The omens were already good. Semi-final 200 meter breaststroke: a look of surprise when Tes Schouten taps on Thursday evening in the Aspire Dome in Doha. And then a thumbs up. She just broke her own Dutch record, in 2.21.50. Surprise, because: “It didn’t feel as fast as that time, it felt quite easy. That’s why I thought: oh, okay!”, says Schouten after the race.
But it turns out that Schouten has much more to offer. On Friday evening she smashed her national record by just under two seconds and finished first at 2.19.81. World champion, the first Dutch swimmer in the breaststroke.
Schouten went into it hard, she says shortly afterwards. She may not be able to have the American Kate Douglass, she thinks in advance, but silver is in abundance. “So I thought: you know, just show some balls. Just go and see what comes out.”
She is still, it seems, a bit dazed. But shortly after the medal ceremony, when she is embraced by her coach Mark Faber, the tears come.
Catch-up tournament
Schouten crowned an already successful week: on Tuesday she took silver in the 100 meter breaststroke in 1.05.82, and that was mainly due to a very strong final sprint. A performance that also surprised her a bit, because her 100 meters is more variable than her 200 meters.
And yes, these swimming world championships are less crowded than normal. Several top swimmers skipped the event because it is a catch-up tournament (a legacy of the corona pandemic) and also falls at a strange time on the swimming calendar: in the winter, in an Olympic year, just six months after the previous World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan . For example, the South African Tatjana Schoenmaker and the American Lily King (gold and silver respectively in the 200 meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Summer Games) did not start in Doha.
But a good time is a good time – regardless of the field. And with her times, Schouten asserted herself at this World Cup. Marrit Steenbergen, who became world champion in the 100 meter freestyle 45 minutes before Schouten, also did exactly the same with a very fast time: 52.26, a new national record. Steenbergen became the first Dutch world champion since 2013, just ahead of Schouten (Ranomi Kromowidjojo won the 50 meter free).
Schouten said it herself after Thursday’s semi-final in the 200 meters: she is still not at the top of her game. “I do have the feeling that I can go much faster, but I have had that for a long time. It’s just a matter of: will it come out tomorrow, at another competition, or at the Games.”
The optimism is understandable, because 23-year-old Schouten has experienced enormous growth in the past two years, definitively joining the top of school swimming. She won her first medals at the Short Course World Championships in 2022 (silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200 meter breaststroke).
And she is still growing. Schouten now feels physically better in Doha than six months ago in Fukuoka, where she won a bronze medal in the 200 meters, she says. “At the last World Championships, after the 100 meters I really felt like: wow, I find it all quite difficult, I’m just quite exhausted. And now I notice that I am stronger and can get through such a week more easily.” She also notices that tough training sessions are easier for her than last season.
Mental progress
Schouten said he also made a lot of progress mentally. She has a carefree, spontaneous appearance. She is the kind of person who waves to her parents and twin brother in the stands before a race. But she used to get too caught up in her own head before a race, she says. “Like: I have to get this now.” But that has changed, she says. She still wants to win, but she doesn’t put as much pressure on herself anymore.
The most important thing for Schouten is that she remains relaxed. Looking back on the 100 meter final, for example: “I am confident that I managed the 100 meters with relaxation. I also know: when I have fun, I swim the fastest.”
It took her a while to figure out how she could build a swimming career on that relaxation. For a long time, Schouten had the idea that a top swimmer was not actually ‘allowed’ to do anything besides the pool. That her life should consist of swimming, eating and sleeping. But that doesn’t work for her. Or as Schouten said last year at a meeting for journalists in Amsterdam’s Sloterparkbad, where she trains: “If I have to lie in bed all weekend, I’ll just be disturbed.”
To do fun things
For a moment she even doubted whether she wanted to stop swimming. But then she discovered that in addition to her training, she can also do fun things, that she really doesn’t have to just focus on swimming.
Schouten is therefore often described as the opposite of swimmer Arno Kamminga, also a breaststroke specialist who trains in Amsterdam and is known as someone who completely immerses himself in swimming.
And indeed, Kamminga approaches a tournament like these world championships in Doha differently than she does.
For example, to ‘enter a tunnel’ for hours and close off, as Kamminga does before a race, does not work for Schouten. She would rather chat with another swimmer in the pool call roomthe space where everyone gathers before a race.
And how does it feel to go to the Paris Olympics with a world title? Schouten prefers not to make it too big. “People who are in the final are all world top players,” she said on Friday evening. “And you know what, I’m just very happy with my life outside of swimming, my family, my friends. I always try to think: if what I want doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. Yes, you know, I would prefer to become an Olympic champion. If not, then in ten years I won’t be thinking: I failed.”