We reported how just this past weekend 20-year-old Alisee Pisane of Belgium cracked a new national record in the women’s 1500m free while competing at the Edinburgh International Swim Meet.
But the European Championships finalist’s new record is simply on par with how the Belgian team has been performing on the whole as of late.
After a quiet couple of years, the nation is starting to make some noise under the direction of former Spanish national head coach Fred Vergnoux.
In fact, Vergnoux said he actually originally intended to stay in Spain after Tokyo, set to lead a distance program in the Barcelona national center. However, after changing pieces of the overall coaching puzzle, Vergnoux found himself looking for a new coaching position and set out for an entirely new opportunity.
Vergnoux took on the new Belgian National Head Coach of Swimming role in August 2022 after nearly 9 years at the helm of the National Training Centre in Spain and things are beginning to click for the nation who is still looking for its next Olympic medalist since now-retired Pieter Timmers took 100m free silver in Rio.
Roos Vanotterdijk recently broke a remarkable 9 national records in 3 days while on the men’s side Stan Franckx also recently re-wrote the books in the men’s 100m backstroke. In fact, Belgium swimmers have broken 17 national records in total on the season.
Speaking to Vergnoux recently on the bubbling talent beneath Belgium’s swimming surface, the storied coach told SwimSwam, “This year we selected a large number of swimmers to compose the national team, and we always work mixing our best juniors swimmers with the senior ones.
“Belgium is full of talents, and the good thing is that we can train as a unit regularly. We have implemented warm weather training camps, and altitude training, so our best swimmers can train head-to-head on a daily basis. We also have implemented a relay project, starting with the 4x200m freestyle, again in order to put the best swimmers training together.”
Vergnoux is working closely with the staff from both the Anvers and Liege national centers, citing the biggest challenge is engaging club coaches to work closer to the national coaches.
“After the Belgium nationals, we will select our team for the world in Fukuoka, but the dynamic is for a long-term transition, having Paris as a stepping stone for 2028.”
Specific to 18-year-old Vanotterdijk, Vergnoux said, “Roos has improved a lot recently, due to a long phase of training since September without interruption. Her success last year at the European Juniors scene got her really motivated.
“This season we increased everything that she does in training, volume, intensity, number of sessions, etc. And also her range of events in competition. She is having a great time racing more events which gave her a lot of confidence. I think she is having fun working hard, she is also working smart with the support of our sport science staff, and most important she sees herself improving on a daily basis, in the water but also on land.”
Looking to this new endeavor in Belgium, however, meant Vergnoux needed to say goodbye to Mireia Belmonte. Belmonte is a legend within Spanish swimming after having earned 4 Olympic medals, including gold in the 200m butterfly in Rio.
Vergnoux said, “Mireia and I decided to move on from each other after Tokyo, whatever the outcome will be. We worked together for 11 years, I used to say that I knew her better than she knew herself! The relation that we have is unique, that partnership made it possible for both of us to reach moments that we could only dream about.”
Did you ask him about Lucas Henveaux?