A surprised look: Marrit Steenbergen (25) is the fastest at the final of the 100 meter backstroke, in the sharp time of 58.96. Just before last year’s Dutch champion, Maaike de Waard. The 100 -meter backstroke is not Steenbergen’s most important number, with this result she clearly had not taken into account.
“Ojo, 58.9, nice man!”, She is congratulations by another swimmer, when she climbed out of the bath just after.
It is Friday, day two of the Dutch Swimming Championships in Amersfoort. Along the bath edge it is a maze of volunteers and talented youth, with wet hair and towels, fresh from the B-finals. In between, TeamNL staff members walk in the Orange and Dutch top swimmers, with their Olympic tattoos.
Due to the informal atmosphere, this tournament does not have the AIR of a weighty sporting event, yet this NK edition is the most important ever. Here in Amersfoort, not only Dutch titles are forgiven, but also the so -called trials swam. Only here – Sunday evening are the last finals – can swimmers get a place for the Langebaan World Championship in Singapore. That tournament is already in six weeks. The tickets for European Championships and the Olympic Games, by far the most important event on the swimming calendar, will soon be forgiven via trials.
‘A fair struggle’
Large swimming countries Australia and the United States have been doing this for years, but for the Netherlands it is a considerable change. Swimmers always had several moments – about six – to set the sharpest possible time and to swim under the predetermined limit.
The trials come from the tube of Jacco Verhaeren, not coincidentally former national coach of Australia. Verhaeren – Earlier also coach of the Olympic champions Pieter van den Hoogenband and Ranomi Kromowidjojo – returned to the Dutch swimming union last year, as ‘Performance Strateg Top Swimming’. After his time in Australia, he was director of the French swimming team between 2021 and 2024.
The great thing about Trials, says Verhaeren, is that they are very clear. “It is a fair battle, everyone swims in the same bath under the same circumstances. And you immediately see who is qualified.” The two fastest swimmers place themselves, provided they are both under the limit.
But even more important, says Verhaeren, is that they give athletes the opportunity to gain more experience with what it’s all about in the bath: peak at the right time. “You also get one chance at the World Cup or at the Olympic Games.” Having multiple qualifying moments may sound nice, “he says,” but it takes away the possibility of practicing this at the highest level. “
Of course it is also exciting for swimmers. The most heard care: what if I am sick? But yes, Verhaeren says again: what if you are sick at the Games?
Patrick Pearson, coach of Marrit Steenbergen, among others, is “very happy” that the Netherlands now also has trials. “I would have liked it before.” Not only because of that necessity to peak, but also because the trials are close to the big tournaments.
It is nice to notice that you are in shape just before a big tournament, he says. “That gives confidence.” That does not automatically yield medals after that, a relatively small swimming country like the Netherlands does not succeed as often, but what he wants to see is that an athlete performs on his or her best.
In addition, as a coach it is nice that there are fewer peak moments in a year, says Pearson. Then there is longer the time to plan on specific parts of swimming, such as the start.
Just turn out
The World Swimming World Championships will start in six weeks, but that is actually a week too long – the date for the Dutch Championship was already certain.
Five weeks, as is entered at the next tournament, he thinks exactly short enough, he says. As a swimmer at that time you might be able to exhaust just from the trials and then it is just training again. “This is the period of top form, you can’t go to a party, they are not long enough for that five weeks. You are sharp on your health, your training sessions.”
In longer periods, athletes sometimes lose that sharpness, he saw. “The biggest problems arise when people already know for months before the Games are going. When you become Olympian, everything around you happens: sponsoring, attention, you start to live there.”
What Verhaeren strives for is the highest possible ‘conversion’: that a swimmer is faster at a large tournament than in qualifying. In Australia, where the trials were originally much earlier in the year, the conversion at the 2012 Games was a meager 28 percent, says Verhaeren. “Then you have well -qualified swimmers, but you don’t achieve your goals.” In 2021, the trials were then left to five weeks before the Games, the conversion had risen to more than 80 percent.
The hope in top swimming is also that the trials make the sport for outsiders clearer and more exciting. Well, the Netherlands is not Australia, and certainly not America: there are a lot less top swimmers here. With some songs the winners will not be surprising, says Pearson prior to the tournament. The 100 meter freestyle for the women is easily won in Amersfoort by Olympic finalist Steenbergen, the 200 -meter breaststroke with the men goes to Casper Corbeau, winner of Olympic bronze in Paris, Nyls Korstanje is doing well on the 50 and 100 meter butterfly stroke.
One mistake can be fatal
But with the shortest sprint distances it becomes more interesting. Such as the 50 meter freestyle for the women, on Saturday. Pearson: “In the Netherlands, the focus is on that, we are also just good at it.” So there are many swimmers with it. Moreover: one mistake can be fatal at such a short distance.
On Saturday evening, Milou van Wijk, the 20-year-old sprint specialist who has been in blood form in recent months, will take the fastest time in the 50 meter freestyle. She leaves Steenbergen, who had a better personal record until this weekend, behind. Encouraged by her parents and grandpa and grandma, she taps in 24.29, her best time ever.
It gave ‘extra relief’ that this win is now immediately certain of a World Cup ticket, says Van Wijk after the race. “But you also noticed the atmosphere that others found it less fun that they did not make it.”
Van Wijk finds the trials “an improvement” anyway. “I have heard from others: suppose I am sick? That is of course difficult.” But the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, she thinks. “I thought you could qualify for the Olympic Games for about a year for a long time. Suppose someone is swimming a very good time in the beginning, but the level drops towards the Games. And then there is someone else at the time faster, but just a little slower than that time of a year ago. I personally find that feeling unfair.”
She knows that worries about being sick during the trials: Jacco Verhaeren of course – although he also says that he has never seen that in practice.
Those worries are not only reserved for swimmers themselves, he knows. In France, when he became director there, Verhaeren also introduced trials. “Then I was contacted by the Agence du Sport, in the name of the minister.” They wondered if the trials would soon also apply to Léon Marchand. From Marchand, a Frenchman, was expected to be the big star of the Games. But what if he would be sick during the only qualification moment? “They said: it can’t be that Marchand is not going to make it? But I said: that is possible. If we adjust the rules for him, it would undermine the entire system.”
The worries were for nothing: Marchand easily flew through the French trials and with four gold medals and one bronze indeed awarded to star from the tournament.