Thanks to her strong time, swimmer Tes Schouten is “really happy” with the silver World Cup medal that she won on Tuesday in the 100-meter breaststroke. The 23-year-old talent did not think in advance that she would attach too much importance to a podium place at the moderately occupied tournament in Doha, but saw that with her 1.05.82 she “can also do something towards Paris”, referring to the upcoming Olympic Games summer.
Schouten finished tenth on this track at the previous World Cup. Six of the nine swimmers who beat her then chose to skip this tournament. Defending champion Ruta Meilutyte from Lithuania and Swedish number 7 Sophie Hansson were already eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Schouten: “They should have actually been on the podium and they didn’t succeed, so yes. And in ten years’ time there will be no one who will think: oh, that wasn’t there and that wasn’t there.”
Long stroke
De Bodegraafse was not completely satisfied with her performances in the preliminary rounds and refined her technique for the final. “Yesterday I swam a little too hastily. So this morning and this afternoon the full focus was on taking that long stroke again, with which I also swam my personal record last year. And I went a bit faster with that,” Schouten said laughing about her time, which came close to her Dutch record of 1.05.71.
Schouten also received confirmation that she is in good shape heading into the Games, her most important goal of the year. “I am happy that this time has already been achieved. And I hope that I can just improve a bit in the coming months.” The Chinese Qianting Tang was clearly too strong in the final (1.05.27).
The best may also be yet to come for the swimmer training under Mark Faber in Doha. The final of the 200 meter breaststroke is scheduled for Friday, the event in which she won her first World Cup medal (bronze) in Japan last year. “I always have a little more confidence in that and it’s more my thing, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
Schouten’s silver was the second Dutch medal on the long track in Doha, after the gold of the women’s relay in the 4×100 meter freestyle. At the last World Championships in Japan, the final result was one silver and two bronze. (AP)