2026 AACHEN SWIM FESTIVAL
The final day of action at the 2026 Aachen Swim Festival saw 30-year-old veteran Maaike de Waard get it done for gold in the women’s 100m backstroke in a new meet-record time.
De Waard stopped the clock at a mark of 57.41 to beat the pack by over two seconds, although it was well off her lifetime best of 55.86 from earning silver at the 2021 European Short Course Championships.
Fleur Verdonck was next to the wall in 59.93, as Fleur Bussels rounded out the podium in 1:01.17.
21-year-old Milou van Wijk landed on the podium twice to close out her campaign, earning 200m free bronze before upgrading to gold in the 100m sprint.
The former saw Imani de Jong register a time of 1:55.79 as the decisive winner, as Luus Gielens and van Wijk were relegated to the minor medal in times of 2:00.17 and 2:00.47, respectively.
Van Wijk turned on the speed for the shorter distance, hitting 52.44 ahead of de Jong, who snagged silver in 53.56, followed by Kim Busch‘s time of 53.72 for the bronze.
Additional Notes
- Tiago Fonseca Gomes put up a time of 1:46.45 as the top men’s 200m freestyler, with the performance representing the 6th-fastest of his career.
- The men’s 100m backstroke saw Noah Verreth secure the gold in 52.06, leading Paul Alves Torres (52.73) and Kai van Westering (52.84), who also made it under the 53-second threshold.
- Following up his 50m fly gold from last night, 27-year-old Nyls Korstanje continued his post-injury return with a solid mark of 53.23 in the 100m fly. That earned him runner-up status behind Michael Smith whose time of 52.23 garnered him the gold medal.
