The qualification window for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games opened on March 1st and already three Dutch swimmers have made the grade.
Competing at the 2023 Mediterranean Open in Marseille, France, over the weekend, the trio of Arno Kamminga, Tes Schouten and Kenzo Simons achieved the World Aquatics ‘Olympic Qualifying Time’ standard in their respective events.
Two-time Olympic silver medalist Kamminga clocked a time of 2:09.47 in the men’s 200m breaststroke, dipping under the OQT of 2:09.68.
The 27-year-old owns a lifetime best of 2:06.86 in the event, a time he produced in 2020; however, this early result bodes well for Kamminga who is still on the rebound from a rocky 2022 which was plagued with illness.
Kamminga now ranks 5th in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Breast
Haiyang
WR 2:05.48
| 2 | Zac Stubblety-Cook | AUS | 2:06.40 | 07/28 |
| 3 | Leon Marchand | FRA | 2:06.59 | 06/11 |
| 4 | Kirill Prigoda | RUS | 2:07.47 | 04/19 |
| 5 | IPPEI WATANABE | JPN | 2:07.55 | 06/03 |
22-year-old Schouten also hit a qualifying time in the breaststroke discipline, capturing an OCT in the 100m distance in Marseille.
Schouten stopped the clock in a time of 1:06.65 to take the meet title, as well as dip under the Paris 2024 time standard of 1:06.79.
The time was within striking distance of her own personal best and Dutch national record of 1:06.09 she produced last December. That was after Schouten made waves at the Short Course World Championships, where she took 100m breast silver and 200m breast bronze.
Finally, competing over the course of 4 rounds of the men’s 50m freestyle, 21-year-old Simons dipped under the 22-second threshold for the first time in his career.
He ultimately logged a time of 21.87 for gold, beating out his previous personal best of 22.02 logged at the 2020 Rotterdam Qualification Meet.
Kenzo now ranks as the 3rd fastest man ever from the Netherlands while his result got under the OQT of 21.96 needed for Paris 2024.
Top 5 Dutch Performers All-Time in LCM 50 Free
- Thom de Boer, 21.58 2021
- Jesse Puts, 21.82 2016
- Kenzo Simons, 21.87 2023
- Nyls Korstanje, 21.98 2020
- Pieter Van den Hoogenband, 22.03 2000
Simons also ties American Michael Andrew as the top swimmer in the world right now in the men’s 50m free event.
2022-2023 LCM Men 50 Free
McEvoy
21.06
| 2 | Ryan Held | USA | 21.50 | 07/01 |
| 3 | Florent Manaudou | FRA | 21.56 | 06/15 |
| 4 | Jack Alexy | USA | 21.57 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Benjamin Proud | GBR | 21.58 | 07/29 |
Uhhh Gui Caribe went 21.87 in December is that not eligible for world number 1?
Good eye – we’ll get it added to the rankings.