Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen retains world title in Singapore

Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen has successfully defended her world title at the long course World Championships in Singapore. The 25-year-old clocked a time of 52.55 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle. Steenbergen won the world title in this event last February in Doha. At the Paris Olympics, she finished seventh.

Australia’s Mollie O'Callaghan took silver in 52.67, while American Torri Huske claimed bronze with 52.89. Fellow Dutch swimmer Milou van Wijk narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth in 52.91.

As was the case in Doha, not all of the world’s top swimmers were present in Singapore. Huske won silver at last year’s Olympics, while O’Callaghan finished fourth.

Steenbergen’s gold is the 12th individual long course world title for the Netherlands. 11 of those have been won by women, five of them by Inge de Bruijn. Marcel Wouda remains the only Dutch man to win gold at a long course World Championships, in 1998. Before Steenbergen’s victory in Doha last year, Ranomi Kromowidjojo was the last Dutch swimmer to win a world title, taking gold in the 50 freestyle in 2013.

“I can’t choose between this gold medal and the one from last year,” Steenbergen told NOS. “But this one is special because of the season I’ve had. And to come back like this after the Olympics means a lot to me. I had really hoped to be in the fight for medals in Paris. It was disappointing that it didn’t work out. But here we are now, and I need to draw a lot of confidence from this world title.”

It was not the only Dutch medal in Singapore. Caspar Corbeau won a bronze medal at the long course World Championships. The 24-year-old American-Dutch swimmer finished the 200-meter breaststroke in a personal best time of 2:07.73. Gold went to China’s Haiyang Qin, who clocked 2:07.41, while Japan’s Ippei Watanabe took silver in 2:07.70.

At last year’s World Championships in Doha, Corbeau claimed silver in the same event. He went on to win bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Paris Olympics later that year. Earlier this week in Singapore, Corbeau finished fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke.