Amsterdam Swim Cup: Flash Marleen Veldhuis Sets Women’s 50 Free, Fly World Records – Video Footage Included

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, April 19. IT was just a matter of time at the Amsterdam Swim Cup before local favorite Marleen Veldhuis finally clocked a world-record performance over the long course. And, she wound up doing it twice with lights out swims to bookend the evening session.

After just missing Inge de Bruijn's 100 fly world record, 56.61 to 56.69, earlier in the meet, Veldhuis tore through the women's 50 fly with a scorching time of 25.33. The effort eclipsed Sweden's Therese Alshammar's global standard of 25.46 set in 2007. The swim also crushed Veldhuis' national record of 25.62 set in February of this year.

Hinkelien Schreuder placed second in the race with a time of 26.00, while Inge Dekker placed third in 26.50.

Veldhuis closed the day just like she started it, with another world record. This time she blasted the women's 50 free with a time of 23.96. The swim nipped Libby Trickett's global standard by .01, as Trickett swam a 23.97 in March 2008. The time also beat Britta Steffen's European record of 24.06 from the Beijing Olympics, and bettered Veldhuis' national record of 24.09.

Schreuder placed second in her second world-record event of the evening with a 24.73, while Ranomi Kromowidjojo took third in 24.82.

Veldhuis was a hard act to follow as Nick Driebergen settled for a winning time of 55.50 in the men's 100 back. The time fell short of his Netherlands record of 54.75 from December 2008. Bastiaan Lijesen placed second in 55.90, while Sweden's Simon Sjodin took third in 56.36.

Femke Heemskerk clocked a winning time of 2:13.40 in the women's 200 back, while Wendy van den Zanden finished second in 2:14.57. Miranda Nijenhuis rounded out the top three in 2:20.28.

Belgium's Tom Vangeneugden won the men's 1500 free in 15:12.08, while Job Kienhuis set the Netherlands record with a second-place 15:12.12. That effort destroyed his previous record of 15:18.51 set in December 2008. Arjen van der Meulen proved that the men's 1500 free can also be an exciting race with a 15:12.16 as the top three swimmers touched within .08 seconds of each other.

Sweden's Joline Hostman lowered her national record in the women's 200 breast with a time of 2:24.85. That performance beat her 2:25.38 set in June 2008. Meanwhile, Lia Dekker posted a time of 2:28.02 to beat her preliminary Netherlands record of 2:28.57, which in turn cleared her standard of 2:30.09 set in December 2008. Caroline Ruhnau finished the podium with a third-place 2:28.87.

Robin van Aggele followed in the men's 100 breast with a time of 1:01.48 for the win. Lennart Stekelenburg, who joined the sub-1:00 club with a time of 59.50 in a time trial earlier today, finished second in 1:01.90. Stekelenburg's time trial record wiped out his Netherlands standard of 1:00.56 set in December 2008. Matjaz Markic placed third in 1:02.18.

In the women's 400 free, Sharon van Rouwendaal captured the middle distance event in an easy 4:12.69. Rieneke Terink placed a distant second in 4:18.74, while Ida Sandin took third in 4:22.96.

Sweden's Stefan Nystrand touched out Brazil's Fernando Silva, 48.78 to 48.83, in the men's 100 free. Meanwhile, Sebastiaan Verschuren claimed third in 48.91.

Full Results

NOS.nl Video Coverage of World Record Swims
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