On day 2 of the 2013 Eindhoven Cup in the Netherlands, the Dutch swimmers again had a great performance in front of their home fans, and two Northern European nations saw National Records go down.
The biggest swim among those was a 1:07.40 from Moniek Nijhuis in the 100 long course meter breaststroke, which breaks her own Dutch National Record by .01 seconds.
That’s not a huge margin of improvement for the 25-year old, especially with the Dutch swimmers seeming to be in pretty good shape for this meet, but the old time was done in 2009 during the era of the polyurethane suit. Nijhuis had a good split on the medley relay at the Olympics, but even at 25 she continues to show improvement that will help push the Dutch women toward the podium this summer.
The runner-up was Sweden’s Joline Hostman in 1:08.75 – just clearing her own season-best time from the Flanders Cup in January. Caroline Runhau from Germany took 3rd in 1:09.20.
Simon Sjodin also broke a National Record, though his was one from Sweden. He won the 200 IM in 1:59.16; that ranks him 3rd in the world so far this year, and is a lifetime best for him. It’s three-tenths faster than the 1:59.44 he swam at last year’s European Championships.
There was a huge outcry in the Swedish swimming community when Sjodin was left off of the Olympic roster last year, but he continues to drop time despite the setback.
A third record went down at the hands of Bastiaan Lijesen. He swam a 24.75 in the 50 meter backstroke, which took out his 24.79 from last year.
Mike Marrisen, a 21-year old Dutch swimmer, continued his very good meet with a 2:00.88 for 2nd place. That’s three-seconds better than his previous lifetime best, and was just a tenth away from a 16-year old national record himself. Sebas Lith was 3rd in 2:01.18.
In other finals, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom once again improved her world-leading time at this meet; this time it was in the 200m free. She swam a 1:56.55 to continue this trend of swimming fast early in the season. She overcame a big early push from the Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk, famous for how fast she pushes this 200 free on the front-half, but the Swede made up most of the margin in the last 50 meters.
Heemskerk was 2nd in 1:57.43, followed by Evelyn Verraszto (1:59.78) and Sharon van Rouwendaal (1:59.88).
In the women’s 400 IM, Great Britain’s Hannah Miley stacked a phenomenal 400 IM on top of a “very solid” 200 IM earlier in the meet, touching in 4:34.21 for the win. That’s the best time in the world this year, and she holds two of the three fastest times in the world this year.
Zsu Jakabos from Hungary, who already won the 200 IM on Thursday, took 2nd in 4:35.43. She’s the second-best in the world this year with that time.
Other winners:
- 19-year old Czech swimmer Tomas Havranek won the men’s 200 fly in 2:00.52.
- British swimmer Ross Murdoch won the 100 breast in 1:01.40. Damir Dugonjic and Hendrik Feldwehr tied for 2nd in 1:01.52.