Femke Heemskerk (NED) Highlights Amsterdam Swim Cup Day 1

December 12, 2014, Amsterdam, the Netherlands – The 2014 Amsterdam Swim Cup kicked off its first finals session today, with swimmers trying to nail down qualifying times for Kazan, as the August 2015 World Championships loom closer and closer.  Swimmers race in Amsterdam through Sunday, with prelims beginning daily at 9am local time (3am Eastern), while finals commence at 4pm local time ( 10am Eastern).

Women’s Results

The women’s 400m IM event was the first race of the morning, with Tessa Vermeulen of the host country winning in a time of 5:05.00. Although top in the Amsterdam Cup field, this time is quite far-removed from the 4:39.20 time needed to qualify.  As was the case with the women’s 200m butterfly, where Portugal came out on top finishing 1-2, with teammates Ana Monteiro and Victoria Kaminskaya finishing in 2:13.72 and 2:18.72, respectively.  Top two finishers at this meet, but some ground to cover to get in the ballpark of Kazan’s qualifying time of 2:08.18.

The speed picked up significantly in the first sprint event, as the Netherlands Moniek Nijhuis ran away with the 50m breaststroke win in 30.73, almost a second and a half faster than the field, but just missing the 30.59 Kazan qualification mark.  Additionally, within the IPC final, Sterre Veerman (NED) broke the existing record with her new time of 34.43 in the 50m S13 class breaststroke event to keep the meet’s momentum moving.

Continuing with the speed factor, Maaike de Waard (NED) took home first place in the women’s 50m backstroke, touching the wall in 28.29 for not only the win, but also the Netherlands’ age group record for 18-year-olds.  Ida Lindborg was second in 28.62, with Iris Tjonk in third with her time of 29.22.  For her part, Tjonk equaled her existing “Youth Record” (29.22) with today’s swim.

The real sparks flew in the women’s 200m freestyle event, where 27-year-old Femke Heemskerk (NED) roared to the wall in a personal best and new Netherlands senior record time of 1:55.35.  This is one tenth faster than Heemskerk’s previous Netherlands record-making mark of 1:55.54 she set in Shanghai back in 2011.  Heemskerk recently earned the bronze medal in this event in short course meters at the World Championships in Doha, clocking a scm time of 1:51.69.  She is scheduled to compete in the women’s 50m freestyle event tomorrow.

Men’s Events

To kick off the men’s events, Swedish swimmer, Christoffer Carlsen, touched the wall first in the men’s 50m butterfly race in a winning time of 24.09. Although, Carlsen knocked off just over .2 from his prelim swim of 24.30, he needed to clear a time of 23.23 to qualify for Worlds in Kazan.

Racing to the top of the men’s 1500m freestyle was Ferry Weertman (NED) in a new pool record time of 15:10.73.  The previous record was held by Tom Vangeneugden (15:12.08 ) from 2009.  To put things in perspective, note that the qualifying time for Kazan is 15:05.16.

In the men’s 200m backstroke event, Axel Pettersson (SWE) touched in a winning time 2:00.86, dangerously close to the Netherlands record of 2:00.39 set by Sander Ganzevles in 2000.  With the fastest reaction time of the field (+.62),  Pedro Oliveira (Portugal) earned second place in 2:02.22.

The 200m breaststroke saw another pool record fall, as Erik Persson (SWE) clocked a 2:11.34  to beat the previous record of 2:12.14 held by Panagiotis Samilidis.  Of note, Portugal’s Carlos Almeida was positioned in 8th place after the prelims, but was not present on the start list for the final.

The Netherlands’ Christoffer Carlsen, who won the men’s 50m butterfly race earlier in the session, also topped the 100m freestyle field with his winning time of 49.58.  Sebastian Verschuren (NED) was second in 49.74, followed by Doga Celik (Turkey) in his time of 50.08.

Full Meet Results Available Here