Melvin Imoudu Hits New German 50 Breast Record On Day 1 Of Eindhoven Qualification Meet

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2024 EINDHOVEN QUALIFICATION MEET

• Thursday, April 11th – Sunday, April 14th
• Eindhoven, Netherlands
• LCM (50m)
• Dutch Olympic Selection Policy
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entries/Live Results
• Livestream

The 2024 Eindhoven Qualification Meet (EQM) kicked off today with Dutch swimmers vying for spots on the nation’s Olympic roster for Paris 2024.

Click on our ‘SwimSwam Preview’ link in the bullets above to see which Dutch athletes have made the grade thus far, with plenty of slots still available until the June 23rd qualification window ends.

Already qualified in multiple events, 24-year-old Marrit Steenbergen put up a strong showing in the women’s 200m free final this evening.

Steenbergen stopped the clock at 1:56.09 (56.62/59.47) to snatch the victory away from visiting Czech swimmer Barbora Seemanova.

24-year-old Seemanova settled for silver in 1:56.21 while Dutch swimmer Imani de Jong rounded out the podium well back in 1:59.25.

Steenbergen raced this event at this year’s World Championships where the Dutch ace logged a prelims swim of 1:58.18 followed by a semi-final swim of 1:57.30. She withdrew from the race while Seemanova ultimately touched in 1:56.13 to finish 4th overall.

Both women have already qualified in this 2free event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Ukraine’s Denys Kesil led the men’s 200m fly field, ripping a result of 1:56.63 to clear the pack by over 3 seconds.

The outing checks in among Kesil’s top 10 personal performances. He has already qualified for Paris via the 1:55.75 notched for 11th place at the 2023 World Championships.

Lithuanian national record holder Danas Rapsys was also in the water tonight, racing in the men’s 200m free final.

The 28-year-old Olympian snagged gold in a time of 1:46.56, although he’s been much quicker this season.

At the World Championships in Doha, Rapsys earned silver behind gold medalist Hwang Sunwoo of South Korea, producing a result of 1:45.05. He was 1:44.96 in the semi-finals with both results qualifying him for the Paris Olympic Games.

Finally, in the men’s 50m breast, Melvin Imoudu earned a new German national record en route to gold.

Imoudu stopped the clock at 26.74, erasing his previous lifetime best and German standard of 26.79 put on the books at last year’s German Championships.

25-year-old Imoudu now ranks 7th in the world on the season.

Additional Notes

• Christian Diener logged a time of 1:58.50 to take the men’s 200m back. Germany has 2 big meets this month: the Berlin Swim Open 04/19 – 04/21 and the German National Championships 04/25 – 04/28.
• Ukraine’s Nika Sharafutdinova earned the women’s 200m back gold in 2:13.10.
• The women’s 50m breast saw Anne Palmans get it done for gold in 31.17.
• Femke Spiering clocked a time of 2:13.38 to stand atop the women’s 200m fly podium.

Dutch Qualifiers as of Today:

Women

– 50 free (limit 24.70): Marrit Steenbergen (24.42) and Kim Busch (24.68)
– 100 free (53.61): Marrit Steenbergen (52.26)
– 200 free (1.57.26): Marrit Steenbergen (1.55.51)
– 100 back (59.99): Maaike de Waard (59.65) and Kira Toussaint (59.88)
– 100 school (1.06.79): Tes Schouten (1.05.71)
– 200 school (2.23.91): Tes Schouten (2.19.81)
– 200 medley (2.11.47): Marrit Steenbergen (2.09.16)

Men:

– 50 free (limit 21.96): Kenzo Simons (21.73) and Renzo Tjon A Joe (21.88)
– 200 back (1.57.50): Kai van Westering (1.56.91)
– 100 school (59.49): Arno Kamminga (58.71) and Caspar Corbeau (59.33)
– 200 school (2.09.68): Caspar Corbeau (2.07.99) and Arno Kamminga (2.08.30)
– 100 butterfly (51.67): Nyls Korstanje (50.78)

SwimSwam: Melvin Imoudu Hits New German 50 Breast Record On Day 1 Of Eindhoven Qualification Meet