VDH will compete with international top at prestigious Deutscher Ring Aquatics 2006

On 12 and 13 August the international swimming top will compete each other in an attempt to break world records at their preferred events. The Netherlands will be represented by Pieter van den Hoogenband, Marleen Veldhuis and Inge Dekker. VDH’s and Inge Dekker’s coach Jacco Verhaeren will join them in Hamburg. The races will be held in a 25m pool. Per race only 4 swimmers will compete each other.

After the 50m semifinals at the European Championships this weekend, Van den Hoogenband commented that he already knew before the race that he wouldn’t stand a chance to reach the finals. However, he didn’t want to pull out of the semis.

“That would have been the easy way out, and I didn’t want to do that. I considered it to be an important test. It was a dreadful race, but I learned a lot from it. I know now I have my work cut out for me.”

In order to test himself even more, VDH will enter the lucrative competition in Hamburg to face the international top. The races in the 25-m pool will give him a chance to work on his turning points.

“If I can perform well at the 50m event, I will do better at the 100m. I’ve been a European champion at the 50m before and I won a bronze medal at this event at the Olympics in Sydney. I know I can do it, but it takes time for me to get that feeling back.”

Van den Hoogenband had counted on reaching the finals for the 4x200m relay (VDH didn’t join his team in the heats). But Olaf Wildeboer, Bas van Velthoven, Stefan Oosting and Mitja Zastrow only finished in 10th place in the heats.

“That was a downer”, says Van den Hoogenband. “My team and I worked so hard for this. We wanted to get really far. I even considered to join them in the heats, but I assumed they would be good enough to get through. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”


HERE’S A LINK TO THE WEBSITE OF DEUTSCHER RING AQUATICS 2006