Dutch swimmers break world records in bid for Rio team

Olivier van de Voort, Lisette Bruinsma and Chantalle Zijderveld were all in great form ahead of being named to the team for the upcoming Paralympic Games. 11 Apr 2016
Imagen
A Dutch swimmers celebrates winning gold at the 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships

Chantalle Zijderveld, just 13-years-old, won gold in the women's 100m breaststroke SB9 in a new European record time for the Netherlands at Eindhoven 2014.

ⒸKees-Jan van Overbeeke
By KNZB

Dutch swimmers Olivier van de Voort, Lisette Bruinsma and Chantalle Zijderveld were all in stunning form at the Swim Cup Eindhoven on Saturday (9 April), breaking world records before being named to the team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The Netherlands have named a total of 18 swimmers who will compete for medals in September, following the national selection event over the weekend.

Zijderveld, a rising star of the team at the age of 15, tore down the 100m breaststroke SB9 world best which has stood since 2000. The teenager touched in at 1:16.69, looking in great shape with just under six months to go until Rio 2016.

Van de Voort also indicated earlier in the meet that he felt in good form, going on to break his own 100m backstroke S10 world record with a time of 58.48.

Lisette Bruinsma completed the trio of world records for para-swimmers on Saturday in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11, swimming 1:24.63.

At the conclusion of the Swim Cup, Dutch coach Mark Faber named his selection for Rio.

Full team

Women

Lisa den Braber

Liesette Bruinsma

Sanne Hofman

Lisa Kruger

Marlou van der Kulk

Chantal Molenkamp

Marije Oosterhuis

Magda Toeters

Lisette Teunissen

Manon Vermarien

Chantalle ZIjderveld

Men

Simon Boer

Marc Evers

Duncan van Haaren

Thijs van Hofweegen

Michael Schoenmaker

Bas Takken

Olivier van de Voort

Faber is pleased with the selection: "In Rio we are at the start with 18 swimmers, which is more than in London. We have a lot of young talent and some experienced swimmers. We have made great strides with this selection. It is a professional team that is serious about the sport."

The team now has five months to prepare for Rio 2016.

Faber continued: "We train about a week back in Amersfoort. Some [swimmers will then] go to the IPC Swimming European Championships in Funchal (Portugal), other to a training camp in Debrecen (Hungary).

“Then follows a training camp in Eindhoven in July and August in Rio Maior (Portugal).

“In Rio we want to be the greatest little country."

The 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships will be shown live at Funchal2016.com between 1- 7 April, and free tickets are still available.

*All records are subject to ratification by IPC Swimming

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Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs).

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.