-in as a new Irish Senior national record in the short course version of the event.

Ferguson continues to make a name for himself in this event, having earned silver for Ireland at the 2017 World Junior Championships. He and breaststroker Mona McSharry collected the nation’s first-ever medals at the international junior competition.

McSharry was in action tonight in Amsterdam as well, comfortably taking the women’s 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:26.40. She was the only swimmer to clock a time under the 2:30 threshold tonight.

Young European Junior Championships athlete Marrit Steenbergen was in action tonight, taking the women’s 100m IM gold in a mark of 59.53 to establish a new Dutch age record for 18-year-olds. She finished in a time of 58.81 for 4th place as a 17-year-old in this event at the 2016 FINA World Championships (Short Course) in Windsor.

Freestyle mainstay Femke Heemskerk was also in the water this evening, contesting one of her pet events, the women’s 200m freestyle. The Olympian holds the Dutch national record with her time of 1:51.69 clocked back in 2014 and the speedster was within a second of that time tonight, touching in 1:52.42 for the win. The time was extra impressive given the fact 30-year-old essentially was in a one-woman race, beating the remainder of the field by over 4 seconds. Of note, 2016 Olympic 4x200m freestyle relay member Steenbergen did not contest this event.

Additional Winners on Day 1:

• Jorian Tanis was tonight’s 1500m men’s winner, taking the race in 16:40.90.
• Amsterdam NTC swimmer Mathys Goosen was the men’s 50m butterfly victory, taking the race in 23.17.
• The men’s 100m IM saw Emmanuel Vanluchene touch the wall first in 53.19.
• Maaike de Waard and Tessa Vermeulen were the two athletes under the 59-second mark in the women’s 100m backstroke race, with the former clocking 58.53 over the latter’s 58.88 for the win.
• Ben Schwietert was tonight’s men’s 200m freestyle winner in 1:44.33.
• Danish Olympic champion Pernille Blume tested the Amsterdam waters in the women’s 50m butterfly, finishing 5th in 26.15. She’ll contest the 50m free on Sunday.
• In Para Swimming action, Ilona Venema earned a European Record in the women’s S10 50m butterfly, earning a time of 31.19 for 753 points. She would also take the S10 100m backstroke race with a time of 1:09.55 for 849 points.
• Thomas van Wanrooij claimed 2 Dutch national records across his S13 events. First he touched in 1:05.66 in the 100m back, then 2:12.46 in the S13 200m freestyle.
• Florianne Bultje took down the women’s Dutch NR in the 50m butterfly S9, clocking 32.64 for 928 points.
• Michiel Jorink won 2 events, including the men’s S14 200m freestyle in 2:03.05 for 844 points and the 50m butterfly in 26.59 for 1052 points.